Hot box wax for new skis?

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Hot box wax for new skis?

Postby FHooper » Wed Sep 09, 2015 4:40 pm

My new i.SL's arrived today; they look good and I'm impressed with the apparent quality. They are my first Head's since a used pair of the old black metal Standard's a loooong time ago. I hope to keep them for a long time. With that in mind, coupled with the fact that most of my skiing is in the East, would it be a good idea to send them off for a hot box wax? Would it really help protect the base better than my normal hot waxing every 2-4 times I use them? Thanks, Fred.
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Re: Hot box wax for new skis?

Postby jbotti » Wed Sep 09, 2015 6:06 pm

Most experts in this area recommend multiple cycles of waxing, scraping and brushing before ever putting the ski on snow. Of course you can include hot boxing them a time or two. Personally I have noticed zero difference between when I do multiple cycles of wax before I ski then and when I put one coat of wax on before I first ski them. If you were racing at a high level and searching for tenths of seconds, there is a long list of things you would do before ever putting the skis on snow (staring with multiple sandings with different grades of emery sandpaper) but most recreational skiers actually struggle with speed control so doing a lot of work to get the ski to pick up and retain more speed isn't worth much unless you are racing.

Personally I would just put a good solid coat of wax on before my first ski day and keep them waxed throughout the season but you can certainly do more if you like.
Balance: Essential in skiing and in life!
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Re: Hot box wax for new skis?

Postby Max_501 » Wed Sep 09, 2015 8:07 pm

jbotti wrote:Personally I would just put a good solid coat of wax on before my first ski day and keep them waxed throughout the season but you can certainly do more if you like.


Same here but I'd be on the lazy side with rewaxing.
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Re: Hot box wax for new skis?

Postby DougD » Thu Sep 10, 2015 4:42 am

Western skis... waxed every 5 years whether they need it or not!
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Re: Hot box wax for new skis?

Postby FHooper » Thu Sep 10, 2015 12:12 pm

Thanks. As you can probably tell, I have a tendency to go to extremes. Thanks particularly for the voices of reason that will keep me from doing so in this instance. I'll follow jbotti's advice and put just one coat of wax before the first use and rewax periodically.
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Re: Hot box wax for new skis?

Postby Max_501 » Thu Sep 10, 2015 9:58 pm

DougD wrote:Western skis... waxed every 5 years whether they need it or not!


That sounds like Rocky Mountain snow.
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Re: Hot box wax for new skis?

Postby DougD » Fri Sep 11, 2015 7:45 am

Max_501 wrote:
DougD wrote:Western skis... waxed every 5 years whether they need it or not!


That sounds like Rocky Mountain snow.

Yep. It's an old joke about Utah skiers. Doesn't quite apply to West Coast snow.

Of course for us New England skiers, "powder" means any snow you can't see your reflection in.
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Re: Hot box wax for new skis?

Postby dan.boisvert » Sun Sep 13, 2015 6:17 pm

Skiing a lot on eastern man-made, I've found the optimal prep for my use to be 4-5 wax cycles before my skis touch snow. If I do fewer than that, I start to see grey regions on my bases at some point during the season. I've also tried doing more than that, and noticed no additional benefit, so it mostly seemed like a waste of time/wax to me. Your needs may vary..
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Re: Hot box wax for new skis?

Postby FHooper » Mon Sep 14, 2015 4:14 pm

That's what I did with my last skis and it worked well for me. From the other replies I had thought it was overkill - although not as much as hotboxing. Doing so again would help me feel that I'm doing all I reasonably can to have the skis last. Thank you for suggesting it.
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Re: Hot box wax for new skis?

Postby krazzy legs » Fri Feb 26, 2016 12:12 am

Would like to see a product developed that forms a covalent bond with the base. Covalent bond will be the future for waxes or some type of product to share the same electron with the base of the ski.
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