To wax or not to wax?

Posted: 07 March 2012 09:10 PM

What you ride on will dictate how long your wax is going to hold up. As Steve mentioned, a harder (blue) wax ( in icy cold -8C / 14 F and below conditions ) along your edges will help reduce how fast your edges go grey / white.

The harder, more abrasive snow ( artificial / hard groomers / ice ) can eat up even the best wax job in a day or so.

The softer the snow ( fresh powder) the longer your wax job will last….. 3 - 4, maybe 5 days.

Nothing beats a hot wax. Even if you buy nothing but a cheap wax iron, a basic all temp wax, a wax scraper and a bag of Scotchbrite / generic green kitchen scrub pads, you have all the tools you need to find out what it is like to ride “on marbles”

The web has a slew of sites / videos to show you how to do the job right. Total time to wax a board once you get the knack: Waxing / Scrape / Polishing less than 20 minutes.

Posted: 27 September 2012 06:58 AM

There are different waxes for different temperatures. You will also find at different times in the season you will need to wax more, or scrap off less. Ie spring riding.
Generally you can either run your hand down the board, see where the water is not beading up or visually see where the board is getting dry like the heels. Looking after your board will def keep it looking good and prolong its life.

Do your housemates ride? Its often common to do whats called a wax off up here. A designated night to drink beer and everyone wax their board togethers. As in one person waxes (space is small where i lived once too) and everyone chats, hangs and waits their turn. Then the scrape off.

My board currently has a layer of wax on it until it starts snowing. Wood is a natural fibre, and like your skin it can dry out in heating/airconditiong etc.
Look after your board and it will look after you.

Posted: 23 May 2014 07:34 PM

I’m all for board waxing and tried it for the first time on a trip to a ski resort in Ontario
named Mount St. Louis Moonstone http://www.mountstlouis.com/skiing/ I highly recommend waxing. My board was smooth!