# ToKo® T8 Snowboard Wax Iron Review.



## Craig64 (Jul 16, 2015)

*❄ ToKo*®* T8 Snowboard Wax Iron Review.


❄ Brand:* ToKo® (ToKo-Swix Sport AG),
*❄ Model:* T8,
*❄ Material:* Aluminium 12.7mm (1/2") base plate, PEI heat resistant chassis/handle. 
*❄ Base Plate Dimensions:* 160mm x 100mm (4" x 6"),
*❄ Colour:* _"Yellow/black",_
*❄ Temperature Range: *100°C to 160°C (212°F to 320°F),
*❄ Weight:* 1000grms (2.2lbs) (without cord),
*❄ Power Output:* 800 Watts,
*❄ AC: *230 volt (EU/Australia/NZ/Chile) / 120 volt (US/Canada/Japan),
*❄ Cord Length:* 245cm or 8 feet,
*❄ Price:* $Au129.99, ($US64.95) RRP @2022,
*❄ Manufactured:* Made in China,
*❄ Rider:* 192cm (6'4"), 95kg (210lbs),
*❄ Rider Outerwear:* Giro Range MIPS® helmet, OT Chips 2.0, Anon M4 goggles, Burton [ak] Cyclic Jacket, [ak] Hover pants, [ak] Powergrid base layer, [ak] Guide gloves, [ak] Endurance socks, Burton SLX boots, Quiksilver TR Platinum 24L riders backpack,
*❄ Board:* Burton Custom 166W, Burton Show Stopper 162, Genesis EST™ (large), 
*❄ Location: *Perisher/Blue Cow/Guthega, N.S.W., 
*❄ Camera:* GoPro Hero 7 Black/Smatree SC2 carbon pole/Samsung Galaxy S8. 











No doubt, as hard core snowboard riders we all know the benefits of how a freshly waxed snowboard gives us that added explosively performance out on the mountain creating superb release, increased velocity and a silky flow through all your turns. I've been running with the ToKo® T8 for about a decade now after jumping from my 1st ever waxing Iron, the Vittora VI Pro. Over the years I've established a small snowboard/ski tuning business that I run from home on my days off work in a dedicated workshop area, building up a base of around 70 customers riding throughout both our Southern and Northern Winters. As a result, the ToKo® T8 does get put through its paces a fair bit during the year and at this stage, cross my fingers, it's truly been rock solid for over 10 of them now. So I thought I'd run a quick review here on SBF giving you a little closer look at what the ToKo® T8 Snowboard/Ski Wax Iron brings to the party.

I also use the ToKo® Board Grip 2.0, ToKo® Edge Tuner World Cup (soon to add) and the Skimender RP360 in my tuning repairs. 









ToKo® Board Grip 2.0 Review.


❄ ToKo® Board Grip 2.0 Review. ❄ Brand: ToKo® (ToKo-Swix Sport AG), ❄ Model: Board Grip 2.0, ❄ Material: Full metal chassis/parts, nylon and rubber, ❄ Size: Width range 8" to 10" (200 to 260mm), Height 6.25" (160mm) above bench top, ❄ Colour: "Yellow/black" , ❄ Price: $Au151.65, ($US109.95)...




www.snowboardingforum.com













Skimender RP360 Base Repair Pistol Review


❄ Skimender RP360 Base Repair Pistol Review. ❄ Brand: Skimender, ❄ Model: RP360 (Au/NZ 230v), ❄ Price: $Au369 ($US249.95) RRP, ❄ Sticks: 11.5mm x 190mm 100% pure hi-density polyethylene @$Au6.50 ($US5) per 10, ❄ Camera: Samsung Galaxy S8. I have been doing repairs on Snowboards and Ski's for...




www.snowboardingforum.com
















ToKo® make 3 snowboard/wax Irons ranging up from the base level analog dialed* T8* (800W) ($US 64.95), the LED digital analog controlled thermostat *T14* (1200W) ($US129.95) and the pro level 90°C to 180°C LED digital microprocessor-controlled thermostat *T18* (850W) ($US349.95). The ToKo® irons come in 2 power variants: 230V for EU/Australia/NZ/Chile and 12volt for USA/Canada and Japan.

