Waxing & Tuning Concepts

[AK in PA]

I was going to post this in the Race Wax thread, but decided to post it separately so as not to get too off topic on the other.

Could anyone list their full waxing regime? Would it include:

1) Hot wax (cheap wax) and warm scrape.

2) Stiff brush to further clean.

3) Hot wax (good wax) and cool scrape.

4) Softer brush to texture. (In a cross-hatch or wavy pattern, not straight apparently?)

Try not to cringe, but for recreational riding, would an ordinary stiff nylon or poly scrub brush, or perhaps a soft-ish brass grill brush suffice? (Thinking $3 to $5 versus $30 to $50.)

Also, I see references to base grinding. Is that done just to remove damage and warping, or is it considered a periodic maintenance item?

I also see references to PTC tuning. Can anyone explain?

Finally, my Oxygen has a finely furrowed texture along the base. Anyone know if that is a factory base or a grind imparted texture?

I've been using the same green-scrubby pad method of wax texturing for 18 years, but I'm not that old of a dog that I'm not open to new tricks. :)

[Bordy]

I was going to post this in the Race Wax thread, but decided to post it separately so as not to get too off topic on the other.

Could anyone list their full waxing regime? Would it include:

1) Hot wax (cheap wax) and warm scrape.

2) Stiff brush to further clean.

3) Hot wax (good wax) and cool scrape.

4) Softer brush to texture. (In a cross-hatch or wavy pattern, not straight apparently?)

Try not to cringe, but for recreational riding, would an ordinary stiff nylon or poly scrub brush, or perhaps a soft-ish brass grill brush suffice? (Thinking $3 to $5 versus $30 to $50.)

Also, I see references to base grinding. Is that done just to remove damage and warping, or is it considered a periodic maintenance item?

I also see references to PTC tuning. Can anyone explain?

Finally, my Oxygen has a finely furrowed texture along the base. Anyone know if that is a factory base or a grind imparted texture?

I've been using the same green-scrubby pad method of wax texturing for 18 years, but I'm not that old of a dog that I'm not open to new tricks. :)

I think its important to decide why you are waxing.

If you are waxing for the purpose of free riding and prolonging the life of your board then the steps and waxes used are much different then if you are waxing for race day, training day, competetative season etc.

Protecting the board and recreational riding waxing is very easy unless you want it to be complicated.

Brushes clean the wax out of the structure and help buff the surface. But so does a pad (though not as well). I only race prep and hot box race gear all other gear gets a universal wax( usally a low cost floro) and scrape and ride. Most of the high end(read as Metal) Hardbooter.com demo fleet gets wax cycled when its new then just maintained.

[Danked]

I heard about a base grind theory that made a lot of sense, but mostly to racers. It involved getting 3 base grinds over the course of the year from a facility that is able to greatly vary the type of texture put in the base. One at the beginning of the season, when the snow is wet. This basegrind would be a fairly deep, textured grind. The theory behind this is that when there is very little air in the snow (lots of moisture), you want more air, or a bigger cushion of air in your base. Towards the middle of the season you would want a less deeply textured base when the snow is very cold and full of air/less moisture. Then the most textured base in the spring when the snow is it's moistest and slushyest. This could be very costly and probably not necessary for 95% of riders. My thinking is maybe two grinds a season and just have the same, more textured base for both spring and early winter with a good storage wax over the summer. I know there is a very good base grind shop in tremblant, quebec with a fully automated stone prep machine that you can just punch some conditions into and it will adjust the stone for it. I.e. moist snow, cold snow, dry snow, sticky snow etc. Their staff is also top notch.

[Sinecure]

First PTC = a guy in Mass who tunes boards and does an awesome job by all accounts. You can mail him your board and he'll tune it and send it back.

Structure - sounds like you have some decent structure so don't worry about it.

Do you tune for racing or just rec riding? If just rec, don't get too wrapped around the axle over the whole thing.

Brushes - I wouldn't suggest a grill brush or other nylon brush, but I suppose that would work in a pinch. If you don't want to spend the money for a good brush, just keep using the green scrubby pads - they're fine, they just won't get the wax out of the structure as well. This time of year, keep your eye on some of the tuning sites and see if you can pick up a brush cheap. Also REI will blow them out at 50% off pretty soon.

I only hot scrape if I need to get some crappy or wrong wax off, or if the base is dirty from spring grime or something else. Otherwise I just use a decent wax and scrape when it is cold. My routine is 1) check edges and knock down any burrs if necessary, 2) wax, 3) scrape with a sharpened plexi scraper, 4) smooth out with a green pad, 5) brush with a nylon rotobrush or horsehair hand brush if I don't have my cordless drill handy, 6) ride. I'll get a base grind once or twice a season to make sure my edge angles are set properly, get some structure back into the base, and clean up bad edge burrs/scuffs. And I get p-tex repairs if necessary.

[Sinecure]

First PTC = a guy in Mass who tunes boards and does an awesome job by all accounts. You can mail him your board and he'll tune it and send it back.

Structure - sounds like you have some decent structure so don't worry about it.

Do you tune for racing or just rec riding? If just rec, don't get too wrapped around the axle over the whole thing.

Brushes - I wouldn't suggest a grill brush or other nylon brush, but I suppose that would work in a pinch. If you don't want to spend the money for a good brush, just keep using the green scrubby pads - they're fine, they just won't get the wax out of the structure as well. This time of year, keep your eye on some of the tuning sites and see if you can pick up a brush cheap. Also REI will blow them out at 50% off pretty soon.

I only hot scrape if I need to get some crappy or wrong wax off, or if the base is dirty from spring grime or something else. Otherwise I just use a decent wax and scrape when it is cold. My routine is 1) check edges and knock down any burrs if necessary, 2) wax, 3) scrape with a sharpened plexi scraper, 4) smooth out with a green pad, 5) brush with a nylon rotobrush or horsehair hand brush if I don't have my cordless drill handy, 6) ride. I'll get a base grind once or twice a season to make sure my edge angles are set properly, get some structure back into the base, and clean up bad edge burrs/scuffs. And I get p-tex repairs if necessary.

[SEJ]

+2 for what Billy said. The only thing I do different is use a base prep wax after a grind.