Ski tuning equipment - waxing
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Ok - here's what to get to equip your own little ski shop. You should support your local ski shop, but you can also look for this stuff at these online shops:
- RaceWax.com - your club can get a discount here
- Mec.ca
- Tognar.com
The categories you need are:
- wax iron - see below
- brushes - see below
- scrapers
- wax - see Choosing Ski Wax
Wax Iron
If you're reading this, you want to hot wax the skis, so you're in need of an iron. The cheap wax irons, at 40-50$ are more than enough. Do get a specific wax iron though, with the dial marked in degrees C/F - it makes it easy to ball-park the temperature specified by the wax you use.
I have been using a Tools4Boards travel iron, a Swix and some others and have been happy with all of them.
Brushes
Read much more details under Deciphering Brushes - here's a minimal but functional set of brushes for the racerkidz parent:
- one soft brass large oval for cleaning the bases after tuning and before waxing 30$
- one horsehair rotobrush (with the handle up to 100$ or more) but saves so much work, you can't beat the value. Sure, you can survive the first year with manual brushes, but with two racerkidz, I ended up spending too much on beer to keep me tuning all night - 100$
- If not, get one brass or hard plastic large oval brush for the training wax 30$
- one brass or hard plastic large oval brush for the race wax (you will use a separat brush for the expensive race wax) 30$
- one horsehair brush (large recommended but small is ok) for race day polishing, 15$
If you want to add to it, look into getting also:
- small stiff steel brush for structuring the base before waxing
- soft plastic large brush for softer waxes - better glide on soft snow if you clean those up
- another horse hair rotobrush for racing Fluor waxes
- stiffer roto-brushes to save the horse-hairs when you use hard/cold wax (RaceWax.com has a brass/horsehair combination that I like)
Scrapers
A good scraper is very important to have. Get a large scraper, it's easier to leverage and make sure to get a scraper sharpener.
The best scraper sharpeners are the electric ones, truly worth the cost - a good scraper is invaluable when dealing with hard waxes!
Other
Get an assortment of brushes and wipes to clean the skis, some alcohol comes in handy to clean the ski bases before waxing, with a paper towel.
The fiberlene "paper" is very good to have, it does clean very well and has multiple uses when waxing some expensive waxes.
Read on for even more Ski Tuning Ideas.
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