Waxing

(FAQ)

Like any cutting tool, you need to keep sharp for quicker, easier & better results. Why waste the material and just toss them when they can be used for years. Having a few sharpened scrapers around is also nice when you have a lot of scraping.

A plexi-scraper works best when it’s edge is straight and smooth and the corners are sharp without burrs or jagged areas. Very much like wood, plastic can be cut and formed with a variety of methods and tools to achieve desired results:

1) A dedicated scraper sharpening guide with a file, ceramic cutters or a carbide blade.
2) Setting up a 90° dedicated or multi-angled side edge guide with a panzer or very coarse file.
3) A large, flat or panzer file secured to a bench or in a bench vise
4) Power tools: belt sander, jointer, router table, etc
5) Coarse sandpaper or drywall screen on flat surface
6) Securing a plexi-scraper in a bench vise and quickly scraping edge with sharp metal scraper

7) Or JUST ARRIVED: Ski (also Snowboard) Scraper Sharpener with carbide bit for long life and fast reliable edges for production scraping and convenience.

Edited: 9/1/11

For those who grew fond of the Maplus Universal (Green) and Universal Hot (White) solid waxes in the past can rest assured that the formula, glide and durability is the same, but the colors changed over the past season.

Maplus Universal (Green) is now Briko-Maplus Universal (Red)

Maplus Universal Hot (White) is now Briko-Maplus Universal Hot (Yellow)

This is also true for the Universal Fluoro and Universal Fluoro Hot series.

Description:

Economical  Universal wax. -15 to 0 degrees C (5 to 32 degrees F) and above.

Universal (red) hard, high melt paraffin snow temperature -15 to -5 degrees C. Ideal as initial base prep wax when snow temperature is cold or snow is abrasive ie. man-made snow.

Universal Hot (yellow) soft, medium melt-point paraffin glide wax for saturation and protection of ski and snowboard bases. Ideal as an initial base prep wax when snow temperature is warm, as a first wax after stone grinding base and hot scraping. Snow temperature -5 to 0 degrees C.

Briko-Maplus is known for exhaustive testing and formulation of their products to provide the best glide for very specific to broad conditions. Not only is snow temperature an important consideration for optimal glide, but also snow aggressiveness and types, humidity and stage of snow transformation.

Here are this year’s Briko-Maplus Wax Charts by snow aggressiveness for alpine and nordic skiing and snowboarding waxes:

(Click on images to expand)

Click here to download the Briko-Maplus Wax and Tools Catalog for 2011-2012.

The new fiber roto-brushes on page 27 are worth a look. Made from polyester or merino wool are highly versatile and effective because the fibers free and polish the base structure more efficiently and at less cost. Application of powder and liquid wax is better than using a roto-cork.

Please contact us if you have questions or need any Briko-Maplus products that are not found in our store.

We are please to welcome Glide-On Hydrocarbon Wax to our product line up.

Hand crafted in the beautiful San Juan Mountains of SW Colorado, Glide-on wax can be used on skis, snowboards, skate skis, telemark skis, and skiboards, just as you would any hot melt glide wax.  The base preparation and wax application are no different.  However, if you are unfamiliar with waxing, instructions are as follows:

1. Clean the Base:

Set waxing iron temperature to between 100 and 120^o C (do not exceed 140^o C).  Hold Glide-on Warm/Base Prep against the hot iron and drip wax onto the length of the base.  Spread the wax evenly across the surface with the iron, moving from tip to tail with smooth, even passes.  Be sure to use enough wax to glide smoothly across the surface.  While the wax is still molten, scrape, with a sharp plexi scraper and finish with a clean cloth to remove all the remaining wet wax. Repeat ironing-in and hot-scraping a second time.

2. Saturate the base:

Melt on a layer of Glide-on Warm/Base Prep wax the length of the base and spread it evenly across the surface with a waxing iron, just as you did when cleaning the base.  Repeat 3 times without scraping.  After the 3^rd application, scrape off the excess wax while still hot.  This will clean the surface further and ensure thorough base saturation.  Brush the base with a bronze brush from tip to tail approximately 10 times, with an overlapping movement.  Finish with a softer brush.

3.  Apply the final coat of wax:

Melt Glide-on Arctic, Cold, Medium or Warm wax over the length of the base.  Iron from tip to tail to melt the wax into the pores of the base. Allow the base to cool completely (at least 30 minutes). Use your plastic scraper to scrape the wax off of the base, using smooth, evenly pressured strokes from tip to tail. Scrape until there is no visible wax on the surface. The rest has been absorbed into the base.

Following, are two videos, a few minutes long, showing various hot waxing techniques, along with minimal scraping and roto-brushing to bang out waxing tasks in little time and with little mess. Not including cooling and hardening time (20 minutes, minimum) the total time involved could be easily under 15 minutes and possibly 10 per pair or snowboard. Using liquid wax, the time could be 5 minutes:
(Note select the ‘HQ’ icon for Higher Quality video.)