What do you need in your waxing shed? Here comes a little guide with the most essential items!
- A good and stable waxing area – a waxing profile and a waxing bench.
- Waxing iron, with temperature indication. Do not use an old iron but one intended for ski waxing. Preferably one with a thick plate, about a centimeter. They maintain the temperature evenly and stably throughout the entire waxing process. You use the waxing iron for more than just melting in glide wax. You can and should also melt in the first layer of grip wax so that all other wax stays on better. Just be very careful to clean the iron between the different types of wax.
- Plastic scraper
- Groove scraper (resembles a pen that you use to remove wax from the ski's groove, the channel in the middle of the ski)
- Combo brush (a brush with both nylon and brass/steel brush), If you want, you can also invest in both a nylon brush and a brass brush.
- Fibertex cloth
- Wax remover, wax removal agent
- Putty knife or steel scraper to remove wax or scrape off if the wax has frozen under the ski
- Dry paper, fiberlene, much more effective than regular household paper.
- Sandpaper: grit 80, 100 or 120
The following items can also be good to have but are absolutely not necessary
- Heat gun
- Rilling tool – A rilling tool helps to channel water away effectively and creates the best possible glide for the current conditions. It is most effective when it is wet. Imagine the suction that forms between two glass plates when you pour water between them. That is the kind of suction a good structure counteracts. A 2-millimeter straight rill is a good and simple solution to channel water away when it is wet. In some conditions, a rill can almost mean more than what wax you have on the ski.
- Thermometer to measure snow temperature
- Humidity meter
- Machine-driven brushes, so-called rotary brushes that you attach to a drill
- A specific waxing iron to heat in grip wax (klister and can wax)
- A specific waxing iron to heat out glide wax and base wax
Don't forget good ventilation or a protective mask
Grip:
Can wax is mainly used in non-transformed snow. That is, fine-grained snow that has not been exposed to temperatures above freezing. Transformed snow is called new snow that has aged for a while and been exposed to mild temperatures so that the snow crystals clump together and create coarse-grained, abrasive conditions.
You need:
- A red can wax that says about +2 / +0
- A zero-degree purple/violet can
- A blue can about -3 / -10 degrees below zero
- A base wax that is always heated into the base so that all other wax sticks better, this wax has no real grip properties.
Klister:
- A red klister for really warm conditions
- A universal klister – plus 5 degrees to minus 5 degrees
- A blue klister, violet or a base klister, they serve the same function. It is a base that you heat into the base so that the other klisters stick, just like with can wax.
Glide:
You need at least three different glide waxes
- A red for around +4 / -4 degrees
- A blue for around -6 / -12 degrees
- A green or black, preferably graphite wax, -10 / -20 degrees. This is used as a base for all competitions because it is durable. You of course also use it to ski on as it is if it's the specified temperature.
- When there are many degrees above freezing, glide wax is barely needed. It has such poor durability that it doesn't stick for long anyway.