How To Wax Your Snowboard

What's the most important thing a snowboarder should know? Although annoying Mountain Safety is up there, it's actually how to wax your own board. In this tutorial, Yohann shows you how to wax your snowboard correctly; to keep your board maintained, riding faster and lasting longer!

We went back to Underground Tuning for part 2, of a 3 part Snowboard Tuning series. Check out the other tutorials here:

• Part 1: How To De-Tune Your Snowboard
• Part 3: How To Remove Wax From Your Snowboard

(Narrating: Yohann Sheetz. Film/Edit: Adison MacDonald)

Why Wax Your Board?

There are two main reasons why you need to wax your snowboard:

1. Fast, smooth riding
2. Protects your board

Having a freshly waxed snowboard is key for having a good time on the slopes. A freshly waxed board provides better slide on the snow, which means less time getting stuck in flat areas and having to unstrap. Waxing your board also hydrates and protects the base, meaning it will last a lot longer.

By waxing your board regularly (once per week), you will ensure your board rides fast! In doing so, waxing your board reduces your chances of having to one foot along flat spots... Because let's face it, no snowboarder enjoys getting caught on the flats and having to one foot.

Waxing your board will increase the longevity of your snowboard. Waxing hydrates the base and stops the pores of the P-tex base drying up. If you wax your board regularly, your board will stay as fast and fresh as a daisy.

Tools Needed

1. A Waxing Iron
2. Snowboard Wax
3. A Snowboard... Duh

Wax Your Board In 3 Easy Steps!

Step 1: Drip Line And Iron Wax Into The Closest Edge To You

Press the wax on your heated iron above your snowboard. The wax will liquify and pour off of the iron and on to your board. Draw a line with the liquid droplets on your board near the edge closest to you. Make sure you run the wax the entirety of the boards length. You want a hot iron that melts the wax quickly, but not too hot that the wax begins to smoke when in contact with the iron.

Try to keep the drip line 1cm in width. This will give you the perfect amount of wax. 

As soon as you get to the end of your snowboard with the drip line. Press your iron onto your snowboard and start going back and forth along the drip line. You can push the wax in as hard as you like, just make sure to spread it. The harder you push the wax into your snowboard base, the more the wax will seep into each P-tex pore.

Press down hard, while smoothly spreading. 

The trick is to get the board nice and warm. Feel the underneath of the board to ensure the iron is not too hot and the board does not overheat. If the top sheet feels warm (but not hot) and the wax is nicely spread out, move onto the other side of your board

Step 2: Drip Line And Iron Wax Into The Furthest Edge To You

Do another drip line making sure its 1cm in width along the other edge of your snowboard and repeat the same motions as before. Push the iron and wax into your base with smooth back and forth strokes. If needed, go in a circular motion to push the wax into the board. This can help get the wax into the pores, because a base of a snowboard is never fully flat, so you may need to force the wax into base from different angles.

Step 3: Drip Line And Iron Wax Into The Middle Of Your Board 

Now that you have waxed the edges of your board, melt wax in a drip line down the middle of your snowboard. Make the drip line a bit thicker for the middle (2-4cm wide) as you have more surface area to cover. Do this by slowing down how fast you move long the board.

Ensure you have every part of the base covered with wax.

Once you have done the drip line on the middle of the board, do a couple of laps up, down and around the snowboard with your iron. Spread the wax evenly and try to cover the whole of the middle section of your board.

Make sure your board is warm.

Tip: After about 10 minutes, you will want to feel the heat under the board. The ideal temperature for your snowboard when waxing is when you feel that the board itself is warm underneath. 

A Tip For Your Nose & Tail 

Be careful when waxing the tip and tail. You should wax the tip and tail, but only with a little bit of wax. This is because the tip and tail is hard to scrape, your tips don't not get as much wear on the snow as the middle and you'll get a build of gunk and wax. When you get a build up of wax on your tips it will make the board look super dirty. 

To Finish

Leave your board for at least 30 minutes (ideally overnight) to allow the wax to dry and seep into every P-tex pore.

Now you're ready for the next step, How To Remove Wax From Your Snowboard. 

Board Professionally Waxed In Whistler?

Pay Yohann a visit at Underground Tuning. 

Jake Adams
Snowboard Addiction
Our Goal Is To Improve Your Riding