Reddit reviews Wintersteiger Ski/Snowboard Waxing Iron

I just taped a this big guy last night. It mostly went well but there is a chunk missing out of that center that came up during taping. So it definitely happens. It's not to bad though. I haven't flipped him over yet. I wasn't prepared and he's to large to flip easily. I had to go to home depot and buy some larger boards to put him on to prepare to flip him. Once he's flipped it wont be to hard to bring the template back up and replace the missing beads.

The ones you've made look great! I have no idea what the one in the top left is from, but I love it.

A couple of suggestions for melting:

• Do not melt them on the boards, but it seems you've learned that with the tape method. The warped boards are awful for making larger projects, the beads don't line up correctly.
  
• This is one of the best pieces of advice I can think of if you are going to display these somewhere. Decide which direction you are going to want the final product to face. Put the tape on that side, and flip it over. On the side that you aren't going to see, feel free to melt the beads a little more intensely than the other. Don't worry as much if the beads fuse a little more than you'd like. This side isn't going to be seen and will help hold it together much better. Once it's ironed, flip it over, remove the tape and lightly fuse the visible side. When you are taping the visible side, if the beads feel to loose, flip it back over (use tape again if you need) and melt more it on the non-visible side.
  
• If you're going to make a lot of these, I would suggest buying a snowboard waxing iron, like this one. The iron is flat with no point, but its easy to use the corner of if you do need a point. I found this to work a lot better than a normal clothes iron.
  
• If you're melting large ones, iron it in sections. As you iron, the sections will start to cool. As they cool they will start to curl. Put something heavy on those sections (I use my old college textbooks, yay for being useful again!). If the curling is bad, go over it with the iron briefly to warm it up and continue putting heavy things on it. The curling can be especially bad if you have only one side of it ironed. As you iron the other side the it will 'curl' both direction and be more flat.
  
  Three more non-melting tips.
  
  
• To make my templates I take the sprite image into GIMP and I use the color select tool to break the image apart into multiple layers. One color per layer. Then I decide which bead color looks best for each layer. Next I put guidelines on the image to separate it into different 29x29 pixel squares for the different boards. I usually build my beads one board at a time instead of the project as a whole. Then as I'm putting the beads down, I make all the layers invisible. I start with the black layer and put those beads down on the board. Then I make each color visible one at a time and place those beads down.
  
• If you want more boards. I suggest the craft store Jo-Ann. They frequently have perler products on sale for 40% off. And if you download their app you can frequently get coupons for 40-70% off. I've bought most of my boards on the times I've gotten coupons so I haven't spent a lot on them. They have good deals on beads as well but see below for my advice on beads.
  
• Think ahead on the projects you may want to make and buy in bulk from the Perler website. If you buy 6+ bags they are only $2 a bag, but their shipping is a bit pricey. If you buy $60 worth of beads you get free shipping! In addition, if you subscribe to their email list, they will frequently go on holiday/misc sales and you can get an additional 20-30% off. This might be a little overkill but I went ahead and made templates for my next 29 projects to complete my summoner/summon/villain from each game goal while I waited for a sale. I counted all of the beads of each color and the total was around 120,000 beads (NeoBahamut was about 8,800 beads). Buying in bulk this way I spent about $1.50 a bag (though I did buy a couple of the 6000 bead black bags from Jo-Ann with coupons).
  
  Wow. that ended up being a wall of text. I did not intend for that, but I just kept writing. Hopefully it's all useful information for you. If not, sorry for the ramble.
  
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Here's a comment I posted a month or two ago about this topic. Basically everything you'd need to wax, sharpen edges, and perform small-medium ptex repairs (think small core shots and scratches on the base of the ski).

Here's a kit I would go with if I were buying a kit. I personally liked buying stuff individually that suited my needs but it's easier to just buy 1 thing: https://www.amazon.com/Demon-Complete-Tune-Kit-Wax/dp/B00MAKO69O/ref=sr_1_1?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1478189719&sr=1-1&keywords=ski+wax+kit

The reason why I'd go with this kit over the ones you listed is because it comes with an edge sharpener guide + gummy stone. If you're sharpening edges you'd probably want to use a file&guide when starting out.


For waxing (normally use all temp wax unless you're an every week sort of waxer. Could expand out to cold specific wax if the weather calls for it):

Plastic Scrapper: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GSLE2FO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Wax: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000GAYNXO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Iron: buy one at goodwill/a thrift. If you're too good for that then here: https://www.amazon.com/Wintersteiger-Ski-Snowboard-Waxing-Iron/dp/B0040OBXXU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1476214415&sr=8-1&keywords=waxing+iron

You can also buy a nylon brush and base cleaner/a rag to clean your skis but hot waxing and then scrapping also works for cleaning.

When I'm done waxing my skis I usually go over the skis with a wine cork to make sure everything is even and smoooooth. Not something that you have to do though

For tuning:

Gummy Stone: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0017I6VNO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Edge sharpener (can choose a different one):

https://www.amazon.com/Dakine-8-2300250-Green-Tuner-Green/dp/B00L6ZC1FA/ref=sr_1_4?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1476214569&sr=1-4&keywords=ski+edge+sharpener

Video so you don't fuck up your edges too much:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKpSBE8YWXk

You can also get a diamond stone/nail file from the store if you'd like.

Ptex for some base repairs:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OIPZRVU/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Metal Scrapper for Ptex (could use a flat blade if you'd like but don't fuck up):

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OIPZRII/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Lighter: Gas Station/already in your house. After Ptexing a couple of times I fee like a torch lighter would work best here


Video for small ptex repair:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NA0vDNmNAEA

If you have major core shots I would probably go to a local shop and have someone fix it who does that stuff for a living. Really research what you're actually doing before you do it for the first time. You don't want to make things worse. After you get the hang of it it becomes a lot easier and can save you money. Can also do it for your friends on the cheap