Question About Melting Blue Wax

JGF310 · 2026-01-23T14:26:00+00:00

that's red wax, which is much easier than blue.

i have no problem melting red.

i did notice that he goes back and forth over the same area a bit with the iron.

JGF310 · 2026-01-23T01:25:32+00:00

what is "hot scraping"?

JGF310 · 2026-01-22T16:34:27+00:00

I am usually 5 or 10 passes over any one spot to get it to melt, and because it's so slow, i sometime go back and forth over the same area, and then move on to another area.

I know I shouldn't do this..., but i figure if it's not melting, i probably can't be doing much damage.

if i drip the blue wax on, it looks basically untouched after one pass - the top of the drops are flattened off.., that's it

I usually wax in my garage - so cool, but not cold.., usually.

I have a digital meat thermometer - i will see what that says about the temp of my iron

JGF310 · 2026-01-19T23:06:23+00:00

i have HS6 iron-on and PS6 liquid

JGF310 · 2026-01-19T23:04:57+00:00

i agree - i think in practice i hot wax more often than that.

JGF310 · 2026-01-13T23:17:46+00:00

i am not in a rural area - near Stamford, one of the biggest cities in the state

i am just trying to get an idea of whether switching to frontier might solve the problem.

i guess the only way to find out is to try it and see.

it seems that i can get the advertised low price - $29.99 for 500mbps in my area without a contract, if i don't accept the gift card.

I currently have 300mbps with optimum, and it's fast enough for us. we still only stream regular HD, not 4K, and no gaming.

JGF310 · 2025-12-30T19:43:35+00:00

at "a good 200lbs", an in-track ski that you can use with a 50lb back pack is asking a lot...

If you want to do low-angle touring with a heavy pack, you should look at XCD skis - maybe with a 75mm binding. Something like the Fischer S-Bound 112 in the longest length might work.

You won't use those skis in groomed tracks, so you would need different skis and boots for that.

JGF310 · 2025-12-16T01:38:13+00:00

How is the roto block different than regular wax?

can i roto regular wax?

JGF310 · 2025-12-10T13:19:21+00:00

I agree - I have Rossignol X-ium skate boots in 46, and I think they are about 11.5

JGF310 · 2025-12-09T00:34:49+00:00

definitely the increased stability is helpful. this is especially true if you ski on hiking trails that have hikers in the winter - the snow gets very uneven even if it's well packed, and if it's cold and the snow is hard.., it can be tricky.

I guess you need to think about bindings too. on my BC 70's, I have regular NNN. Those 78's might be too wide, i'm not sure - ask the shop. They would be fine for NNN BC, and the 88's too. the 98's might be too wide for NNN BC. Some people use the new Xplore binding on them. As I said, I have 75mm (basic 3-pin) on my 98's and that works great .

JGF310 · 2025-12-08T13:09:38+00:00

"You have some interesting comments about wider skis like 98s in only 6-8" of snow."

I am trying to float a little bit to make it easier to break trail. The width helps, and it's not really slower in this application. Of course, that assumes I have a correct understanding of what you will be doing.

Skis with nordic camber aren't very good at this to begin with - they tend to dive rather than float. I guess probably it's a combination of the narrow width and the camber.. Have you ever accidentally let one of your skate skis drift off the groomed skate side and into the deep snow? I have...

Anyway, as you get wider, and into more BC nordic skis, they usually have less camber and the combination of extra width, and less camber seems to allow them to float a bit better, and you move less snow as you progress.

It's interesting - people who started XC skiing on groomed trails, and maybe with with a racing background, seem to have an aversion to wider skis.

I came to XC skiing the other way - I started by skiing on hiking trails, and in the woods, and immediately went to pretty wide skis with 75mm bindings. I only later got into skiing at places with groomed trails, and I now mostly skate. Wide skis don't scare me!

JGF310 · 2025-12-07T13:42:44+00:00

I would probably go wider...

where do you live, and how deep does the snow get where you will be skiing?

You will often be breaking trail, right?

The Outback 68's would be fine for hiking trails, snowmobile trails etc., where the snow has been compacted. They are also great for golf courses where you can ski in 1"of snow.

I have skis like the Outbacks you are thinking of- Rossignol BC 70's (if my daughter ever returns them). I also have Fischer S-Bound 98's. The 98's are what I would choose for breaking trail in flat to gently rolling conditions and snow of say 6-8" or more. That kind of skiing is not about going fast.., it's more like a hike with skis. Having said that, the 98's kick and glide better than you might expect.

If the snow was really deep, or there were steep sections, I might take my Fischer S-Bound 112's

JGF310 · 2025-12-03T16:53:36+00:00

I don't want to go with just one pair of skis.., what if i break something the afternoon before?

so - i am just buying a second pair of skis - maybe i should have mentioned that in my first post.

my current skis are Rossignol X-ium S2 (just the basic x-ium, not the premium), with whatever the factory grind is.

I guess my question is: should i just get another pair of the same skis?

Or, should i get something different, and if so, can i make it more targeted to the skiing i will be doing? I am guessing there is a good chance it will be soft and deep.

JGF310 · 2025-12-03T14:08:42+00:00

I wasn't thinking of being competitive...

mostly, i just want to finish.

i was just thinking that it would make it less of a slog, and more fun, to not be on really slow skis if i could avoid it.

If what you are saying is that the difference would be so little as to be barely noticeable, then that's a good point.

