1) Begin by making sure your skis are clean. Scraped then brush gently with a steel or brass brush.

2) Clean your entire base with a liquid base cleaner or wax remover. Wipe as much dirt and dust off with Fiberlene or a shop towel.

3) Using a piece of Fibertex, energetically rub down the entire glide zone to remove any microscopic hairs or burrs in the base. Pink paper is also great for this. Then, repeat step 2 with a liquid base cleaner or wax remover and wipe away the dirt & dust. Let the solvents dry before continuing. Your ski is now clean and prepped for the hot wax.

4) Preheat your iron to the temperature recommended by the wax manufacturer for the particular wax you will be using. Temperatures for melt waxes are usually between 110C and 160C.

5) Melt a thin bead of the melt wax of the day down the ski on one side of the groove and back up the other side. Hold the iron with the plate vertically and touch one of the iron's bottom corners to the ski base. Hold the block of wax in the other hand and touch it to the iron to melt it. Move quickly to apply the right amount of wax. Make sure the iron's electrical cord isn't going to get caught or knock anything over. We do not recommend holding the iron above the ski and letting drips fall onto the ski. It is very difficult to wax consistently and you are more likely to use more product than you need when you miss the ski entirely and drip hot wax onto your feet. Another method to get the wax on the ski is one we use when we're applying precious, expensive melt waxes, Quickly tap the paraffin block to the bottom of the iron and in a quick motion drag the still-hot block along the base until all the liquified wax has stuck to the base. Repeat by quickly touching the block to the iron again and repeat until the entire glide zone is covered with a thin layer of wax.

6) Once the wax is on the ski set aside the block of wax and use the iron to melt the wax into the base. Hold the iron with a light pressure and run it down the ski from tip to tail careful not to let the iron rest in one place for too long. The paraffin should liquify for a couple of seconds but harden after a few seconds. If the wax is liquified for more than a few seconds you are not moving the iron fast enough. If you move the iron too fast the wax will become solid after a second or less. Try to completely cover one side of the ski's groove with the paraffin on the first pass by angling the pressure of the iron with your hand. Cover the other side of the groove on the second pass. On the third pass, apply pressure evenly across the ski.

7) Use a groove scraper to remove wax from the sidewalls and the ski's groove(s).

8) Let the ski cool. 5 minutes.

9) Using a sharp scraper, scrape off the excess paraffin. Scrape like you mean it, but don't press too hard. Angle the scraper forward and place your thumbs behind and at the bottom of the scaper. Scrape from tip to tail.

10) After scraping, pass a steel or brass brush 5-6 times using light pressure. Start at the tip and move to the tail.

11) If you like, you can polish the base using a horsehair and/or nylon hand brush or nylon roto brush.

12) Consider finishing your ski by adding structure with a rill tool if there is a lot of moisture in the snow, or if it is very cold or dry, finish the ski with pink paper or a structure tool for cold snow.