Got board waxing tips?

[Darin]

I'll be waxing 4 boards in a few weeks. Never done it before. I understand the basics, sorta. But was looking for "tips" on doing a good job. I also have to buy wax, recommendations?

Thanks, Darin

[jryoung]

Buy wax according to what temp you will be riding at, normal is generally fine, unlessa cold front rips through PA.

Preferably use a non-steam iron (no holes), or wax specific iron (no different than non-steam).

1. Invert iron and hold wax onto hot iron letting it drip off the tip of the iron, let drip all over the board. (if iron smokes turn the temp down)
2. Iron the board melting the wax just dripped onto the board. cover the entire board.
3. If the base needs to be cleaned strip the wax immediately (with a board/wax scraper, if no cleaning necessary go to step 4) while it is still somewhat gummy. This will clean the boards pores, and not dry it out like actual base cleaner does. Then repeat steps 1 and 2.
4. Wait until the board cools, then scrap the wax off, try and get it all as best as you can leaving the board smooth. Make sure there is no wax build-up on the edges.
5. Brush the board end to end, there are specific brushes for this, but like anything that is "specific" they are over priced. I've found that lightly using a scotch bright pad works fine. Maybe some others have some suggestions. Brushing is an important step as it completly evens out the wax on the board.

That's pretty much it, it really isn't too difficult. Another tip is at the end of the season spead a good thick coat of wax on the board and leave it that way until next season. When next year begins re-heat the existing wax and pull it off the board. This help protect the board over the summer and give it its first cleaning for the new year.

[Elevation]

what jryoung said was good but if you are trying to conserve money then there is another way. instead of melting the stick of wax on the irons face and using an entire stick of wax for each time you wax each board i use one stick multiple times and just rub it on the base as much as i can. From my waxing experience this works fine and evens out when it is ironed. If you just rub the wax on pretty hard every where so it seems like there is way too much on, this will be good. then just do the steps listed above.

[Scott Jones]

No, no, no. You have to hot wax. The thing about wax is that it doesn't do anything if it's on the surface of the base. It has to be absorbed to reduce friction. Just rubbing it on doesn't make the base absorb any wax. The heat in the hot wax makes the molecules in the base open up or something, and then they close off when they cool. But the wax is inside the base, and so it slowly leaves the base, which is why hot wax lasts like three days, and rub on only lasts about a day if youre lucky. Basically, just use the extra to hot wax. Rub on doesn't do anything.

[aceyx]

hot waxing opens up the pores in the base material so the wax can be better absorbed. as you're waxing, put a hand underneath (on the topside of the board). when you can feel the slightest amount of heat, you're done with that area so move on.

always keep the iron in motion, and do small sections at a time. you'll also conserve wax, since you'll be able to move it from where it was not absorbed to dry areas. you'll also spend less time "crushing buttons," as just melted wax is easier to work with.


brushing actually doesn't even out the wax, what it does is create "structure" in the wax, basically roughing up the surface. do this from tip to tail, or tail to tip.

the structure prevents suction, which slows you down. a freshly scraped board is even, and as you ride over snow it creates a film of water from the friction. without the structure, it's like two panes of glass with water between, which is hard to separate. a bit of structure makes it release cleanly.


EDIT: it should take between 12-20 grams of wax per board, depending on the condition of the base material, and how sloppy it gets. you probably want to cover your floor around the edges of the board as well.

[CulverBum]

You'll learn from the experience, after you do it once you'll never forget. It really is pretty simple. I'm definetly going to try the whole structure thing, I had never heard of that before.

Good luck with it, you'll be glad you didn't waste the 10bucks at a shop.

[marcg]

Hey Question on this:

-Can you save the shavings that you scrape off, ball them up and reheat/melt them later to get another tune out of that same bar of wax????

.........or is it done once you heat it up??...the wax in the stores seems pretty pricey ($10-$15)....this is almost as much as having the store do the tune up.

[J-Ro]

[CulverBum]

You don't have to use an entire bar of wax to wax your board...You need enough to coat the entire bottom of the board and thick enough to work it into the board and still have some to scrape away. If you are using a whole stick on your board, imho, you are wasting a lot of wax. That or we are using entirely different size sticks of wax.

[jryoung]

In regards to the brushing issue, I read when you are riding cold dry snow brush your board from tip to tail or vice versa. If you are riding spring like conditions brush like J-Ro said, create an X pattern across the board (no tip to tail). This will act like treads of a tire allowing the moisture to run to the sides, and minimizing the suction factor.

[1759rider]

Ok everything so far I've heard is what I'm doing. I've also learned a couple new things as far as how and what direction to brush at the end.
I notice after I wax my board when I first get on it and I am skating to the lift my board feels really sticky. After one run or so it loosens up and feels good. Could this be from not scrapings enough wax off, and if so how much do you scrape? Or could it be from how I brush it? I usually just go from tip to tail.
As for me I know I could have a store wax my board for me. But doing it your self is kinda fun and it gets me stoked for riding.

[jryoung]

[Jay Dutton]

Scrape as much of it off as you can. Scrape tip-tail. Your board feels sticky because you either have the wrong wax or it hasn't adjusted to the temp (ie: you've had your board in your car). I try to keep my boards in the garage or I'll put my board on my car racks and let them chill before I roll to the mtn.

[J-Ro]

On a sintered or carbon base, the wax is IN the pores under the surface, so you want to scrape all of it off, especially where the bindings mount. This is because the inserts pull the base up a little and create a small area that isn't completely flat so its hard to get all the wax off if you're using a big scraper.