Now when looking at which ToKo® snowboard Iron to buy amongst these 3 I first thought the LED digital T14 would be pretty sweet but being twice more expensive than the T8 Iron with exactly the same size base plate it was hard to justify this additional outlay $$$. I'll take into account it has a digital temperature display thermostat and jumps up 400W from 800W to 1200W ie quicker to reach and hold temperature however I've found the ToKo® T8 iron reaches 100°C in 65 seconds from 20°C room temperature which is pretty damn quick.

Now as I've mentioned in other snowboard gear reviews, buying tuning gear in Australia is basically a non issue as everything of any quality has to be purchased overseas and imported in which adds further postage costs into the equation as well as the bringing the fantastic bonus of our outstanding $Au1 into play. I purchased my ToKo® T8 iron from Snowinn for $Au81 delivered however it comes with an EU power plug so I just had to cut the plug off and wire in an Au 3 pin power plug to suit our power points. You could buy an EU to AU power adapter if this process was beyond your technical ability.










The ToKo® T8 wax iron has a temperature dial on centre of the chassis directly below the work handle which has a ratcheted rotating adjustment from 100°C to 160°C (212°F to 320°F) temperature range. I find that really I don't adjust this that much and basically "Set and forget" leaving it on 120°C finding my quicker practiced ironing technique works perfectly without causing any smoking/burning of the wax at all. Normally with ski/snowboard wax the colder the riding condition range is for the wax, the higher the required iron temperature is for application ie Universal Wax 100°C, Intermediate Cold Wax 115°C, Cold Temperature Wax 130°C.

The ToKo® T8 iron is fitted with 2 coloured LED indicators on the front of the handle which show you it's temperature readiness. When you turn the T8 iron on the Red LED illuminates indicating the iron is increasing temperature to whatever you've dialed it into. Once the Thermostat reaches the selected range it changes to the Green LED light ready for use. As you use the iron it causes a reduction in temperature as it runs across the base of your snowboard melting wax with the LED switching back to Red from the drop. The T8 Thermostat then kicks back on with the iron again quickly heating back up till it reaches selected temperature and the Green LED reappears again.










The ToKo® T8 comes with a substantially thick 1/2" Aluminium base which has shallow trenches cut in the base which sweep out from the centre to the perimeter that assist in spreading out the melted wax and transferring it flat across the base of the Snowboard/Ski. I love these channels and find they work brilliantly at maneuvering wax over the surface of a snowboard. The dimensions of the base plate are 160mm x 100mm (4" x 6") which is a pretty decent size especially when doing snow skis as the T8 is often wider than the WW.

Now it's often flown around online why pay all that money $$$ (shake my head and roll my eyes) for a specifically designed snowboard Iron when I can just grab a cheap $20 clothes iron from Walmart. The answer here is clearly down to the superior performance you gain from using a purpose snowboard/ski iron with its ability to specifically hold temperatures with accuracy and longevity via the thicker 12.7mm (1/2") Aluminium base plate and consequently preventing toxic wax burn off from excessive heat.











I own 3x 230volt ToKo® T8 snowboard irons and 1 x 120V iron which I take when I travel to Japan. The reason here is truly as an emergency preparation initiative that I have a couple of back up irons on hand as I was worried that if one ever broke down I couldn't afford with my snowboard tuning business to wait 2 to 3 weeks for it to be posted in from overseas. However my trusty ToKo® T8 has never ever let me down so the backup T8 Irons happily sit boxed up on the shelf waiting to one day be called into action.










I laid a new ToKo® T8 iron on the right alongside my existing T8 Iron on the left which has probably done over a 1000 snowboards and skis and you can see the sole plate still looks pretty close to the original. Every now and then I'll run the T8 over the Scotch-Brite™ fibre belt which polishes all the scratches out off the base but this is probably more so to just calm my OCD down more than anything else.










I grabbed 2x ToKo® Iron Covers for each for my T8 Au 230v and my T8 120V to protect the iron in storage. These were around $Au35 which is like almost half the T8 cost. Expensive, but they are really good and wrap around the base when I keep it protected in the storage draw of my workshop. This one above/below is 10 years old.










