what is the best wax?
Can you use bees wax? Will it damage your skis?
when waxing skis, your really just filling in the scratches right?
Your not really skiing on wax right? There is only wax in the cracks, scratches of your skis.
how much does it cost to get them waxed?
how much does it cost to get them waxed and everything.

You r completely wrong with all of ur assumptions. l dont know about using beeswax. l have never heard of this or tried it. There r many different kinds of wax specifically engineered for use on skis & snowboards. They r made for different snow conditions, temperatures, etc.

Wax is not for filling in scratches. That is what P-Tex is for. Small scratches will be filled in with wax, but it is not very stable & will get worn off pretty quickly. Large scratches need to be filled in with melted P-Tex, ground smooth, & the base will need to be re-waxed. When u get ur skis tuned, what happens is that they fill in all the big gouges with P-Tex, grind down the base of the ski, which not only removes excess P-Tex & small scratchesfrom the base of ur plank, but also puts a new sharp edge on the thing. After this the tips of ur ski or board will need to be de-tuned. This means filing down the sharp metal edge in these areas. If u want to know why, go to wikipedia. Then u get ur new wax. A block of solid wax is melted on using a waxing iron, & then is spread out over the entire base of the plank. After it solidifies, the excess wax is then scraped off, leaving a very thin, but effective layer of wax that will decrease the friction of the snow on the base of ur ski. Excess wax is no good though, it will slow u down. Due to this, skis r usually brushed or smoothed with a piece of cork. The heat from the friction produced by the cork or brush will soften the remaining wax, & force it to enter the little pores on the base of ur board, & also removes any remaining excess wax, giving u a mirrror smooth finish on ur bases. If u take off too much wax during the finishing process, u will have bare P-Tex, shich is much sl,ower & rougher on snow that a waxed finish.

Yes.you do ski on the wax.

A simple wax job will cost from $10 to $20, depending on the mood of the technician that morning. A full tune which includes all of the stuff above.$40-$60 depending on where u r at.

What u want to do is find a local ski or board shop at the base of the mountain, go in early, & find the tech that is tuning skis that day. Dont go to the counter, u will have to wait forever for ur skis. Throw the guy a $20 & ask him to hook u up. He will put ur planks at the front of the line & have them done in 10 minutes for a simple wax. If u find him directly & keep it quiet around the shop, he gets to keep all the money & dosnt have to give a cut to the shop.

A little local knowledge for you.

The technical info about waxing ur skis as mentioned by the previous entry is exactly correct, so l am not going to elaborate on that.

Beeswax is not something u should use, at least on modern ski bases.maybe Sven used it in 1890 on his wooden skis, but u do not want to.

Ski waxes come in a wide variety of formulas designed to be used on certain temperatures of snow. These melt at various degrees to help with the glide. Every time u ski, u r causing friction. This melts the wax just enough to give u some slide. Too much wax & u get stuck. Not enough & u also can get stuck.

Beeswax is very soft & melts very quickly. The friction would most likely cause it to come off after only a few runs.

Wax was used (in days of yore) to make the wood skis smoothe. Nowadays, the plastic & composite bases eliminate the need for heavy coats of wax. l can usually get 3-4 waxings out of one Swix block because l know from experience how much l need & some efficient ways to apply the wax. You really do not need much because most of it gets scraped off & thrown away. If l use Toko. l can get a lot more waxings out of one block because the wax block is much larger.

As for the best wax. l do not have a favorite. I've been using Swix hydrocarbon wax for a few seasons now, but I've used other Swix products as well as Toko. Just wax for the right snow temperature & u should be OK.

You're applying it to the bottom of ur skis. Yes, u ski on the wax. There r different grades of wax for different temperatures & snow conditions. There r different waxes for downhill & touring. Glide wax for alpine & kick for nordic. Bee is wax is not one of them, far too soft to use on skis.
The best is a matter of preference, it is like choosing Chevy over Ford. Toko & Swix r popular & easy to find.
P-tex is used to fill gouges or deep scratches, then wax goes over the p-tex, it is just a filler.

When u ski, it is on a thin film of water that is melted snow from the friction of ur skiis & there wax.
When u wax the skiis, u r filling in all of the microscopic pores & scratches in the bases. This thin film can then generate enough friction to melt the snow. If u try to use bees wax, u will end up with a very sticky mess, there is too much biologic material in it to allow a good slide. This may damage the skiis, but more likely just cause u to hate the way they perform. The best wax is a high quality fluorocarbon powder, it is used by the top competitors for racing. For recreational skiing, common ski wax or canning paraffin or candle wax is good enough. Learn to do ur own hot waxing.

Polite suggestion: Wax your own. Try the waxes by climbing on a small hill. Start with The hard blue..next medium green.finally soft red. Try climbing on different snow surfaces. Good skiers will wax 'fast' and others will wax 'slow'. Learn about snow crystals. Be sure your skis have sufficient 'flex' for your weight. Buy a waxing lesson.