What will happen to my skis this summer if I don't put on a coat of "storage wax"???

I'm a firm believer is storage wax.  That being said, I have sinned, more than once, and just put them away (in a DRY environment, not the garage) and dealt with it in the fall.  Normally I use Toko red hydro as my storage wax, because I don't like it as much as my Racewax.  The result of NOT waxing for summer has just been more brushing with the brass brush in the fall.  Since they are dry all summer, the edges haven't been a big issue. 

sib's right.  Just make sure they are in a dry environment, and use straps to keep the edges apart - should be fine.

Nothing will happen. Skis will still stay there, but check this photo (it was in middle of September and I put skis to shelf in basement on end of April) and you will see yourself why it's good to use storage wax.

Without wax, a whole lot of this dust would end up in ptex pores. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by primoz 

Nothing will happen. Skis will still stay there, but check this photo (it was in middle of September and I put skis to shelf in basement on end of April) and you will see yourself why it's good to use storage wax.

 

Without wax, a whole lot of this dust would end up in ptex pores. 

 

Dust?  Looks like sumpin' dun et a big hole in yer tip dere eh?  Got rats?

I just through my skis into my Double concourse bag... errh, Wait I don't have any skis left this year.......

I store them upright with the straps separating them in an area without much traffic, so the dust has been minimal.  The wax does seem to ooze out of the ptex over the summer, though, and forms a layer than I use a brass brush on.  After I do that, the bases are glossy as can be. 
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by primoz 

Nothing will happen. Skis will still stay there, but check this photo (it was in middle of September and I put skis to shelf in basement on end of April) and you will see yourself why it's good to use storage wax.

 

Without wax, a whole lot of this dust would end up in ptex pores. 

 

Don't waste your paste wax for summer storage. It doesn't do what you want a summer wax to do: protect your bases.

I usually wax with a base prep or Red Toko System 3. Some skis I leave bare. Race skis always have wax on them, in season or not.

Here are some other opinions:

Just wax em.  F4 is better than nothing.

You should also store your skis in a manner that helps keep the camber in tackt  If you store them with the bases clipped together I recommend having something thick in the middle between them over the bindings. 

Reality check: 1) ski bases are about as inert a material as you can find - practically speaking, unless you leave them UV exposed in full sun,  bathe them in sulfuric acid, or perhaps gamma irradiate them, they will not, for any practical purpose, decay or oxidize. 2) ski base material is not fond of water - it will neither absorb moisture nor "dry out". 

I have skis that are @ least 15 years old that have never been used (a life time of cheap straight skis for bumps) & I have them stored in a card board boxes kept in a cool dry dark place with silicon on the edges & bases & the edges have zero rust & to my eye the bases have zero oxidization.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NE1 

sib's right.  Just make sure they are in a dry environment, and use straps to keep the edges apart - should be fine.

It would be ideal if that dry environment is made of wood and of course put them in vertical position...

Although I follow the non-scientific advice to use storage wax, sometimes I store a pair of (someone else's, like a step-kid's) skis without them.

They seem just fine come the next winter.

As Spindrift says, there's no science to back up the need to do it.  But do it anyway!

Quote:

Originally Posted by sibhusky 

I store them upright with the straps separating them in an area without much traffic, so the dust has been minimal.  The wax does seem to ooze out of the ptex over the summer, though, and forms a layer than I use a brass brush on.  After I do that, the bases are glossy as can be. 
 

 

  Good one.  Seriously, fire your house cleaner. 
 

Nothing will happen.

The whole wax thing was done primarily as a way to prevent your edges from rusting because most people stored skis in the damp garage or basement.  Modern skis use better metal so rust is less of an issue, and if you got a dry storage spot then it should be no issue.

Best bet is just use cheap wax to cover the edges and dont worry.  If you get some surface rust...well, that will be gone after your first sharpen, so not the end of the world either.

I hermetically seal my skis then place then in a vacuum sealed satellite orbiting the earth over the summer months.  But, only after loosening the binding springs and slathering on a thick coat of wax.

