Waxing your pole, er deck…

Posted: 01 April 2010 08:15 AM

:)

OK, super bored and I have to study for some *hit tomorrow so I want to talk waxing to procrastinate.

Do you guys structure your boards before waxing?  I structure afterwards with a nylon brush but I read that it’s good to do with stainless steel/brass brush prior to waxing as well?

As well how do you clean crap off your base that is baked in?  I have some sort of grease on my Novus that is really in the base, the standard soak with base cleaner isn’t doing much.  I saw somewhere to just iron the board as is and scrap the crap off but I don’t want to cook it into the base just in case.

Also is it really worth it to get more expensive wax like Kuu Mach 3?  A small bar is like $70+, just seems so expensive but if it makes you as fast as Russian MiG-29 then I might be interested.

Posted: 01 April 2010 01:44 PM

Getting technical Reloaded!

Ok I’m not the best person to talk about tuning, I’m pretty lazy when it comes to keeping my boards in good nick.

Wax wise I’d just stick with an all temperature Floride wax, unless you’re riding spring sluch in which case a warm weather wax is much faster. That high tech stuff sounds like specialist racing wax.. in which case you’re better off with a super high grade base, like that of the Volkl Coal than spending money on a wax.

Structuring, I’ve always used a half nylon, half wire brush on a fully waxed and scraped board.. I’d be nervous about taking a metal brush to a dry unwaxed base.. if your base is heavily scratched, I’d get a base grind, but worth noting that you can only do it a couple of times before you run out of base to grind.

Regarding the oil slick on your board, if the detergent isn’t working, give it a good wax keeping the base nice and warm, the wax might help to draw the dirt out of the porous base. I hardly ever clean my base, waxing tends to draw out all of the crap. Yep I’m a lazy git.

Posted: 03 April 2010 07:23 PM

Although it is far simpler to have someone hotwax my snowboard…  I wanted to do it myself so i purchsed a bunch of snowboard maintainance equipment… Dakine Tuneup Kit 2010 (complete kit has hot iron), Dakine triangle scrapper, all temp hot wax, 3 brushes (metal, firm, soft), 3 scotch pads (rough, med, fine), Swix Snowboard grip.

NOTE: i am mentioning HOTWAX only as i assume you already have checked and sharpened the steel edges of your snowboard… :)

This is the way i hotwax my snowboard:
1 Clean board with citrus wax remover, polish / dry with clean lint-free cloth. (Demon Base Orange DS7000)

2 Apply a bit of hotwax to lift out the stubborn caked in dirt, it takes patience to get most of the dirt out…

3 Repeat Step 1.  (I like my base clean)

4 Check for any base damage… if it is an obvious indentation or major scratch, fill with appropriate colored p-tex.

5 Start HOTWAX the snowboard, wait for an hour for the wax to cool.

6 Scrape the excess wax off.

7 Structure snowboard base with the brush (i use the hard and soft brush only)

8 Polish the snowboard base witht the scotch pad (i use all 3 pad to make the board smooth)

9 OPTIONAL: Polish base with a coating of Zardoz NotWax.  (i havent done the last portion because my board is already very fast…)

Hahaha…  What can i say, i have a very stringent way of doing things…  the way i HOTWAX is not perfect but so far so good, i am very happy with my work.  :)

Posted: 05 April 2010 01:37 AM

Damn… typed out a long reply then lost it when I went to open some tabs on tuning sites for you :/

I use a brass brush before and after waxing. I hear that base cleaners dry out your base so a better option is to do a hotscrape. Use a cheap wax as normal but scrape it off while its still warm, that’ll lift out a lot of the dirt and old wax in there.

These sites have a lot of good advice….

http://www.tognar.com/tips_tricks_information_ski_snowboard_waxing_tuning_repair_tools.html

http://www.happymonkeysnowboards.com/HMS/tuning-tips/

http://www.skituning101.com/

http://www.alpinecarving.com/tuning.html

http://www.jonsskituning.co.uk/

...and Zardoz Notwax ROCKS! That sh1t is sooo fast :)

Posted: 05 April 2010 01:43 AM

Thanks for the info Dirty Punk…  too bad i have two bottles of the Demon Base Orange cleaner…  :cheese:

I have 2 units of ZardoZ NotWax that i have not open and used yet… still not comfortable with my board at higher speeds.

Posted: 05 April 2010 02:38 AM

Yeah, I’ve a big bottle of Swix base cleaner Rick. I just use it now to clean up my scrapers and the top o’ the board.

Posted: 05 April 2010 05:16 PM

I’ve not heard of this Zardox Not Wax yet! Might have to source some for the board test… Taking out a Head ICT, Palmer Crown and Nidecker Legend with a lick of that is going to be scary.. I’ll make sure I get some footage!

Posted: 06 April 2010 02:27 AM

Hi Rich,

this is link to ZardoZ Notwax website with explaination what it is… http://www.zardoznotwax.com/

ZardoZ Notwax is a slippery pure liquid teflon base lubricant from DuPont, it also includes rust-block to protect metal edges from rust.

http://tognar.com/zardoz_wax_waxes_waxing_ski_snowboard.html

Posted: 07 April 2010 02:28 PM

Oh yeah! That stuff looks mental!

I’ll be sure to pack the catsuit… loose fit clothing can seriously inhibit speed!