AcousticBoarder Posted January 12, 2015 Report Share Posted January 12, 2015 I am hoping to open up a casual general discussion for board care and maintenance. Everyone seems to have a slightly different way of waxing, tuning, and repairing, I would like to know what people do to take care of their boards. A couple sample questions to get things started: What tools/ equipment do you use? How often do you wax? What kinds of wax? What processes do you go through? Any special techniques or tips you have figured out? Hotwax? Wax Whizard? Scrape? What brushes? Base cleaner? P-tex repair? How often do you do your base edges? Side edges? Topsheet? Anything with Boots and bindings? Off season storage? Post and let us know! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AcousticBoarder Posted January 12, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2015 For me, I ride casually, most of my equipment is pretty casual too. I just have a simple iron, no controls. I use Swix CH line of waxes. I will usually hotwax at the beginning and end of the season, and whenever I have the time to before a trip just using the drip method; scrape and brush with steel, brass, and nylon. Otherwise when I do not have the time I will use the wax whizard. I try and wax before each trip, especially because I am unable to go very often. For edges, I only have the wax whizard / Ray's Way side edge beveler. I generally use it 75% of the time before a trip, especially if I see my edges need some touch-up. At the end of the season I will hotwax with warm wax and just leave it on over summer to help protect the base. Warm it up and hot-scrape it off at the start of the next season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corey Posted January 12, 2015 Report Share Posted January 12, 2015 Wax: Wax Whizard, the coldest/hardest wax I can find for the 2" close to the edges, and something appropriate for the day's temps for the middle of the board. Edges: I've finally got proper side (SVST) and base edge (Beast) angle guides. Wish I'd done this earlier! Add a file and a coarse/medium/fine diamond stone set. Set the angle once with each board with the file, then progressively work finer with the stones. For maintenance there's no need for the file. All are from Tognar. Stepping up through the diamond stones progressively gives you a razor-sharp edge. I fumbled with files alone for years, diamond stones are where it's at! My process is to wet the coarse stone with water, put it in the appropriate base guide and run it on the edge. Keep it wet. Then clean the edge/board/tool and repeat on the side edge with the side-angle guide. Repeat with finer and finer finishes until you're happy and/or scared of your edges. The longer you spend on each step the finer the edge, but you're taking away edge life the longer you spend. I spend 10 minutes per board, if that, a couple times a season. Read stuff on how to sharpen knives. Those who obsess about it spend a lot of effort stepping through progressively finer stones/polishes. I've been meaning to try using a piece of glass and various grades of sandpaper instead of stones, but haven't gone beyond thinking about it. That's supposedly the real deal for knives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AcousticBoarder Posted January 12, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2015 (edited) Wax: Wax Whizard, the coldest/hardest wax I can find for the 2" close to the edges, and something appropriate for the day's temps for the middle of the board. Edges: I've finally got proper side (SVST) and base edge (Beast) angle guides. Wish I'd done this earlier! Add a file and a coarse/medium/fine diamond stone set. Set the angle once with each board with the file, then progressively work finer with the stones. For maintenance there's no need for the file. All are from Tognar. Stepping up through the diamond stones progressively gives you a razor-sharp edge. I fumbled with files alone for years, diamond stones are where it's at! My process is to wet the coarse stone with water, put it in the appropriate base guide and run it on the edge. Keep it wet. Then clean the edge/board/tool and repeat on the side edge with the side-angle guide. Repeat with finer and finer finishes until you're happy and/or scared of your edges. The longer you spend on each step the finer the edge, but you're taking away edge life the longer you spend. I spend 10 minutes per board, if that, a couple times a season. Read stuff on how to sharpen knives. Those who obsess about it spend a lot of effort stepping through progressively finer stones/polishes. I've been meaning to try using a piece of glass and various grades of sandpaper instead of stones, but haven't gone beyond thinking about it. That's supposedly the real deal for knives. What angles do you use on your edges? I am trying to figure out what kind of equipment and angles to use. I am a bit obsessive about knife sharpening, so I am definitely looking to make sure my edges are sharp :) Do you use anything for side-walls? One of my boards will need something soon. Planer and panzar or cutter? Edited January 12, 2015 by AcousticBoarder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilux Posted January 12, 2015 Report Share Posted January 12, 2015 (edited) I also have the Beast base guide in 1 degree and it does the trick. I'll do 1 or 2 degree on side edge depending on board. And if you can afford it, definitely invest in the diamond stones as Corey suggested! Typically at the beginning of the season I'll take the gum stone to get any residue and burrs, then panzar-type file (with guide) to the edges first. This gives you a great canvas to really fine tune with the diamond stones. I'll sometimes have to do this (use panzar) twice a season. Beyond this I only use the diamond files to fine tune after every couple outings depending on how hard the conditions are. Remember, the more frequently you tune with diamond stones, the less you'll have to take off larger filings of edge i.e. the longer you wait to sharpen in between, you'll have to use the panzar more to reshape the edge to be able to effectively use the diamond stones. Does that make sense? Edited January 13, 2015 by Hilux Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corey Posted January 13, 2015 Report Share Posted January 13, 2015 I use 1/2 degree base and 2 degree side. I haven't experimented, these just sounded good for ice without constant dulling. I'm skeptical that anyone could feel a 1-degree change in an edge angle, but I've been proven wrong many times before too. ;) Hilux, you're making me think about using the diamonds more often... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Surf Quebec Posted January 13, 2015 Report Share Posted January 13, 2015 I hotwax in springs and leave the wax for the summer. During winter i use the wax wizard. For edges, I use blue then green diamond stones then polish with arkansas stone. 2 degrees for edge and 1 degree for base. I take care of the edges quite often with the diamond stones,as Hilux says it keeps the file away... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slopestar Posted January 13, 2015 Report Share Posted January 13, 2015 Here on the west coast/So Cal, conditions are usually low tide.the file is usually necessary. I tune/wax accordingly but don't take the engineer stance when it comes to tuning. Hand file/stone and wax for conditions. Definitely cold hard wax on the edge as everything just burns off. Always storage wax in the off season. Boards are made to be ridden and a general tune is good enough for me Nd always better than what everyone else has Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AcousticBoarder Posted January 13, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2015 I have read a couple thing that recommend waxing your sidewall as in carving you are on edge. Does anyone do this? How do you accomplish it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Surf Quebec Posted January 13, 2015 Report Share Posted January 13, 2015 Even if you ride EC style, I do not think waxing the sidewall will change anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John E Posted January 14, 2015 Report Share Posted January 14, 2015 My favorite wax technique: Sometime over the summer put your boards out in the sun - base up. Let them stay out for quite a while. This works best for black bases. They get pretty hot. Check on them to make sure they don't get too hot. Then, get a bar of wax & crayon it on. A little goes a long way. Leave them out in the sun until the bases shine up with an even sheen. Then, bring them out of the sun & let cool (base up). You wind up with a thin uniform wax coating that seems to adhere better than with a waxing iron because the whole board gets pretty warm. It seems to last much longer. You may or may not have to scrape or Scotchbrite. This won't work in the middle of winter but the beauty is that it works well and is very easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 14, 2015 Report Share Posted January 14, 2015 A friend of mine owns a ski shop and they just got a "hotbox." Does anyone have any experience with these? He describes it as a giant oven and they cook/dry out the board for like 8 hours or something, and then add wax and then bake another 8 hours. I can't decide if that's the best thing ever or the worst thing and will cause a delam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teach Posted January 14, 2015 Report Share Posted January 14, 2015 SkiMD has a site with a lot of information. There is a "Tuning tips" page, http://www.skimd.com/tuning-tips.html Brief synopsis: Wax Whizard good, heat bad unless done without heating past the base. As for hot boxes, "Hot Boxing has also proven to deform base profile due to heating the entire ski instead of just the base." and "REMEMBER, HEAT IS WHAT'S USED TO BUILD SKIS, AND HEAT IS WHAT WILL TAKE THEM APART!". I hot wax only if I'm applying base prep wax. Then I use a sheet of paper between the iron and base as I'm paranoid about heat on plastic, even before seeing SkiMD's tips. You don't need much heat to get the wax (Dominator Zoom Renew) to penetrate -- 100 C is enough. The Wax Whizard works really well for regular waxing in my experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carvedog Posted January 15, 2015 Report Share Posted January 15, 2015 You may or may not have to scrape or Scotchbrite. I have been told by one of the best that scotchbrite pads will leave debris in your wax. Only use the very fine brass brushes to rub in the wax. And you can tell a one degree difference in edge bevel for shore. I do one degree base and side and taper the base on the last five inches or so up to about three degree so I can get a release. I don't detune so that kind of takes the place of that. works for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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