You got it all wrong, should be buried in an arid climate....think:  
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by crgildart 

I hermetically seal my skis then place then in a vacuum sealed satellite orbiting the earth over the summer months.  But, only after loosening the binding springs and slathering on a thick coat of wax.

Finndog's got it right. The safest approach is to start looking for rocks when April sets in. Grimly and systematically go through every pair you've got, wrecking the final pair on the last home run of the season. Then you've got no storage problems AND something fun to do in summer.

Well science or no science... don't bother to wax for year and then try to wax your ski, and you will see yourself.  Ptex won't accept any wax and it will feel pretty much like teflon. I have too many friends who ask me to sharpen their edges and wax their skis, and with skis being waxed once a year, ptex >IS< different then with regulary maintained skis.... And it's not about different ptex on different skis... some of them are from same series as my skis are, since I arranged those skis for them together with those I arranged for myself. Ptex pores get filled with dirt and because wax goes in those pores not on top of ptex (wax on top of ptex gets scrapped off), ptex just doesn't accept any wax.

But on the end, everyone takes care of his/her skis his own way. I know that for recreational skiing things won't matter, but with my experience, I still feel like I need to take care of my skis... even if nowadays 1/100sec won't matter anymore, and even if I don't need to protect my "investment", since luckily I still have enough friends to get skis for free whenever I need them. But it's just 20+ years of racing and being WC tech, which hurts looking on skis, for which people don't take care :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by crgildart 

I hermetically seal my skis then place then in a vacuum sealed satellite orbiting the earth over the summer months.  But, only after loosening the binding springs and slathering on a thick coat of wax.

Total overkill.  You don't need to loosen the bindings in the gravity-free environment.

OTOH, you MUST use a wax with Gamma Ray Protection Factor (GRPF) of at least 50.

Quote:

Originally Posted by crgildart 

I hermetically seal my skis then place then in a vacuum sealed satellite orbiting the earth over the summer months.  But, only after loosening the binding springs and slathering on a thick coat of wax.

You'd have to check the trajectory of that orbit, however. If it passes over the Southern Hemisphere, where it's winter at that time, the skis' molecular structure may be affected by the, you know...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richie-Rich 

You got it all wrong, should be buried in an arid climate....think:  
 

 

I like that.  If anybody steals my skis the are eternally cursed.  But be careful.  Storing them someplace TOO hot (like a non climate controlled  garage or shed) can cause the grease to run out from the bindings and break down the contact cement leading to delamination

They have a lift on that peak or do you have to skin it?

Quote:

Originally Posted by prickly 

They have a lift on that peak or do you have to skin it?

That is a Southern resort.  Maybe I can be Ambassador there as well?

We had a lovely row about this once before. http://www.epicski.com/forum/thread/82741/waxing-for-storage-a-solution-to-a-non-problem/30 

The bottom line is, that unless the skis have seen good regular waxing like Primoz gives his skis, the base will oxidize.  People will ignore chemistry and photos to deny it, but it happens, and you can avoid it just by slapping on a coat of cheap parafin.  If you don't, a stone grind will clean them up.

The end of the tread is well summed up by Muleski:

There is one thing for certain if you put your skis up with storage wax.....

The skis will be another season older when you pull them out next year ;-)

So,  give'em some love,  scrape off the old dusty storage wax, and put on some fresh,  then go ski 'till the p-tex is white and hairy!

Quote:

Originally Posted by crgildart 

You should also store your skis in a manner that helps keep the camber in tackt  If you store them with the bases clipped together I recommend having something thick in the middle between them over the bindings. 

That is if you have old all wooden skis. The camber is held by the metal edges, you dont really have to worry that strapping the tips and tails together willtake out the camber.
 

Actually the key isn't the climate, its the pyramid.  I store my ski's inside a pyramid and the edges are sharper when I take them out in Fall than they were when I put them in back in Spring.

Mine is made of plexiglass, but any material will work--the important part is that the triangular side be equilateral triangles.  The perfection of a regular four-sided figure (the square base) plus the regular three-sided figures causes the skis to gradually over time revert to their most perfect form, which includes sharp edges.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richie-Rich 

You got it all wrong, should be buried in an arid climate....think: