Thoughts on Current Post Fluorine Race Waxing
Post fluorine race waxing has become quite complicated as everyone is scrambling to find the best solution. Because of this the choices out there currently are numerous and confusing. I want to give some thoughts on this which I hope readers will find helpful.
First the recommendations and observations that I am going to make are for domestic racers, obviously not for the World Cup. This means that they’re for just about everyone who races.
The goal is to have fast skis with good durability. There are a lot of emerging forms of race wax that are being used out there. Some of these include pastes, rub or buff on solids, hot waxes, liquids, and powders. Each brand has its competence and clearly I recognize that there is more than one way to arrive at a good result. This does not mean though that all solutions are equally good in all conditions.
Currently World Cup teams are still using perfluorocarbon topcoats over fluorinated hydrocarbon race waxes. The topcoats are either powders or liquids or a combination of both. Domestically, if waxing for events that do not permit the use of fluorine, teams are hot waxing and covering the hot wax with liquid paraffins or powders. Technology is still emerging and we can all expect improved performance of non fluorinated hot waxes, powders, and liquids.
The Toko way of waxing is different from some other brands simply because we have different technology and know-how. Some brands work exclusively with paste, some work with rub or buff on solids, and some brands focus on liquids. We at Toko have decided to focus on hot waxes, liquids, and powders when it comes to non fluorinated race waxes (which is all we make). These three forms have demonstrated the best performance and predictability and we believe that they have the most potential.
It would be a foolish error to try to work with all five forms of wax during a race season in an attempt to find the “best” skis. It is not only impractical to try to test all five forms regularly and before events but to try to maintain familiarity with all five reduces the expertise that one could have with the main three which is a critical point. One important part of waxing well is to be able to predict what wax is going to work as conditions change. We don’t just wax for the present but most commonly we are waxing for a time hours in the future and we need to predict the conditions and what wax is going to run then. Keeping the familiarity of the hot waxes, liquids, and powders is challenging enough without trying to address pastes and buff on solids. The best practice is to constantly monitor technology and continue to test periodically but for your day to day to pick a horse. In our case this means hot waxes, liquids, and powders.
Hot waxes have been universally good. So long as there are sintered bases out there, hot waxes will be a critical component of ski preparation. Liquids have been excellent in many conditions from very cold to very wet with possibly the best conditions being where conditions are fairly fast and maybe with the snow at least slightly transformed. Sometimes the liquid paraffins can be a liability for example in some kinds of new falling or new fallen snow depending on your geographic location. Beware of this and test so there are no surprises.
The Toko liquid paraffins are different from the others in the market. The main difference is the Toko liquid paraffins have the smallest particle size and in some kinds of snow can require longer drying times. The smaller particles make the wax both faster and more durable. The Toko liquid paraffins offer a lot of variability such that you can adjust your application to the snow characteristics to make them even faster. So, it’s not just wax that you are evaluating but also the application method. Optimal drying time of the Toko liquid paraffins depends on the type of snow. The more arid and colder the snow is, the more drying time is needed, ideally overnight. The more moisture in the snow and the warmer it is, less drying time is needed even down to 30 minutes. In very wet snow for short events, you can even ski on High Performance Liquid Paraffin Yellow while the application is still wet with very good results. So, you are not just picking out the wax but also can fine tune your application to the characteristics of the snow by letting it dry for longer or shorter. The same wax, let’s say Red if let sit overnight will be harder, more durable, and will perform better in more dry snow than if let dry for only 30 minutes before brushing it out. In that case it will be more hydrophobic and will perform better in wetter snow. So despite us only offering three wax colors, there is a multitude of fine tuning that can be done depending on how long you let it dry.
Basically, what we are trying to create currently when waxing fluorine free is to achieve what we used to call a speed layer on top of our hot wax job. A speed layer is a very thin uniform layer of wax that acts to speed up the skis. We at Toko have decided that our liquid paraffins are the best way to achieve this as compared to buffing on a solid or paste. They are more adjustable and generally we believe that they are more durable.
Years ago we used to apply a speed layer of JetStream Bloc over our JetStream application. In certain conditions, especially new fallen or new falling snow this speed layer would serve to speed the skis up dramatically. Then once HelX came out we replaced this solid rub on and buff out layer with HelX because it worked even better. This was not to say that the old Bloc speed layer was not good, but the HelX simply worked better so despite having had won a great many races on the Bloc speed layer, we changed our practice and had better skis. I think the situation today is similar when comparing buff on solids compared to liquids (both over hot wax).
So, why do we hot wax? Race skis have sintered bases. Sintered bases allow a waxer to adjust the properties of the base and can actually make it harder or softer and more dry friction resistant or more hydrophobic. How is this achieved? Because the sintered base takes in the hot wax and adopts its properties. When you hot wax a sintered base with a cold wax such as blue, the base gets hard and dry friction resistant because the wax actually is in the base and has hardened it. It is the same with a softer more hydrophobic wax. This makes our skis faster for any specific condition. The other reason we hot wax is to maintain the health of our bases. Sintered ski bases are best when they have wax in their bases. Additionally, hot waxing also can eliminate the effects of abrasion from skiing on abrasive snow. When you hot wax much like applying moisturizer on chapped dry skin, you restore the base to a healthier and better performing condition.
This is not to say that bare skis with a perfluorocarbon topcoat on them were not used sometimes on the World Cup in certain conditions but this was the exception. World Cup teams did and continue to buy a large quantity of hot waxes. This is the main staple of ski care and will be so long as we are working with sintered bases.
We will see where technology leads us, but I believe that in two years, race waxing will be quite different from how it is now. I believe we will have liquid and powder topcoats again that will be applied and perform much like the perfluorocarbon topcoats of the past. As things continue to change, we need to pick a horse and focus on two or three forms of race wax rather than trying to figure out all of them at the same time. We need to become smarter and learn our tools such that we know what to use where and when rather than testing everything under the sky. Predictability and expertise is what we seek, not chasing tails.
Good luck and see you out there.
