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Waxing

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Sorry to have to ask such dumb questions but im asking for a friend who is new to the sport (honest)

How do you wax a board properly?
Why?
Which products are recommended for which conditions?

Please help me (er..sorry ,my friend)
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
1quid travel iron from ebay.
Approiate scraping tool, a few quid I think. I did initially use a wallpaper scraper.
Generic wax cost 6quid, Its looking like it'll do 12 waxes at the moment with my amateur attempts.

There should be other posts on the subject here but what I do -

Clean the board, I've not tried a snowboard specific product but Mr Muscle seems to work...

Heat up your irn so it melts but not burns the wax and allow it to drip onto the board. When enough has been applied (dont cover it!) iron it evenly over the base.

Let it cool and then use the scraper to take off the excess.
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
paulm, I'm sure Masque will be along soon to tell us his uber-hygenix-pipe-blasting methods buts as Prog99 says, use an astringent, buy an iron - one without air or water holes. Dixons do one for £6. Take board into back garden, crack open Corona, easy on the wax, careful of reefer madness, amuse neighbours, do moonie if neighbours not amused, scrape off excess though not sure about metal scraper, pull pants back up or just admire.
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 You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
prog99 wrote:
Mr Muscle seems to work...


Shocked really? You're kidding, right?
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Yeah.. from first experience of this myself... do this somewhere where the amount of wax shavings won't cause a matrimonial dispute... trust me, you'd be amazed at how much of a mess you can make from very little wax... and also just how cross a usually placid wife can get about a few wax shavings on the carpet... ahem...

Also shave the wax off from front to back... I doubt it makes *much* difference, but every little helps, right?

Next Monday sees the re-introduction of board to piste after waxing... hoping that I don't end up stuck to the side of the mountain in a rather foolish looking stance as the wax I've used and snow temps horribly disagree... Puzzled
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 You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
saxabar, Cheers rolling eyes I have been trying out a number of products including Barry's Cillit Bang stuff and there's very little that will actually strip wax out of the structure of the base. (I've been using an old soft P-Tex board as the mule)

All the standard household cleaners except Fairy Grease and Grime just remove the surface dirt and not the wax unless you use a a non scratch abrasive pad (like you'd use for a plastic bath . . . . . . . ask yer mum) and even then won't clean out the surface structure.

Proper De-Fart liquid . . . wipe on - wipe off, very aggressive and hard to find out exactly what's mixed with the orange oil. It sparked off a touch of dermatitis so beware if your skin's a bit delicate or you don't wash between those 'loving' moments.

Meths . . . works with some waxes but not all and does need a bit of abrasion with it. (very flammable)

Isopropyl Alcohol: Seems fine, but don't lick your fingers (very flammable and tastes better than meths)

Coleman's fuel / White Gas . . . works a treat BUT . . . it doesn't like some plastics and is (very VERY flammable/explosive in the wrong conditions)

Fine, stiff metal brush for cleaning out and keeping the surface texture/structure (important if you want to go as fast as poss).

Irons: cheap, big and heavy (old iron base) is better as the temp doesn't vary as much AND GET A SURFACE TEMP THERMOMETER from a cook shop so you can set the max safe temp for your board/skis. They can vary so read the booklet/web site. If it gets too hot you can destroy the glue bond between the base and the core and create a lovely big bubble on the base of your board/ski.

Scraping: Flat and straight plastic or metal. I prefer metal, but that's just my choice and you have to be gentle with it. Also, most metal scrapers are stamped out of a sheet so they naturally have a sharp side (for cutting burs and proud repairs), use the rounded or softer top side for wax scraping and still be careful not to dig into the base.

Fine, stiff, nylon brush will move the excess wax out of the 'structure', again only if you want to go as fast as poss but also makes a diff at very slow speeds as it helps reduce 'stiction'.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
I've done the waxing and it's piece of pish, but what do you guys use for removing the wax that's already in the board. Obviously there are "wax removers" but wondered if there's a typical household product that does the same job for a 1/10 of the price?
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Why do you want the old wax out of your bases?

If you want to clean out gunk, then just give the bases a bit of a brush then hot scrape - scrape the wax whilst it's still hot. That should get rid of most of the crap. Then just rewax, leave to cool and scrape as normal.
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 You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
marc gledhill is right. You want to leave as much wax in the base as possible but remove any dirt. Never use a cleaning solution (even the so-called proper base cleaners) on a p-tex base as at best it dries the base out & at worst it's absorbed into the base & stops the wax penetrating. One exception though, use a propriety base cleaner around a damaged area prior to making a p-tex repair to ensure good adhesion of the molten p-tex patch.

