Snowboarding for a beginner - wax help plz?

Question

hey, so for some reason I bought a snowboard last year (before attempting to board) and there seemed to be too much wax on the board. I wasn' able to go much last winter; however, the times that I made it to the slopes, my board seemed incredibly quick. For example, I put my board next to four of my friend's boards on a slightly downhill area, and my board just took off while my friends boards slowly inched there way down. To make this short, recently I scrapped some of the wax off before going to snowshoe, and it helped tremendously. I guess I am wondering though, since I've gone twice in total snowboarding, should I actually buy a wax scrapper or brush b/c I had to use the edge of a ruler to get some of the wax off (clumps etc...)? I know that most advanced snowboarders prefer more wax to less, but since I am still a beginner/intermediate (I can finally do toeside), it seems less wax would be better. Thanks!

-chip

Answer 1

After waxing is done properly there shouldn't be ANY clumps left.  You remove almost everything when you scrape it down.  I'd suggest looking up some tuning sites online to learn more about it...as it's far too complicated a process to explain here.

I can tell you that learning about keeping your board properly tuned up (and actually DOING IT) will make a 200% difference in how your board rides!

Answer 2

After hot-waxing, you typically scrape the base of the board to get the excess wax off.  If you don't, then the board will be very slow.  When you tune for racing, you scrape as much wax off the board as you can, then buff it, and brush it.  for recreational snowboarding you don't have to be that severe, but the base should be smooth.  Using a scotchbrite pad to rub the base is a good way to find excess wax.  Here is an excellent (and free) guide to board tuning: http://www.kuu.com/tuningmanual2.pdf

Answer 3

well it seems like you prefer less wax and if you like it that way then you have no need to buy wax. but if you still have lumps it would be better for you to buy a scraper but i wouldnt worry as i bought a new board a couple of weeks ago... and from snoboarding before with rentals i have been fine and they dont wax them sooo yh keep ith what you have.