Anyone know of a good waxing iron?

[C5 Golfer]

Anyone know of a good waxing iron at a good sale price?

[Coldrider]

Tognar may have what you're looking for.

[D-Sub]

OH MY GOSH!

that place just made my brain drip out of my ears

I always thought I was decent at tuning for the most part

crikey

[Bordy]

Any iron with out holes will work just fine most of our shop irons are 15 years old. Bought at a thift store for a few dollors each. There is no need to buy a Pro Iron unless you want to own a Pro Iron.

[skategoat]

Bought mine at a garage sale for $1. In a pinch, wrap your regular iron with aluminum foil to keep the wax out of the holes and off your clothes.

[Jagger]

Originally posted by Bordy
Any iron with out holes will work just fine most of our shop irons are 15 years old. Bought at a thift store for a few dollors each. There is no need to buy a Pro Iron unless you want to own a Pro Iron.

What difference does it make if the iron has holes?

[trailertrash]

i used to have one with holes, the wax would get in the holes and burn and make a lot of smoke. than the burned wax would drip on your board.

[Jagger]

The reason I asked is I've always used the same iron with holes and never had a problem. So I didn't know why Bordy said use an iron with no holes

[slam]

I find the cheapest one i can get works wonderfully.

I dont know any reason not to have holes . . .

[Hugh]

Yeah, those old style irons that Grandma used work great and they can be found cheap at the flea market or garage sale $1-5. Be sure to keep the iron cord from rubbing along the snowboard edge and shreding up the cord.

I bought a Swix iron from Tognar, excellent iron.

Keep your eyes open for sales on wax right now. Buy some cheap wax to seal your boards for the summer months.

Hugh

[k_t]

Originally posted by Bordy
Any iron with out holes will work just fine most of our shop irons are 15 years old. Bought at a thift store for a few dollors each. There is no need to buy a Pro Iron unless you want to own a Pro Iron.

Your basic irons for clothes are good for clothes but the fluctuation on the temperature is way too much for a good job on your board. Sometimes as much as +40 to -40 degrees from the setting as the thermostat cycles. You may have it just right to heat the wax and base when you start and as it cools and needs to re-heat it may get too hot and smoke the wax. For those you do not know what happens to wax when it smokes, it becomes carbonated and gets into the base with the rest of the wax and makes for a slow wax job. Too cool and you do not get the wax penetration you need into the base. Most of the wax comes with a temperature range that you should set your iron to and the better "pro irons" will have a temperature range on them. Also the fluctuation is never usually more than 4 to 10 degrees. An iron with a more massive (thick / heavy) foot on them to maintain the correct temps for the wax you are using is also a good thing. for large bases such as your board.

All this said, use what you have if you are OK with it and if you want to get more serious about waxing you may want to look into a "pro iron".

[ARCrider]

bought a new waxing specific iron and found out that I preferred my old one from my mom. Rewired the old one and use it now. The base on the old one is thick and heavy and maintains my desired heat more evenly. The base on the old one is also more durable, had to take a file to the new one occasionally to smooth out nicks along the edge before using it.

[Bordy]

K_t,

You are correct there are some benifits to a true waxing iron how every your statement about + or - 40degrees of differance bothered me so I took my iron thermometer to the shop and tested the 9 irons we have. The greatest temp range was only 4 degrees after rapid cooling and heating. I then went to a shop that my buddy runs and tested all of his irons some Swix some Toko and some "grandma" Same deal about 5 degrees different.

As far as wax Carbonating. It is made of carbons Hydrocarbons or florocarbons so if they get to hot they are going to burn and reduce to just carbon like almost any thing else that contains carbon.

The reason an iron should be hole free is because the holes not only provide a different temp at their locations but a simple miss press of a button and you could start the irons steam cycle( the whole reason the holes are there) Weather the resovor is filled with water or not the temp out the holes will not only move any old wax build up(probably burnt) into the base but possably change the temp enough to cause the laminate to realese in areas causeing the dreaded "I was moving the iron why did my base bubble senerio"

Prhaps newer "home" iron have such a difference in temp +or- 40 due to their thin bases and teflon coatings etc. How ever they all have another charicteristic HOLES. Irons with out holes are generally older and have a thick Steel base that holds temp well. That is why the NO HOLES guidlines work so well for a WAX IRON.

Also the fun thing I noticed about Pro Irons is that the Temp Gauge on the Iron was as much as 12-15 degrees off according to my Iron thermometer. ( Buy From any good tune or Model AirPlane hobbie shop.)

All the tuners I spoke with ( I my self am also a tuner) agree that unless you are working with "spendy Floros" not low floros, the if its melting and not smoking temp guide has worked for all of us for over 20 years.


And according to Kents Poll not many of you Cats are racing so are you worried about times on a course or board matanance?

[k_t]

Hey Bordy, nice to know that the older thick base irons still work great. I have had not such great experiences with the newer thin ones after the grandma iron quit. Could not stand the holes or the rapid cooling either. There is one wax specific iron that I should/will not mention that is not so good at holding temps either. I got a pretty good iron shortly after my ‘grandma’ one quit a few years ago and also like the fact that the edges are rounded up. Also I should mention that sometimes I get these things in a way that I don't have to worry about the sticker ($) shock. All in all it sounds like if you can still find the older heavy base, non-steam irons cheep, then by all means get one. I did like mine back before it became landfill.

As for the button, I knew what would happen if it were pushed so we would always remove/disarm the thing 'cause we sure weren’t going to take the thing home to mom to iron clothes with. (Maybe this is good advice to some who use the steam irons)

I have one question for you on the serious side. You said to check into hobby shops for a good iron. A lot of us (at least me) probably never thought of that. (I work too much any more to have many hobbies). What do you usually have to pay for a good enough iron there? I have some friends that may also like to know.

And you are right about not many of us are racing. The simple fact that a well maintained anything will give you better performance is what a lot of us strive for. Not always for the clock but for personal gain and satisfaction. I already know that the wax or waxing is not going to win any races for me. I personally think that better glide from wax and/or structure can also be translated into better release. After all being the typical lazy American, anything made easier has to be better.

Wax on!

[trailertrash]

i think bordy was saying to look at a hobbie shop for the thermometer. i use an infrared thermometer to check the temp
of my iron and board.

[Bordy]

"i use an infrared thermometer to check the temp
of my iron and board."

Thats so tech!

Now I might have to get rid of my set on thermometer.

K_t It was just the meter I was talking about, but you could buy a covering iron with temp controls build in for about 25 bucks from tower hobbies only the surface area is small.

[Hugh]

SWIX STANDARD WAX IRON Item #SWX-T7411 is on sale for $65 on Tognar and the COVERITE IRON THERMOMETER Item #GPM-2410 for $7.95

I bought both of these a couple of months back, great investment. No doubt it is going to cost $100 to get setup to wax and tune your own boards, but it won't take long to cover your expenses.

Wax on, wax off...

Check it out: Tri-City in Fremont, CA is having Spring blowout sales on gear. Waxing iron with tuning supplies = $20, brand new Burton Speed boards for $85!