How to hot wax a Snowboard
Waxing is ridiculously easy to do and essential if you want to get the most out of your equipment. Use our step-by-step guide and save yourself tons of cash by waxing your own board.
Snowboard maintenance and tuning can be a tricky business, ptex base repairs, edge dings and delams can be seriously difficult to fix. However, waxing is very easy, if you can iron a shirt, you’re more than qualified to wax your own board. If you’re serious about getting the most out of your equipment then you should be looking to wax your board every 7 days or so of riding. Sintered bases need waxing more frequently than extruded bases, and the higher the grade of base the more often you’ll need to wax. It’s also worth noting that warm slushy snow conditions completely strip sintered bases of wax so if your riding in spring be prepared to wax after 3-4 days of riding. A good time to wax is when you see the base greying at the edges.
Equipment
Waxing iron: Doesn’t need to be a specific waxing iron, but make sure the temperature is adjustable and that the iron is not designed for steaming… think old school!
Block of fluorinated ski wax: I’d suggest an all temperature wax unless you’re riding in extremely cold conditions like Whistler in December in which case you’ll need a cold temperature wax or really warm conditions like Mt Hood summer riding for which you’ll want a warm temperature wax.
Metal or plastic scraper: I’d go for a metal scrapper
Structuring brush: Not an essential piece of kit, but a well structured board has great glide for those first couple of runs especially in warmer conditions. I’d advise investing into a half wire half nylon brush.
Cotton rag for polishing: An old T-shirt is ideal.
Step-by-step guide
Before you start waxing, you may need to clean the base with a specially formulated detergent; in most cases this won’t be necessary. Make sure any edging is done with a file before you start waxing then make sure your board is dry. Place your board on top of two chairs, there’s no need to invest in a specialist tuning vice! Oh and cover the area you’ll be working in, because I guarantee you wax will drip off the board.
1) Heat up your iron, some waxes suggest a maximum iron temperature, the Toko all temperature wax I’m using suggests 160 degrees centigrade as the maximum temperature. Drip the wax onto the board’s base; you won’t need a huge amount of wax so keep that in mind when you’re dripping.
2) Now join the dots of wax with the iron, making sure that the base has an even coating of wax. When running the iron over the base make sure the board gets enough heat so that wax spreads across it, but don’t keep the iron stationary for too long, if the topsheet feels hot to touch then you need to move on to another area. I find working from one end of the board to the other works best for me, as it allows you to spread the wax more efficiently. Once the base is completely coated pop your board in your airing cupboard, this will help the wax work into the pockets of space between the sintered plastic grains.
3) Take you’re board out of the airing cupboard a day or two before you go on your holidays. Run the scraper down the length of the board removing as much of the wax as possible, being careful not to dig the corners of the scraper into the base. I tend to leave the wax 4-5 centimetres from the tips as this helps any water from seeping into the core. Remove any wax from the edges using the short end of the scraper.
4) Once you have removed all of the wax, run the structuring brush down the length of the board. If you are using a wire and nylon structuring brush, make sure you lead with the wire half.
5) The final step is to run your polishing rag over the boards removing any scrapings or wax removed from the structuring brush. Et voila, you have just waxed your first snowboard… I told you it was easy!
Posted by Rich Ewbank in Features.
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on January 14, 2010 at 09:06 AM
Metal Scrapers are used for P-texing the bottom of a board.. All shops use a plastic scraper for waz and if they dont you need to get your money back…Metal will screw up the board USE PLASTIC
on January 14, 2010 at 11:50 AM
Never screwed up my boards and I must waxed them a couple of hundred times over the years. I find plastic scrapers blunt far too quickly and then it’s a mission removing any wax.. each to their own, it’s only my opinion.
on January 14, 2010 at 05:13 PM
I always use a metal scraper because it saves a lot of effort and unless you’re engaging the corner of the metal scraper you don’t damage the base….just got to be a little more careful when scraping.
on March 14, 2010 at 06:37 PM
‘Plastic Scraper’ are usually used for scrapping off excess wax from the base.
‘Metal Scraper’ are used to remove excess p-tex from the base repair.
Recommended always scrape from Tip to Tail…
if you are comfortable using the ‘Metal Scraper’ and have steady hand, use the ‘Metal Scraper’ to remove excess wax.
There is no right or wrong method to hot-wax snowboard, as long as you do it correctly and the desired results are achieved.
Now go shreding while there still some snow… or wax your board for storage and preparation for next season.
on December 25, 2010 at 01:16 PM
As a PhD in materials science working in research on tribology (the study of friction, wear and lubrication) and having waxed and p-texed a good number of boards in my time I have some input even though quite contradictory. From my personal experience the abovementioned method works very well and there is no comparison in the performance of a freshly waxed board. Even liquid “roll-on” wax can help. On the other hand, I was at a conference last year where a guy was presenting his research work on waxes for ski bases. The conclusions were that the wax itself has no effect at all on the speed of a ski. The critical parameter for speed is the structure of the base. He had experimented in creating non flat bases. He tested bases in which he had created some thin channels lengthwise along the board. The maximum “glide” (he was measuring the distance the ski went on a flat surface after going down a certain length of slope) was achieved with bases containing about 10% channels. As a result he said that the wax was only helping because the process of waxing “unflatened the base” creating channels along the length of the ski. Of course channels perpendicular to the length slowed down the ski. Granted, it was not the best conducted research I ve ever seen, it received quite some criticism from the attendants and it is against most people’s on snow experience. But the work was sponsored by a wax company so the fact that they let him publish it must mean something. Just adding it here for what it’s worth, at least it seems to point that the structuring brush is quite essential.
on December 25, 2010 at 03:57 PM
THat definitely is interesting. So a high grade sintered structurn base is going to be the fastest you can buy… in theory.
Not tempted to channel your energies into a little research?
on December 29, 2010 at 11:52 AM
Haha most certainly! The perfect way to mix business with pleasure. Not very motivated to experiment on my brand new flagship though… I m in the process of looking for a job too, so if there is any snowboard manufacturer reading this looking for a rider/tribologist give me a call. Nidecker I am looking at you, your factory is just half an hour from my place.