Learn How to Hot Wax Your Snowboard
WHO?
Anyone who owns their own snowboard and wants to learn to take care of it on their own.
WHAT?
Waxing the base of the snowboard – melting wax into the base, allowing it to cool, and prepping it for a good ride.
WHEN?
If you've ever experienced a time on a flat traverse where you slowed down a lot and other people were flying past, or at
least still moving, or if you've felt your snowboard slow down when it really didn't seem like it should, you probably need to wax
your board. A good way to check is to look at the base of the board. If it looks dry, like dry skin, then it IS dry. Or, if you see
a lot of black tarry stuff on the base, it's also a good idea to clean it up and rewax it.
WHERE?
A workbench is the best place – ideally set up with vises such as the RED Snowboard Vises to keep your board level and
stable. Alternatively, you can use your kitchen table, coffee table, floor, whatever surface you've got available, just be prepared
for possible wax drips or wax shavings by laying out newspapers or a tarp to cover any nearby surfaces.
WHY?
Wax soaked into the base of your board allows it to glide smoothly on snow. It also maintains the base by keeping it from
drying out and helps it to last longer.
HOW?
1. Get your kit together.
At a minimum you will need an iron, wax, and a plastic scraper. It's helpful to have snowboard vises, base cleaner, and brushes
or a fibertex pad. We recommend the RED Hot
Stick Iron, Dakine Adjustable Tuning Iron, or One Ball Jay Wang Chung Iron. For
wax, be sure to buy ski or snowboard wax that
is designed to be applied with a hot iron. Click here for a guide to which wax to use for which conditions. Great scraper options
are the RED Tri Scraper,
Dakine Triangle Scraper, and
Dakine 10” Scraper. To keep your snowboard
in place while you work on it, try the RED
Tuning Vises.
2. Start with a clean base.
There are two ways to clean your base. If the base has a lot of sap, grease, or other grime in it, base cleaner like the One Ball
Jay Base Cleaner might be your best bet. Otherwise, hot scraping is the recommended technique. To hot scrape your board, heat up
your iron – if it's smoking/ steaming, then it's too hot. Then hold a bar of wax against the iron over your board. As the wax drips
off the iron, move it around to evenly distribute the wax dots over the base. Once you've dripped wax over the board, then start
spreading the wax around – just like ironing clothes with no danger of creases! ALWAYS KEEP THE IRON MOVING – you can tell when
it's heating up nicely when the topsheet of your board begins to feel warm. Once the wax is spread evenly over the base, it's time
to start scraping. This technique is called ‘hot scraping' because you scrape when the wax is still hot. Hold the scraper at an angle
with the top of the scraper away from you , the edge which will be on the board toward you. Scrape with long strokes, pushing the
scraper away from you. Putting your thumbs near the edge of the scraper puts a strong, even pressure on the edge. As the wax peels
off the board, it will draw out all the dirt and other impurities from the base – when the wax is still warm it will actually pull
out of the pores in the base material. Scrape until you can't take any more wax off. NOTE: since this process pulls the wax out of
the pores of the base, you need to wax the board before riding.
3. Apply fresh wax.
Putting the new coat of wax on is much like preparing the board to hot scrape. Drip the wax you've chosen over the board and
spread it over the base with the iron, making sure to cover every square inch of the running length of the base. The smoother you
finish the wax, the easier it will be to scrape. Also, remember that a thick coat of wax doesn't mean more wax in the base, it just
means more to scrape off. Once you've soaked the wax in, allow the board to cool.
4. Scrape and buff.
For best results, the base should have reached at least room temperature over the entire board, which
usually takes at least half an hour. You can also leave it overnight or until just before the next time you ride it. Scrape the
board the same way you did to hot scrape. Once again, scrape the board until no more wax is coming off with the scraper. Since the
wax and base have cooled, wax will remain in the pores of the base. To finish it off, get out your fibertex pad or brush and buff
it to a nice shine.