Updated for more waxes and some stats on wax temp ranges.
There is not a standard definition for surf wax temperature ranges, but there is a defacto basic standard that many waxes conform to. This is a summary table of many available surf waxes and the temperature ranges of the waxes.
Check out this site to see just about every surf wax ever made. Surf Wax Museum
Most surf waxes break temperature into some broad categories of cold, cool, warm, and tropical. There are a few special cases of "Frigid" and no temperature range at all. These are some table of temperature ranges in degrees Fahrenheit and Celsius.
Wax |
Frigid
|
Cold
|
Cool
|
Warm
|
Tropical
|
Notes
|
Bubble Gum Surf Wax |
|
< 60
|
58-68
|
64-74
|
>75
|
1
|
Destination |
|
52-59
|
60-69
|
68-74
|
74-85
|
1
|
Dr. Zog's Sex Wax |
|
< 58
|
56-68
|
66-78
|
>75
|
|
Dr. Zog's Quick Humps |
< 50
|
50-60
|
58-68
|
66-76
|
>76
|
|
Duck Divers |
|
<50
|
60-68
|
69-72
|
78-86
|
1
|
Famous Surf Wax |
|
< 50
|
62-68
|
70-78
|
>80
|
1
|
Kronic |
YES
|
YES
|
YES
|
YES
|
YES
|
|
Matuna |
|
<60
|
56-68
|
64-74
|
>75
|
1
|
Murph's Surfboard Wax |
|
< 58
|
58-68
|
64-76
|
|
|
Nohea Wax |
|
|
|
66-75
|
66-75
|
|
Ocean/Earth - Honey Wax |
|
|
58-68
|
66-73
|
> 73
|
|
On a Mission |
|
<60
|
55-65
|
67-74
|
>75
|
1
|
One Ball Jay Surf Wax |
32-52 (Ice Cold))
|
50-60
|
58-68
|
66-76
|
>74
|
1
|
Pacific Rage Surf Wax |
|
<64
|
64-71
|
|
|
|
Poorboy |
|
|
50-65
|
60-75
|
|
|
Pro-Lite Lite-Wax |
|
<60
|
|
70-80
|
|
|
Ransom |
|
<58
|
58-68
|
68-74
|
>75
|
1
|
Smack Wax |
|
52-59
|
58-67
|
68-74
|
>75
|
1
|
Sticky Bumps |
|
< 60
|
58-68
|
64-74
|
> 75
|
|
Terra Wax |
|
< 52
|
52-62
|
62-72
|
> 72
|
1,2
|
The Rat Wax |
|
|
|
64-82
|
|
|
Sharkbait |
|
52-62
|
60-68
|
68-76
|
76-84
|
|
Surfride Performance Wax
|
|
<60
|
58-68
|
64-74
|
>75
|
1
|
Wax-Man |
|
|
58-68
|
68-78
|
78-Boiling
|
3
|
Surf Wax Temperature Ranges in Fahrenheit
Notes
1) Data from surfwax collector Randy Gibbs, Gibbs Surfboards, (714) 356-1446, gibbssurfboards@aol.com. Thanks Randy!
2) Note that the Terra Wax data in Fahrenheit was converted from data in Celsius. See the conversion table at the end of this page for simple conversions between Celsius and Fahrenheit.
3) The advertised upper range for Wax-Man Tropical of "boiling" is literally 212 degrees F. Perhaps this is an overstatement. I have not checked this.
For those that prefer Celsius, here is the same data table in those units. For this table, I had to convert data from Fahrenheit to Celsius for Murph's, Bubble Gum, Sharkbait, and Wax-Man.
Wax |
Frigid
|
Cold
|
Cool
|
Warm
|
Tropical
|
Bubble Gum Surf Wax |
|
< 15.5
|
14.5-20
|
18-23.5
|
|
Dr. Zog's Sex Wax |
|
< 14
|
13-20
|
19-26
|
> 24
|
Dr. Zog's Quick Humps |
< 10
|
10-16
|
14-20
|
19-24
|
> 24
|
Famous Surf Wax |
|
< 14.5
|
14.5-21
|
21-25.6
|
> 26.7
|
Kronic |
YES
|
YES
|
YES
|
YES
|
YES
|
Murph's Surfboard Wax |
|
|
13.5-20
|
18-24.5
|
|
Nohea Wax |
|
|
|
19-24
|
19-24
|
Ocean/Earth - Honey Wax |
|
|
14-19
|
19-23
|
> 23
|
One Ball Jay Surf Wax |
|
10-15
|
|
|
|
Pacific Rage Surf Wax |
|
<18
|
18-21
|
|
|
Poorboy |
|
|
10-18
|
16-24
|
|
Pro-Lite Lite-Wax |
|
<15
|
|
21-27
|
|
Sticky Bumps |
|
< 15
|
14-19
|
19-28
|
> 24
|
Terra Wax |
|
< 11
|
11-17
|
17-22
|
> 22
|
The Rat Wax |
|
|
|
19-28
|
|
Sharkbait |
|
11-16.5
|
15.5-20
|
20-24.5
|
24.5-29
|
Wax-Man |
|
|
14.5-20
|
20-25.5
|
25.5-Boiling
|
Surf Wax Temperature Ranges in Celsius
Note that Kronic claims it's wax is good at all temperatures, so I noted this as a "YES" in all temperature ranges.
Surf Wax Temperature Range Statistics
If you look at how the temperature ranges for the various brands of wax are set, you can see overlap between what one brand calls the same temperature. I analyzed the Fahrenheit data and found the average and standard deviations for this data. This shows a rough average industry "range" for what each temperature is.
Wax Temperature Range |
Low
|
Average
|
High
|
Number of Data
|
Standard Deviation
|
Cold
|
52
|
58
|
62
|
15
|
3.62
|
Cool
|
54
|
63
|
69
|
17
|
2.52
|
Warm
|
63
|
71
|
78
|
19
|
2.12
|
Tropical
|
67
|
76
|
80
|
14
|
2.91
|
This is the conversion table from Celsius to Fahrenheit.
Celsius
|
Fahrenheit
|
7
|
45
|
8
|
46
|
9
|
48
|
10
|
50
|
11
|
52
|
12
|
54
|
13
|
55
|
14
|
57
|
15
|
59
|
16
|
61
|
17
|
63
|
18
|
64
|
19
|
66
|
20
|
68
|
21
|
70
|
22
|
72
|
23
|
73
|
24
|
75
|
25
|
77
|
26
|
79
|
27
|
81
|
28
|
82
|
29
|
84
|
30
|
86
|
|