Wax Help

[Bannick]

Ok...having looked at the pictures from Monday the 16th I have a question. I have done a tonne of spring riding and have ridden some very marginal conditions. The problem I have is this. Starting out in the morning....the board rides pretty sweet and fast but when things start to warm up the board slows down as it starts to pick up dirt on the bottom and creates a bit too much friction. I was at Big Sky at the end of April and even though you could not see the dirt on the slopes my board was filthy making me have to point it from about half way down any given run. So seeing how dirty the snow in Tucks is what kind of wax is everyone using? I have tried warm, cold, universal and have even made a up a blend using wax scrapings from the season (that did help when I lived in Whislter when you can go from dead of winter snow to summer in one run I may patent that one). Any tips???? :snowboarding:

[SkiStooge]

Flourine spray. Kicks butt. Al :skistooge:

[elwood]

Get yourself some warm snow F4 wax, and reapply it to your board every few runs. You wikll certainly be sliding good then. When I used to race, we would tune our skis up before every race, and apply that stuff before every run. Keeps 'em nice and slick. Just make sure you get the right temp.

[Skilasnow]

SkiStooge:
Flourine spray. Kicks butt. Al :skistooge: Huh? Isn't Fluorine a scary Gas?, except as fluoride?

Fluorine (http://pearl1.lanl.gov/periodic/elements/9.html)

[Mumster]

SkiLasLeñas:
Isn't Fluorine a scary Gas?, except as fluoride?Right you are, SkiLas :skilas: . Pure fluorine is a nasty, toxic gas. Racers/skiers use flourocarbon waxes -> fluoride compounds, which are stable. The flourine is tamed when it is complexed. Fluorine is strongly hydrophobic (it repels water) so the ski glides more in wet spring snow because friction is reduced between the snow and the skis base (capillary action/pull is reduced). Dirt is also repelled.

There are different types of flourocarbon ski waxes, some of which are expensive. But, they provide (short-lived) speed to racers and extra glide to people like elwood and :skistooge: in dirty, spring snow.

I hope this isn't too much information. ;)

[Skilasnow]

I did not know that, I must get me some

mmmmmm f-l-u-o-r-i-n-e

[SkiStooge]

Florine, florocarbon.....I know what I mean! lol....Ya know, the super-pricey high-end stuff that no one carries when ya want it? In reality, the biggest thing is to re-apply whatever ya use as necessary. Next time you go to one of them fancy, sit down type eat-in restaurants (as opposed to 7-11 or Cumbies, grab them there candles off of the table. They have a bunch of extras at those places anyways. Use the wax, throw away the string in the middle (or maybe it could be used as floss or something?) and, as a plus, some of them even smell kinda pretty, so be sure to smell the base after applying it. And thus ends another trip into deepest innanity courtesy of me. Have fun, be safe. Al :skistooge:

[Bannick]

Thanks for the tips!
I will give it a try when I drive the girl back to Seattle if there is still snow in Montana or at Baker.

B :snowboarding:

[<enzo>]

Just out of curiosity, has anyone ever tried bonding a sheet of Teflon onto their boards? There are available specially etched sheets that can be bonded that we use in my industry for a lot of rough condition stuff, and it works like crazy.

If you have a McMaster-Carr catalogue, you can look it up, or go to www.mcmaster.com (http://www.mcmaster.com)

[Skilasnow]

That sounds pretty neat. But I don't think I would spend the money on my MRG skis :D

I could imagine that they could ice up pretty badly in the spring though... no?

here's one and it is not expensive at all. 5/1000 " so it shouldn't interfere with edges. 6" wide, enough for two skis (at least my old strait ones), would need 6 feet @ $1.31 = $7.86. It would probably last a while if not abused.

[<enzo>]

Ice up? No, it wouldn't, as almost nothing will stick to Teflon.

Durability should be pretty good - the sheets you can buy are actually a mix of Teflon and other plastics. The other plastics are what actually give the sheet it's strength characteristics, and the Teflon it's lubricity only.

The only problems I can see as an add-on is getting it bonded down perfectly flat and smooth (probably would need to make a pressure cast of some sort) and potential peeling at the exposed edges.

I'm really surprised that the manufactuters don't use Teflon-filled plastics as the standard formulation for the bases.

[DMC]

&lt;enzo&gt;:
Ice up? No, it wouldn't, as almost nothing will stick to Teflon.You've never seen the mess my Fiance' makes when she cooks... :)

[Mumster]

&lt;enzo&gt;:
Just out of curiosity, has anyone ever tried bonding a sheet of Teflon onto their boards? I think teflon chips too easliy to work well as a primary base or a cover sheet for skis/boards.

[Skilasnow]

Todays teflon is a lot more durable than latterday teflon.

The tiniest scratch though would allow water to stick and therefor ice up. And once it starts to scratch it goes pretty quickly as anyone that owns a teflon pan and uses metal utensils is aware. Use wood and plastic only on your teflon saute pans.

[Mumster]

SkiLasLeñas:
The tiniest scratch though would allow water to stick and therefor ice up. And once it starts to scratch it goes pretty quickly as anyone that owns a teflon pan and uses metal utensils is aware. Use wood and plastic only on your teflon saute pans. Exactly. That's why the teflon (fluorocarbons) for skis comes in tiny particles admixed with wax. ;)

[<enzo>]

I don't quite agree on the durability issue.

Teflon by itself is very soft and not durable at all, but when mixed with other plastics the main plastic retains all of its properties and the teflon just lowers the coefficient of friction to that of teflon by itself.

For sure, the majority of spray-on-and-bake teflon, like what you see on pans, etc, wouldn't last too long, but a thick molded teflon/plastic composite made as an integral part of the ski (full replacement of the traditional base) should be just as durable as what they use now.

More than likely it has been tried and found to be lacking some particular dynamic property that is important.

Oh well. Nice thought anyway!

[Mumster]

&lt;enzo&gt;:
...a thick molded teflon/plastic composite made as an integral part of the ski (full replacement of the traditional base) should be just as durable as what they use now.
enzo:
That might do the trick. I don't know why no one has figured out how - with all the limelight these waxes garner, there must be companies working on it....
A permanently fast ski that doesn't need waxing.... nice thought. :skiplow:

[SkiStooge]

Like someone once said: "Teflon lets nothing stick to it so why does it stick to pans?"
:confused:

[DMC]

SkiStooge:
Like someone once said: "Teflon lets nothing stick to it so why does it stick to pans?"
:confused: Whoooa.... Thats deep...

[M@]

I took chemistry from the guy who invented the process of getting teflon to stick to pans: Egon Matijevic (http://www.clarkson.edu/directories/facultydir/?name=matijevicegon). He was incredibly smart.

He also invented a kewl red/yellow/green jello mix where the 3 colors repelled and different strengths, so you mixed it all together, and it naturally formed out to three seperate bands.

M@ :ducttape:

[Mumster]

M@:
I took chemistry from the guy who invented the process of getting teflon to stick to pans: [URL=http://www.clarkson.edu/directories/facultydir/?name=matijevicegon]Egon Matijevic[/URL
M@ :ducttape: Hey :ma:
If he's that smart, get him to work on the waxless teflon ski base enzo brought up....

[elwood]

M@, we need that guy to work on getting our kegs up to the ravine!!!! :D