How to wax a snowboard at home
Explore our super quick and easy guide on how to wax your snowboard at home as a part of our tech tip series.
This is essential when it comes to taking care of your gear and regularly doing so will lengthen its lifespan. Also, waxing your own board will make you as fast as lightning, beating your friends at head-to-head races on the slopes or clearing kicker tables with ease. Everyone will be jealous of your newly acquired DIY skill!
Of course, you always have the option to bring your snowboard to a shop to get it professionally serviced. We do believe though, that with a bit of help from our side, you can do it all by yourself. And that means that you will have a snowboard that is perfectly in shape whenever you need it and even better – you can save quite some money once you’re set up.
Snowboard Waxing - Step By Step Guide
Step 1: Get Tools To Wax Your Board
Iron
A lot of people ask the question if they need to buy a special iron for ironing a snowboard at home. The answer is pretty simple: No! Your grandma's old iron will also do the job! You shouldn't use the same iron for your clothes and your board though as wax rests could stick to your clothes. Of course you can also buy an iron that is specially made for waxing a board. But if you have an old one at home, there is no need for buying a new one!
Work Trestles (optional)
If you have a pair of work trestles in your garage you will be smiling. Waxing your snow board is a lot easier when you have those at hand. If not, there are a million ways around it. Two chairs, a pair of boxes or simply outside on the floor.
Scraper
The scraper is an important tool when it comes to waxing your own board. The scraper is a little plastic disk with a sharp edge that will help you with scraping off the wax layer, that won’t stay on your board. Too much wax will slow you down, that is why you want to scrape off as much as possible until there is only a really thin layer left on the board that fills out the little cuts and scratches in your base.
A Block Of Snowboard Wax
When ironing the base of your board, you always need to buy hot wax, which is available in big blocks, that will last for a really long time. Most hot wax types work universal for skis, snowboards and all kinds of temperatures. On the package the ironing temperature should be mentioned so you can be sure that it is suitable for hot waxing.
Step 2: Clean The Surface
The second step is pretty straight forward. Clean the base of your snowboard. It might happen that you have dirt on the base of your board from your last holiday. To make sure that the surface you are working with is clean and fresh, just take a cloth with warm water and give the base a good old wipe. If it is really dirty or you didn’t clean it in a while, you might want to try soaking the cloth in alcohol to make sure that not only the superficial, but also the persistent dirt is being removed. Allow to dry for about 30 minutes to make sure the new wax can connect properly to your old layer!
Step 3: Apply Wax
Now we come to the hardest part. Applying the wax. There are probably a million guidelines on how to do this but in the end of the day there are only a few rules that you should follow.
Before applying the wax make sure that you change into an old sweater and an old pair of pants. You should also cover the floor where you plan to work with newspaper, so it doesn’t drip all over it. Now it is time to set up your workstation. Grab your trestles (or two chairs) and place your board on top of them with the bindings facing down.
It is time to plug in the iron. Check the packaging of our wax to see what temperature should be used. Usually it the temperature should range between 110 – 120°C. Wait for 5 to 10 minutes until the iron is hot.
Now, that everything is set up, you can start applying wax to the base of your board. Start off by holding the wax block onto your hot iron in a distance of around 5 – 10 cm above your board. Melt it until the first drops hit your board. Now you can start spreading the hot wax over the base of your board.
IMPORTANT: Always wax from the nose to the tail of your board. This is the direction in which you will be riding downhill, so you want the wax to be applied in the direction of your movement.
Continue doing so, until the base of your board is covered by a thin layer. To make sure that you covered the whole surface of your board, add one line of wax drops close to both of your edges and iron them in the direction of the tail . This will determine how much speed you are going to get out of your new wax job.
Step 4: Cool Down
It is time to let the wax cool down and sink into the base. Don’t scrape off the hot wax right after you applied it. The wax needs to harden a little bit and connect with the old layer. We suggest you to let the wax sink in for about 30 min up to 1 hour. Also at this stage: Don’t forget to unplug the iron and let it cool down before you put it away!
Step 5: Scrape Off
Last but not least: Scrape the remaining wax of your board. For that you will need a little plastic scraper so that you can apply pressure on your board and remove the wax that you don’t need. You only want to keep the wax that connected with the old base layer so you can get rid of the rest. It will only slow you down – so don’t be shy! Take the scraper and place it at the nose of your board. Now apply pressure and scrape off the wax from the nose to the tail of your board until you removed all the superficial wax.
To finish your wax job, take a dry cloth and wipe away the wax rests to free the base of your board from anything, that could affect your end result and therefore how fast you will be on the slopes or when hitting the big jumps.
Embracing Winter In Style: Preparing for the Slopes
Once you've mastered the skill of waxing your snowboard at home, it's time to consider enhancing your winter wardrobe for the slopes. While keeping your snowboard in top shape is essential, so is dressing appropriately for the weather. The clothing you wear can influence your performance on the slopes as well as your comfort.
Elevate your look with a selection from our latest collection of men's snowboard jackets and women's snowboard jackets. These are designed to withstand the chilly mountain weather while ensuring you ride in style.
Looking for more snowboard clothing styles? Check these out:
Snowboard Trick Tip Series:
- How to carve on a snowboard
- How to jump on a snowboard
- How to rotate on a snowboard
- How to jib on a snowboard