Also, make sure and wax really good along the edges. This is where the majority of your riding is done and it helps protect from "Edge Burn"

[aceyx]

like i said, you'll use about 12-20 grams of wax (it's sold like that since all the manufacturers are european). toko is broken up into segments, each 20 grams.

scrape until no wax comes off, or at least where you can't see ridges from the wax. it will look like you've taken all the wax off.


as far as structure goes, i wasn't sure how to structure a board since you can ride switch. i only structure my twins tip-tail/tail-tip, though i'm sure it doesnt really matter.

i prefer nylon brushes for hot waxing, because the "hardness" of the wax will dictate how deep the grooves will be. i'll only use horsehair if i'm using fluoro wax, which is rare these days.

[Elevation]

[CulverBum]

What Lamar board?

I ride a Lamar Hexan Wide 165...I'm a big boy with some big ol' feet.
My buddy has a Lamar Slayer 159 I think.

[Norcalboarddude]

i just hot-waxed my board for my first time also 2 weeks ago....went pretty good....The only prob that turned out is, i didn't have a nice scraper, so i didn't get the wax completely scraped evenly, and i also didn't structer the base with a brush or anything.....

One thing i noticed the next day was that, i would be jamin' pretty fast, then when ever i would go into snow that was in the sun, i would slow down quite a bit, felt as if the board was stickting to the snow....Was this just because of wrong temp wax, or could it also b because because of the board not being structured?....

thnx...

L8r

[Jay Dutton]

[Elevation]

you could try using warm-weather wax but no matter what its gonna stick when its warm.

[Darin]

How "touchy" are the temp ratings for wax. Do you rewax your boards for different weather? Is the scraper you're using wide enough to go the full width of the board?

[aceyx]

any wax is better than no wax. the all-temp stuff works, but won't give you as nice (fast / controllable) a result as will temp-graded wax.

you can mix waxes if the (air) temperature is between what a wax is rated for; just hold them together and melt in whatever proportion you need.

other than that, they're fairly versatile. i would say +/- 15 degrees F, so that's a 30 degree window.


i'm not sure anyone makes a scraper wide enough for boards. besides, they'd be pretty ineffective since you couldn't get the pressure down across the entire width. just get as wide a scraper as you can, and make sure it's reasonably thick to prevent flexing.

[Darin]

Very cool. Thanks, guys. One more thing though. The edges. Do you do any maintance on them? I understand that it's differnt if your riding rails. Do you have a differnt board for rails than for jumping?

[Elevation]

i just got a new board so im filing in between the bindings and leaving everything else sharp. on my old duller board id dull in between the bindings and sharpen everything else.

[aceyx]

when i was racing i used to spend about 5 hours tuning my skis. my friend at some point cut the tendons in his arm while sharpening the edges.

since then i've gotten pretty apathetic about it, not to mention having a complete lack of time.


most of what i do now is use a stone (diamond or ceramic) to just take the burrs off in between sharpenings, which i usually just do once at the beginning of the season, or if i've severely (visually) messed it up.

my twintips (which i use for rails) basically have no inside edge under the right foot, but i don't think that's possible to do with a snowboard.

i would suggest throwing a bit of bevel (1-2 degrees) between the toes and checking that they're reasonably sharp. don't let 'em rust, since that detunes faster than riding rocks.

[1759rider]

Thanks for the help guys. My problem was I wasn't scraping near enogh wax off the board. The original directions I got didn't tell me to scrape that much off. But thanks for the info. I'll be heading up to Tahoe on friday so I'll redo it and see what the diffeance is.

[Darin]

It's that time of year again. So here's a little thread bump. Perhaps a new waxing thread won't be needed. I thought the information in here was great.

[wesgardner]

Can someone go over "detuning" the edges...? I free ride - no park...yet


Wes

[pyrocasto]

Good bump. Needed a recap on waxing for this year.

[Damon]

yeah... So I've got a $50.00 gift certificate to REI, and I think I wanna spend it on gettin all set up for waxin my stuff.

I've already got a iron(with no holes)... I guess I need:

Wax - I'm thinking the Swix Violet (18 to 28* F) Up in the PacNW is not too cold, so I thought it was a decent temp.

Scraper - I've got afew of those scrapers that come in boardshorts... do you think they'd work just as good?

Brush - Copper, nylon, horsehair? I was thinking nylon..?

I've also got P-tex on the list... I havn't heard of anyone having an awesome experience with it, but I figure its worth a shot.

Finally, edges... Should I get a file, or one of those quicky plastic, run it up and down the sides edgers?

[jryoung]

[Damon]

jryoung, yeah six pack is hard to acquire for a minor... Becides, I won't be working up there forever... I hope...

The P-Tex, it only comes in sticks right? I've seen some guys up at the mt. F'up their boards with that stuff. Just wanted to make sure it was worth it.

Hey and what about the brush?

[jryoung]

Laugh Damon, I use a scotch guard pad to texture, it's a lot cheaper.

I don't see how you could really f'up a board with p-tex, just f'up the p-tex job. You can always grind it down, when you over fill your gash.

[Damon]

Yeah, I think most of them skip the sanding/grinding steps...

Alright, I think I'll order this stuff. You thinkin 28-36 until january ish... then 18-28 from jan. to early march?

Thanks for the help JR

[Darin]

After a hitting a rock and putting a nice gouge in the bottom, is wax all that needed to fill it?