In reply to earlsdonwhu:
> Sadly, my skiing is now over for the year and before i put several pairs of ( alpine) skis away I want to wax them.....never done it myself before.. Looking to get an iron etc but am bewildered by choice of waxes. Can anyone recommend me something pretty universal? I see there are some spray on ones plus more traditional blocks to melt.Thanks
Waxing is the easiest ski maintenance, and definitely pays for itself if you ski more than a couple of days a season (plus you'll often do a better job than the shops). I wax at home beforehand every time I go skiing, if I'm on an extened trip I'll bring wax if it's longer than 3-4 days or if it's abrasive or spring conditions . Not necessary but I definitely notice the difference. Once you get the hang of it, it's only a few minutes of actual work, but you do need to wait for the wax to cool before scraping. You can also do a hot-scrape, this is to help clean out the bases though, and you need to apply more wax after. I do this once a season, before storing.
As a minimum you'll want a waxing iron, wax, plastic scraper for wax, ptex candle to fill in any gouges on the bases, metal scraper for ptex.
I also use a brass brush and a nylon brush after scraping, not necessary but definitely helps get a nice finish , and inexpensive.
For the wax unless you're racing I'd stick to hydrocarbon wax. The fluoro wax is more expensive and harmful to your health if inhaled. All temp wax is fine, cold and warm weather wax is nice to have, warm especially helpful in sticky spring conditions.
Don't buy break retainers - they're rubber bands with a brand logo and 1000% markup.
If you want to get into sharpening, you'll need an edge tool, coarse/medium/fine diamond stones, a file, and gummi stones. Also some way of holding the ski steady. However, I ski a reasonable amount (30 days this season) but have still only sharpened my skis once this season; so it's not as much of a money saver, it's just nice to be able to do if you need it, instead of having to wait at the service desk in the morning. Although if you need sharp edges then there's no fresh tracks to be had so you can wait a few minutes. The main reason I sharpen is to remove burrs from the edges. And I have never done the base edges (myself), only the side.
Post edited at 17:14