# How to brush your board after waxing?



## NWBoarder (Jan 10, 2010)

The Brass brush is for wax removal before waxing. The horsehair and any other soft brush is for adding texture to the wax job. The grooves and channels you create help channel the water away from the base, thus allowing you to slide faster. Brush from tip to tail. Any other way is pointless and may actually slow you down instead of speeding you up.


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## tonto (Mar 15, 2012)

Oh, shucks... I may have removed too much wax then when I used the brass brush after I waxed the board. Does that mean I need to rewax my board again?


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## NWBoarder (Jan 10, 2010)

Probably not. If you used the brass brush as a scraping device you should be ok, though you may actually have more wax on there then you want. Ideally, if it's waxed proper, the board shouldn't much have wax on it. It should have the majority of the wax IN it. Ptex absorbs wax, that's why we iron the wax in. It not only heats the wax, but it heats the ptex and opens the pores allowing it to absorb the wax. The scraping afterwards is just to remove any excess wax that the ptex may not have absorbed. Then you polish up the fine layer you're left with and ride.


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## tonto (Mar 15, 2012)

Ok, thx for the tip! I do use a plastic scraper to scrape as much wax off as I could. It's just that I used the metal brush also. Next time, I'll only use the metal brush to remove any excess wax before applying a base cleaner and then waxing. After scraping a much as possible off, I'll be sure to use the non-metal brushes to go in a smooth motion from tip to tail to channel the snow. Thx!


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## jdang307 (Feb 6, 2011)

NWBoarder28 said:


> Probably not. If you used the brass brush as a scraping device you should be ok, though you may actually have more wax on there then you want. Ideally, if it's waxed proper, the board shouldn't much have wax on it. It should have the majority of the wax IN it. Ptex absorbs wax, that's why we iron the wax in. It not only heats the wax, but it heats the ptex and opens the pores allowing it to absorb the wax. The scraping afterwards is just to remove any excess wax that the ptex may not have absorbed. Then you polish up the fine layer you're left with and ride.


I read something that says otherwise. The base does not absorb any wax. Nothing.

I'll go look for it.It was pretty damn official looking.

EDIT:

http://www.escnordic.org.uk/

Go to Myths and fables, then base pores. They have some interesting photos of base material magnified 100 and 500 times. Also, a relevant excerpt:



> The majority of cross country ski bases are made from P-Tex (Madshus, Fischer, Salomon, Rossignol). This material is manufactured by IMS Kunststoff AG. They are the creators of P-Tex. They have a split personality and sometimes call themselves Gurit. I can’t be bothered sorting out which company owns the other. They have posted an interesting file on their site called Extruded and press-sintered running bases. Here you can learn much about the material used in the base of your skis, but not, unfortunately, anything about pores. It is still well worth a read.
> 
> So I wrote to [email protected], which is their email address, asking about pores. The relevant part of my email said "According to a posting on the internet by Urs Geissbühler there are no pores in press sintered running bases. Can you confirm this?". I received a reply from the man himself -
> 
> ...


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## legallyillegal (Oct 6, 2008)

...........

it's a crystalline structure (as in little cracks everywhere), there are no pores (as in little holes everywhere)

doesn't matter how you brush, since wax goes in the base not on the base

don't use steel, use copper or brass

if your base doesn't have a stone-ground structure, it won't have a structure after ironing, after scraping, after brushing, after buffing


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## lernr (Feb 3, 2012)

don't know where you saw what you're doing - these videos must be whack!

Here goes:
brass brush before waxing to remove old wax - not after new wax. You could use base cleaner here
If you want base structure - use steel before waxing, clean up with one of the pads
Now you are ready to wax
Scrape w/ plastic (not steel)
brush with horsehair, possibly other brushes

Yes, I think you need to wax your board again.


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## tonto (Mar 15, 2012)

Looks like the 1st brush I used is a copper brush. The description is as follows:

Get the same brush used by racing teams around the world. The Toko Oval Copper Base Brush is for brushing out and cleaning dirty bases prior to waxing. It's also suitable for brushing out after hot waxing. The Toko Oval Copper Base Brush's large contact surface guarantees evenly prepared bases. Toko's nylon strap provides optimal grip and allows efficient base work.

I guess I took the description to mean I should use the brush for before and after wax & scrape. But there was no details as to brush strokes, such as not brushing too hard after the wax & scrape or you will remove too much of the wax (i.e. cause small wax grains).

I just looked at my board and it looks like there is some sort of structure since there seems to be grooves going from tip to tail. but I'm not sure if this is the board's structure or structure I added with the brushes. If there's a concern that I removed too much wax with the copper brush after I waxed and scraped, then I guess I will have to rewax my board. *sigh* What a newbie mistake!

Thanks for your advice!


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