As marc says, a good few passes with a brass brush, hot scrape using a soft low melting point wax (you'll notice that the dirt in the board is pulled out by the hot wax - if it's really dirty repeat this process), brass brush again, wax for conditions & scrape when cool, brass brush again to clean out the structure. If you want a really quick board you can then polish with a horsehair brush followed by a nylon brush.

Masque, you're a brave man scraping with a metal scraper - one slip & that's one big gouge to fill. I much prefer a plastic scraper & just use a metal 'un to flatten down p-tex repairs.
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 Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Thanks for all the tips so far. Ive managed it quite nicely but SAXABAR's suggestion of mooning at my neighbours nearly got me into trouble as i live next door to a Police station.A huge drooling Police K9 now wants my B-hind Shocked
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 snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
spyderjon, I just take as much care with my boards as I do with anything else I stroke Cool
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Masque, Laughing
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
marc gledhill wrote:
prog99 wrote:
Mr Muscle seems to work...


Shocked really? You're kidding, right?

1st thing I found. Seems to clean the muck off.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
I'm sure acid would do the job too, but I'd still worry what else they do to the ptex.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
thanks, i'll just do an extra warm wax then.

spyderjon, are you on the ESOB as i've got one of those edging tools but the instructions are written in complete gibberish and wondered if you could show us mere mortals how to use it properly??
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Dan, Not sure yet re the EOSB. We weren't originally able to make it but my work committments have now changed are we're trying to see if we can get for a few days. If we do then no problem re tuing advice.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
very helpful post! just to clarify that i'm understanding everything correctly, i'm NOT supposed to use a base cleaner such as http://www.the-house.com/bk7bczzbakodacleaner.html (which i was thinking about purchasing) b/c you want to keep the wax not get rid of it?

also, what if you don't feel comfortable doing the whole melting wax and ironing thing at home (i've never been good with irons)? how do you rate something like this? http://www.shop-of-snowboarding.com/shopitems/waxing-kits/quickwax-waxing-kits.asp (which i was also thinking about purchasing but seems too easy, there's gotta be a catch right?) and i'm not particularly interested in going fast. i just want to know how to keep my snowboard nice and new (it's my first).
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
the quick wax is ok, normally it is tethlon based and there are various brands such as not wax, majic potion and the one you mentiond. ~I like to keep some not wax in my back pack just incase.

As to base cleaner, personally i think you should base clean before waxing but dont waist your money on base cleaner, good old white spirit works just as well and costs pennies!.

We dont drip wax onto our boards. We dry rub, fairly hard with the wax all over the board including nose and tail, then after that we use the hot iron over it. then leave for base to cool then go over with a hard brush to texture.

if you need to ptex do that first, and edge first too.

some people dont agree with this method but we have 20 boards here and they get done like this and they're all in great condition, do be careful not to burn the base but we've never done that yet! my hubby is a board technician and this is the method he uses.

good luck
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 You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
meanie, Whilst the spray on waxes do work they won't last long as it's a surface treatment only & doesn't get aborbed in to the base. Were products like that the Dakine or Zardoz Notwax work well is you can easily give the base a quick coat during a break on the slope if you feel your board/skis aren't running to well.

AFAIK the only wax to get wax absorbed in to the p-tex base is to hot wax the base.

There's load of info available re tuning, some of great, some good, some contradictory & some that's just plain wrong. Over the last season I have compiled my own guide which I'll PM to you. What I can say is that everything that I've written has been tried & tested & has given excellent results on the approx 80 pairs of skis I've tuned.

It's written for skis so just read board wherever it says skis. It's pretty anal as it's designed to give the best possible tune so just take from it what your time, budget & performance level require.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
wow thanks snowangel and spyderjon for all the great tips. i feel so lucky to have a piece of both your knowledge in this area.

snowangel, your method sounds interesting and more easily do-able than the other methods i had read about. ooh and thanks for the tip about the white spirit, i will save a bundle!

spyderjon, thank you so much for your detailed message. i am already feeling like a pro and confident to give it a go on my own (which i hadn't up until yesterday) thanks to all the information that you've provided. i think i will save so much money doing things myself than paying someone else to do it for me.

thank you both again! Very Happy
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