I gotta do a wax job on my board before the weekend. I normally take it in as I hate dealing with the cleanup (and the wife hates me ruining her irons). My understanding of the process use to be that I cleaned the base, dripped on and smoothed the wax, waited for it to dry then scraped of till smooth. I was told to that it was a good idea to run the iron over the base just to warm it up so that the wax really gets in there. After watching some videos on youtube, I learned that it is also helpful to get a set of brushes to run tip to tip. Does anyone do this, and why would this be a good thing to do. I thought that this would just ruin your newly smoothed base. Is there any special techniques that are nicer than others? I also remember I was told that you have to let the board sit for three days before taking the board out, so that the adhesives in the board can set. Is this all still true or just an exaggerated myth?

Shaggs

Buy your own iron - mine cost me like $15.

Clean the base, then drip the wax on. You'll figure out by trial and error how much is enough.
Now, when you 'smooth' out the wax, you want it hot enough so that the top surface gets warm but not too hot - that way the wax soaks into all the little pores of the P-tex. Either adjust the temp on the iron, work that area more or add more wax to keep the heat. Be careful though, you can blister the upper surface.
Scrape off the excess - that's excess, don't try to shave the bloody board down to the last micron.
Then get a stiff brush (probably from the ski shop) and brush it nose to tail vigorously

IIRC the idea is the wax makes you slippery and fast but the brushing adds little channels like on car tyres, to give the board a bit of directional stability.

I've heard about keeping the board inside so it warms up, waxing it then jamming it into the snow to lock in the wax ... assuming it snows outside where you're at. I scrape and brush outside so it's cold anyway :O 3 days sounds like snake oil to me.

The other best thing you can do is get a stone and oil and an edge tool.
Do your edges whenever - I do them when I wax which is often - and at the end of the day skiing, wipe down the board and then polish the edges with the stone. You're taking out all the nicks that'll rust and keeping them sharp.

I've forgotten all the details but there's plenty of good sites on tuning ...

Assuming you scrape the wax off as described above, the average skier is never going to tell the performance difference between brushed wax and just scraped off wax. After I wax and scrape the bases I run over them with a cork (available in block form at your local ski shop or just get a big round one at the hardware store). The purpose of the cork is to smooth out the wax and press it in if necessary. When I'm done it sort of looks like the bases are polished. I don't brush them (I have been tuning my own skis for 20+ years). Get a brush or a cork if you want but as log as the base is waxed and smooth (not clumpy with chunks of wax), trust me - if you aren't racing when 100ths of seconds count (I have been on race teams) - it doesn't matter if you brush, cork or just use the spray / rub on Swix stuff. We are talking kiting and making the base surface more slide ready - not pressing hard for best times.

Echoing whats listed above. I've waxed my own boards for years. Never been on a race team, but I do like going pretty fast. I always use a good base cleaner, plus green scratch pad to clean the board. Let it dry, then drip on the wax, using the iron to smooth it out. Then scrape off the excess. The difference that I do here is that I take a that same green scratch pad, flip it over and use that to "buff" the base. Then I use a sponge, and lastly a smooth soft cloth. Essentially the same effect as the cork listed above. This just buffs it out for a smoother faster ride.

If you are trying to avoid the mess, you could always forgo the scrape and just let your ride scrape her clean. Your first couple runs might be a bit rough, but the extra wax will come off as you ride... trust me.

What about cold waxes (rub on)? Are they even worth the effort?

Quote:

Originally posted by macboy What about cold waxes (rub on)? Are they even worth the effort?

I never use them, but I've heard they work just fine...

ragden, whatever that stick thing was that frathouse had at Tug Hill definitely helped my board slide better. I'd assume that was some kind of cold wax (since we didn't have to heat it).

That was magical Go-Go warm temp rub on wax. Its main use is for when the conditions change on you and your board is waxed with cold temp wax and you need high temp wax. Basically the best idea is to use all temp hot wax (or what ever your most common riding condition temp) and use the rub on wax's as a back up to whatever the conditions are on the day you go out.

Ahh... Whatever it was, it definitely helped on my board, but then my board needed wax desperately.

yes definitely did

There's a lot to waxing.

Brushing is for clearing out the tiny grooves in the base called STRUCTURE. These grooves do affect direction but the primary purpose is to channel the water and break suction.

Fine structure=cold hard snow. Coarse structure=warm wet snow.

That being said, if you haven't had your board or ski stone ground it probably doesn't have much structure. Especially if it was tuned on a belt. Belts leave microscopic hairs on the base. If the ski is belted in one direction the hairs lay flat when you move forward. Belted the wrong way and the hairs slow you down.


If you do have a structure the more you brush the cleaner it is and the faster you go.

Wax is used to move water. When your board or skis move across the snow it generates friction which melts the snow and creates a thin layer of water between you and the snow.

The wax sheds the water allowing you to move. Add flourocarbons to the wax breaks up the water even faster making you faster.

If your board doesn't have a SINTERED BASE (a base inpregnated with carbon sint to absorb wax) then all the hot wax in the world isn't going to do you any better than crayoning it on and buffing it. The sint absorbs wax and realeases it slowly instead of relying solely on the surface wax's rate of wear.

Get a rub on wax like Swix F4 and just keep it with you and apply as you need it.

Thanks guys!
I went and bought an iron this afternoon and now about to get setup to wax the board. I talked to the guy st my local shop who said that he always brushes the boards like mine, so I'm gonna try the same. Will let you know how it goes

Shaggs

Thanks for the thread Shaggs...learning a lot.

So, with a snowboard, do you need a scraper as wide as the board? The scraper in my kite (which was for boards and skis) is only about half as wide as my boards. I did the skis no problem - hot wax, brushing, cleaning and everything (not in that order of course). Didn't even wanna attempt wrecking the base on the snowboards.

They do make snowboard scrapers. You can use a ski scraper but it'll take more time.

i think i use a 6" scraper. i don't brush my board, but one of the shops uses those SOS scrubber pads, said they work as well as any fancy brush

Yes you can get snowboard scrapers. They're just big pieces of perspex or some plastic that's rigid with an angled edge - you could DIY it no worries. Should have a little nick out of a corner to get wax caked on edges too ...
Brushes - think mine cost me like $5. Nothing fancy, just short stiff bristles.

Kami is right. Short bristle nylon is the best all rounder for brushing.

For race tuning there are variations in brushes that you would use including brass, brass/nylon, nylon and even horse hair.

But nylon is the "go to" in general.