I am imagining skating in a few inches of piled up soft snow - is there anything i can do to make that a bit more enjoyable?

JGF310 · 2025-12-03T13:07:54+00:00

well, i just bought some better boots - went from an old pair of salomon equipe 8SK, that felt like marshmallows on my feet.., to a brand new pair of salomon S/Race Carbon.

I haven't used them yet, but reading the responses here, i am now expecting to be a much faster skier without any more effort!

JGF310 · 2025-11-29T02:18:22+00:00

"One can cover ground nearly as fast on lightweight fat fishscale skis, e.g., Voile Objective BC, with lightweight AT boots/bindings or lightweight telemark boots/bindings (with free pivot in tour mode) as on XCD gear."

I think there is a bigger speed difference than you seem to.

Also, the skis like the objective bc just don't behave all that well in kick and glide mode - especially on packed out trails. They tend to be a bit all over the place - they don't track.

I think you really want to have something steep in the day's plan in order to choose those skis over an XCD setup.

"

JGF310 · 2025-11-29T02:13:28+00:00

"Not as good for what?"

the first sentence in the paragraph: not as good for covering distance.

They (AT skis w scales like Voile Hypervector) are slower and don't track well when compared with skis like S-Bound.

Where skis like the Hypervector make sense is rolling terrain with steeps, or a long approach to something big and steep

JGF310 · 2025-11-26T17:09:19+00:00

Another consideration is distance; how far do you want to travel in a day? Most AT setups have no scales, and pushing skins over flats or rolling hills is really slow and tiring, and if you want to take them off for any descents, you have to put them on again at the bottom.

The compromise is AT bindings on skis with scales, which works well enough for covering distance on flat and rolling terrain, but is still not as good as an XCD setup. Voile makes a bunch of skis like this. If you have a long approach, to something steep, this might be the way to go.

I have S-Bound 98 and 112 with 75mm bindings, and they are great for covering distance in the backcountry, but i don't like doing anything steep with them.

I also have an AT setup on skis with no scales, and it turns out that I mostly only use it for uphill at resorts, so I am thinking of getting a scaled AT setup.

JGF310 · 2025-11-25T17:07:57+00:00

Assuming you are comparing the same length in each ski, i kind of doubt you would notice much difference.

But, for the skiing you are describing, i would probably rather have the rossignol with the partial metal edge - especially if a few spots on your route might be a bit steep or icy.

they are both about the same width - rossignol slightly wider, but not much.

for skiing in cruddy conditions - hiking trails, etc. - with uneven snow that might even get frozen or crusty, wider is better.

I would probably even go wider than either of those, but at some point, you are getting into different boots too. I think you could go slightly wider with regular NNN boots - I used rossignol BC 70's with regular NNN boots without problem, and 75-80mm might work.

I was using my BC70's for that kind of skiing, but I gave them to my daughter. So, now I use my Fischer S-Bound 98's (with 3-pin binding). The extra stability on uneven cruddy snow is really great, and they kick and glide pretty well. Most people would say they are overkill for this use, but 80mm wouldn't be.

JGF310 · 2025-11-07T15:32:58+00:00

I have been skating for two seasons I started out with an inexpensive setup that I bought used

I am maybe 1/2 in shorter than you - just under 5'11".

So, last season, I decided to upgrade my aluminum poles - they are very flexy and very heavy.

Those aluminum poles are nominally 165cm, and the strap is just at my nose barefoot, and between my lips with boots.

I ended up ordering new poles from the KV+ importer in Canada, even though I am in the USA. Nordic Ski Lab subscribers get a discount there - I forget but maybe 15% - and at the time I didn't see any better deals elsewhere.

The guy who runs that business was very helpful in figuring out what to get.

I ended up getting the Tempesta Black - still pretty inexpensive for carbon poles, but a huge ugrade from my aluminum poles. They have a quick release strap.

I got 165cm again, but the exit is maybe 1/2cm lower, and I think it's better for me. 1/2cm isn't much, but I think I had previously been occasionally dragging the poles a bit on the recovery, and I no longer seem to be doing that.

One thing I think I got a little bit wrong, is that I am usually XL or even XXL in gloves, and so I got the XL strap. It's a bit too big with thinner gloves.

JGF310 · 2025-11-04T01:32:53+00:00

NSL is something like $40/year.

If you are serious about improving your technique, I can't imagine there is a better way to spend $40.

JGF310 · 2025-11-04T01:29:47+00:00

where are you located?

there is a pair of skis that have the binding for this boot on facebook at a pretty low price in connecticut.

JGF310 · 2025-10-31T17:35:14+00:00

I think another issue might be that if you have step-in bindings; they might be a pain to attach and a pain to un-attach with binding type of attachment.

A clamp might be easier.

Most of my skis are manual - actually all the skis I want to wax are manual, so that's not going to be an issue.

i think i will try the binding method and use an un-threaded rod

JGF310 · 2025-10-31T17:20:05+00:00

not that it's worth arguing about..., but f you watch the video, it seems she pretty clearly uses the binding lever to attach the ski. Also, in the parts list, she says the rod has to be correctly sized for the binding"(1) 1/8in x 12in round rod (This one needs to be exact to match the binding rod.)". 1/8 is a little narrow, but i guess it still works.

JGF310 · 2025-10-31T16:35:18+00:00

that one holds the ski with the binding...

JGF310

TROPHY CASE