Re-using scraped wax?

[tpalka]

Just curious -- not that wax is so expensive, but I'm still learning to use "enough and not too much" when hot waxing, I was wondering if I could re-use the wax that I scraped off? I'd only use the clean stuff (i.e. nothing that fell of my tuning bench), seems like it melts just fine. Any reasons I shouldn't?

tom.

[Guest shrederjen]

Have you tried applying the wax with the crayon method?

(touch the wax to your iron, then rub the wax on the board, rather than dripping it on) You will have a LOT LESS to wax off, er scrape off. :)

I would not reapply scraped wax, because you are actually scraping any dirt and crap off the base, when you wax off.

[kamran]

I do the Crayon method too,

works great!

[boostertwo]

Like ShrederJen I've been crayoning over the entire base, then ironing it in. I haven't tried pre-heating the wax against the iron, however. I just rub a room-temp bar along the entire base. This has been the best way I've found, so far, to maintain the base while minimizing wasted wax. Makes scraping and clean-up a snap, too.

Crayoning has also helped me to spot small surface irregularities on the base, such as small waves created from a less-than-perfact base grind, and dimples caused by binding-suck. The low spots tend to be missed by the crayoning, making them very easy to see.

[Mike T]

The "room-temp crayon" method doesn't work for me, as most of my boards have an aggressive structire and it doesn't seem to leave enough wax on the base to really work it in. Warm crayon leaves just enough.

My dirty little secret:

I've stopped scraping the entire base. I just scrape down the middle. I leave the outer inch or two unscraped. There's not much left to scrape even w/ the warm crayon method, and the part near the edges gets buffed out nicely in the 1st two runs anyways, especially since I usually take a couple of warm-ups on a beginner run that gets groomed right before opening.

[tpalka]

Thank you all for suggestions. I have been using the crayon method, but I was told to do that to protect the base (i.e. should the iron be too hot). So I've been crayoning the entire base, and then putting two melted beads of wax (running the iron along the base) 1/2 inch from each edge. If I'm waxing a wider board then I also put a squiggle bead in the middle, and then run an iron to melt it all.

I'll try using just the crayon method, i.e. without the additional beads of wax, and see how it works out. I presume I'll need to move the iron pretty quick to avoid damaging the base, right?

Thanks!

tom.

PS. boostertwo -- nice pic :)

[kjl]

Heya, Tom.

I have been using the Wax Whizard in conjunction with the crayon method mostly, and that seems pretty effective at wasting zero wax and getting the entire base surface covered with wax. There is less mess (you can do it on your living room carpet if you want) and less breathing in of wax fumes, and a bar of wax will last a season.

Whenever the base looks in need of extra attention (e.g. if I just bought the board and want to get a bunch of wax down in there to start or if it looks like it needs it (so maybe twice a season) I'll do a full iron hotwax. Since I only do this once or twice a year, I don't really care about how much wax I'm wasting, and do a crayon + beads of wax method like you do.

I have actually tried remelting scraped off wax from the last waxing, back when I did full hotwaxes every two days, and quickly stopped. I don't know why (maybe because I tend to let my boards sit with wax on them for 4-5 days before scraping), but it was filthy. I was careful about only getting the freshly scraped up wax from the board as well, but after remelting and smearing the wax on a yellow base, I could see swirls of brown on the board and on the iron. Gross.

[tpalka]

Thanks, Ken! After hearing your opinions at SES and re-reading the old BOL threads, I ordered the WaxWHIZard last week, it seemed like a good idea. Did you read the PDF that got attached to that post, I believe it was "how.deep.pdf", a technical discussion about wax absorption. I was pretty depressed after reading it -- made me wonder if I overheated my bases and if all my hot-waxing was for naught anyways!

I wonder if the best solution would be to hotwax the boards once every couple of weeks (so every 6-8 days of riding) and store them in a hot-bot overnight. And to use the waxwhizard for the other riding days.

tom.

[kjl]

Yeah, I've been looking into making a hotbox. I'm not particularly handy but it seems like a trip to the Home Depot and a weekend would be enough to get one working.

I figure maybe doing a crayon+WHIZard+hotbox is probably as good as a hotwax, except easier + cleaner + less waste + no chance of burning your base.

[John K]

Does anyone know what temp a hot box is to be held at ? for how long? etc...

JK

ps.. Ken, I will be at Squaw Fri and Sunday :>

[kjl]

I think 50-55 degrees celcius for 1-3 hours it looks like. I haven't been able to figure out if it's bad to leave it in for longer than 3 hours, but I'm guessing not (120-130F isn't that hot. I think. John, I'll probably see you on Sunday.

[tpalka]

Yes, that's what I saw as well. A few pages about hotboxes:

Comparison of hotbox vs. iron:

http://www.nordicskiracer.com/cgi-bin/news/news_item.asp?NewsID=449

Plans for building a hotbox (search for "HOT BOX" on this page):

http://www.tognar.com/waxing_tips_ski_snowboard.html#Hot%20Wax

Seems like most of the concerns about leaving boards for longer than 2-3 hours had to do with warping, etc, but the commercial outfits I found seem to advertise leaving them overnight. It doesn't seem that 55C would damage the boards or anything else.

tom.