Telemark Talk / Telemark Tips Forum

Anyone have any opinions, thoughts, studies on this? After trying to apply Start SG green (incredibly hard wax) and getting frustrated and nervous about potentially damaging my skis, decided to look into liquid waxes.

I hot wax for what I believe the temps will be. I also carry spray wax in case the actual temps are different from what I waxed for. although my hot wax setup is portable enough, spray wax is quite a bit easier in a hotel room

I've read several articles where people are forgoing hotwaxing almost entirely in favor of liquid wax, such as this one:

https://www.newmoonski.com/articles/the ... -pg289.htm

Would the solvent in liquid waxes cause damage to ski base over long run? Which way is more cost efficient (not including cost of iron etc., just waxes themselves)? Some articles I read said some of the liquid waxes can be just as durable, do you find this to be the case?

mca80 wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 30, 2023 2:54 pm

Anyone have any opinions, thoughts, studies on this? After trying to apply Start SG green (incredibly hard wax) and getting frustrated and nervous about potentially damaging my skis,

I know I am not there to watch you-
but, perhaps you are waiting too long before you scrape and polish?

lilcliffy wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 30, 2023 6:57 pm

mca80 wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 30, 2023 2:54 pm

Anyone have any opinions, thoughts, studies on this? After trying to apply Start SG green (incredibly hard wax) and getting frustrated and nervous about potentially damaging my skis,

I know I am not there to watch you-
but, perhaps you are waiting too long before you scrape and polish?

I believe you are correct there. Also used too much wax, and maybe my scraper wasn't sharp enough. I will experiment a bit more before giving up, there's still some excess wax on them so will reheat and scrape in about a minute instead of waiting 10 to 15. But I am interested in these liquid waxes after reading some articles, if it's not just a marketing gimmick.

A sharp scraper makes for a happy wax tech

I don't know about cheap, but liquid glide wax is easy. I got 500ml bottles of Vauhti Universal + and - (above and below freezing), $90CAD each from skiwax.ca. That is a lot of wax! It is not spray-on and does not have a sponge applicator - just a few drops on a cloth covers half a ski.

I clean the bases with rubbing alcohol, then apply two coats of liquid wax about 15 minutes apart, and leave the skis overnight. I don't bother brushing and there is nothing to scrape. I used to hot-wax when I snowboarded, but I do not want to bother now that I ski 3-4 times a week and have half a dozen pairs of skis in regular use.

That article is pretty optimistic: "A common assumption with liquids is that they’re only good for 5 or 10K. New formulas, when applied to a clean ski can potentially last far longer." If you consider 20k to be far longer, sure.

The Vauhti Universal glides a lot better than the Kuu rub-on I use otherwise (admittedly a very low bar). I did not notice any difference compared to the one time I had my skin skis hot-waxed at a shop. That is probably due to those skis being 195cm. When I want glide I grab my 220cm waxable skis.

The one downside is that liquid glide wax does not leave your bases looking wet and shiny like hot wax does.

Living in Alaska, I use start green glide wax frequently. It is a great( possibly the best cold weather glide wax). Contrary to the methods I use on warmer glide waxes, I scrape while the wax is still warm and somewhat molten. Then after cooling, a final scrape and brushing.
Not sure what the manufacturer would think of this, but it works for me.

For hot waxing, and liquid for that matter, a rotobrush makes things way faster and easier.

A stiff horsehair rotobrush does a great job on cold wax with minimum scraping needed. I normally just do a quick scrape and not worry about getting every last bit of wax scrapped as the rotobrush can take care of the rest. I then go back with a nylon rotobrush to polish.

To make things even more convenient, get a wider rotobrush handle that can hold two different rotobrushes at the same time so there’s no need to swap brushes.

@Capercaillie said, "The one downside is that liquid glide wax does not leave your bases looking wet and shiny like hot wax does."

If you brushed it you would get the shine. I have 3 brushes, brass, stiff nylon and fine/softer nylon. For paste wax the stiff nylon works great.