I know everyone (well…maybe not everyone) is trying to be “green” these days and for those of you still skiing, or those that forgot to put summer wax on, or those that just don’t have access to an iron, here is a fun way to harness the power of the sun to get your skis all lubed up for your next summer descent! Not much is needed to get the job done here, but some really warm wax (like Swix CH10) and a nylon brush (blue/white, med/soft…whatever) are two things that are necessary.
When you rub in the wax, try to avoid getting grass clippings,
insects, dirt, sweat and beer embedded in your bases too. 🙂
Step One involves rubbing the wax on to the ski. I find it helps to let the skis warm up a bit in the sun first, as it’s usually a bit cooler in the garage. where I store my skis. This can help to smear the the wax around a bit better. Be sure to cover the entire base of the ski, but don’t be too anal. Remember…it’s summertime…right? Next, find a nice sunny spot where you can prop or lay down your skis so they are in direct sunlight and go do something else for a while. I’m not sure what temperature it has to be outside for this to work and how long you have to leave them in the sun is probably dependent on how warm it is out, but I found that on a sunny…70º day, it only took about 15 minutes for the wax to melt into the bases.
Wax has melted and been absorbed.
The final step involves bringing your skis back inside and letting them cool down a bit before brushing…no need to scrape. If you brush your skis while the wax is still hot, it will just glob-up and clog your brush. With a medium or soft bristled brush, you can scrub the bases back-and-forth (as opposed to a stiff brush where you should only brush tip-to-tail), which makes things a bit easier for this beer friendly, back porch DIY. Give it a try!
And all this time I thought “Hey Man, Do you have any Green Wax?” meant something entirely different.
We used to do this same thing in the springtime at an old shop I used to work at. We’d load them up with an absurd amount of wax, throw them in the back of a pickup in the parking lot and let them bake for hours. So much of the wax would be absorbed into the pores, your skis would be lighning fast the next time you skied them. Worked better than the hotbox!
I guess I know what I’m gonna do now when this year’s quiver shows up. Nature’s hot-box…I love it!!!!
Have you guys tried the “green” waxes out there? The Purl or GreenWax or any of that stuff? I’ve used the Purl. It’s fine for sure. Any thoughts?
I haven’t tried either, but I can see these products becoming more mainstream as more and more people become “eco-conscious”>