The ToKo® T8 Snowboard Iron cover has a heat resistant bottom area for a quick storage of a still warm wax iron. I have never put a hot iron in the cover and wait till it cools down. The cover is designed to fit mostly all current ski wax irons.










The ToKo® T8 iron has a cord length of 245cm or 8 feet and comes with a reinforced flexible attachment point into the rear of the handle frame. The cord length is more than adequate for daily use and I feel that if it was any longer it would probably just get in the way. I have a power connection point fitted into the central front of my waxing workstation so it safely allows easy coverage of a board/ski from tip to tail.

Finally let's talk about the performance of the T8. I've found the ToKo® T8 iron works really superbly and I can do a set of ski's pretty quickly in about a minute each ski and a snowboard in about 2+ minutes. This done by a chalk on technique in tapping the wax to the T8 iron plate for a second and then rubbing the softened wax across the snowboard base, spreading it nice and thin. I then hit the base running the T8 from tip to tail making sure all the wax melts into the base nicely. The ToKo® T8 handle is pretty ergonomically shaped and the Iron feels pretty balanced in hand.










The ToKo® T8 is a fantastic base level professional standard snowboard/ski wax Iron that performs brilliantly. The T8 is really solidly constructed and with its superb high quality, clearly will last a long time.

*Truly **T**8**rrific ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ *


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## tanscrazydaisy (Mar 11, 2013)

I've been using that one for a number of years. But you're preaching to the choir... as many on the forum rather cheap out on the iron as much as possible.


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## Doraibu (Aug 13, 2017)

Does Scotch-Brite™ fibre belt work? I have the same iron and the scratches actually gave my base scratches right after I used it. It was a clean base on soft japow, yea I didn’t believe it myself a board base can look spotless after a few days of riding. Too used to shitty Aussie snow lol

I was just thinking of buying something new locally, and hopefully tougher scratch resistant. I wasn’t rough but boards edges seems to cut the iron easily. Was thinking maybe Toko iron is soft metal.


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## Craig64 (Jul 16, 2015)

Yep I have multitool belt linisher and the scotchbrite belt polishes Aluminium base back to mirror finish. You need to have all the edges addressed before you run the Iron over it otherwise you'll get cuts etc on the aluminium plate that will then mark ptex base. You could just use some 240 grit and run iron over the flat paper in a single direction to smooth it out.


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## Myoko (Dec 11, 2018)

Yup, tried the cheap ones and bought this model years ago, worth every cent. Closest I get to meditation is waxing a snowboard or a surfboard. The last time I went boarding for 6 weeks in Japan I didn't even bother scraping the wax off. Looked shit, worked fine.

What is an easy way to fix the scratches on the base of the iron?


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## Oldman (Mar 7, 2012)

Great review of a great product. I too have had the exact iron for a decade now and although I only use it for personal use, it has been bullet proof. I also saw no need for the upgraded model and don't know that for my use I have missed out on anything. I can only wish that everything mechanical / electrical that I purchase would be so durable. One can only dream.


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## Craig64 (Jul 16, 2015)

Myoko said:


> Yup, tried the cheap ones and bought this model years ago, worth every cent. Closest I get to meditation is waxing a snowboard or a surfboard. The last time I went boarding for 6 weeks in Japan I didn't even bother scraping the wax off. Looked shit, worked fine.
> 
> What is an easy way to fix the scratches on the base of the iron?


Myoko, if you want to repair scratches by hand just use 120/240 grit run in one direction then polish off with a Scotch-Brite™ pad in same direction. Rough edges are causing all the marks on the Aluminium base. I just did a quick clean up on the old T8 base which took me 2 minutes. The machine helps a lot...., hand is just longer. You then have to thoroughly clean the Aluminium plate to get any metal debris out of channels and just give it a wipe over with wax/rag before touching ski/snowboard base to ensure no contaminate transfer. You would have to go a lot deeper into the Aluminium base to remove the deeper scratches to perfection. 










_Old (left) alongside New._











_Old (left) after being polished. _


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## Myoko (Dec 11, 2018)

Good man! I'm pretty useless with my hands unless its holding a piece of sporting equipment but I'll give it a go as I need to start looking at all my snowboarding stuff. It's been years thanks to Covid


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