5 Reasons to WAX your snowboard + How to wax

[@johnshelly6946]

Divots where the inserts are can be greatly minimized if you take the bindings off your board before you heat the base with your iron. And taking the bindings off also gives a greater chance of the base heating up evenly. The bindings have that spot heat up more slowly, and then hold the heat for longer after you're done. All in all one of the best waxing demos for snowboards on youtube.

[@jibril4000]

Tommie you’re killing it with these value packed videos ⚡️⚡️⚡️🙏

[@tommiebennett]

Yo, I appreciate you coming back day after day and glad you like the content.

[@tommiebennett]

Grab your Benetek gear here: Shopbenetek.com

[@Gary-np7hl]

still waiting on hoodie 3.0!

[@tommiebennett]

@@Gary-np7hl haha, dropping any day now. def stoked on them. Now I need to start designing next years lol

[@jeremimaple664]

The nerdy wax video 🤟🤟🔥 I shrunk it down quit a bit but I’ve never loved cat tracks more in my life 💯

[@SilkyCouch]

Love these videos keep it up!

[@mediumofmedia]

Absolutely love this!

[@tommiebennett]

Good seeing you my dooe

[@69Applekrate]

for years of riding I would disagree with you but, I wised up 4-5 years back and NEVER go riding unless I inspect and wax properly before I head out. Also, the right type ofd wax really makes a difference. I strongly prefer the board being faster than me. I can control it but, I am faster than the board, the whole day just drags. ugh

[@brettnbeckvalleyvan]

Thank you 🙏🏻 great video, sending love, peace and good energy from Wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿❤️🙏🏻

[@steveng.clinard1766]

You can set the iron to a lower temperature while crayoning the wax on the board to reduce dripping. Don't set the iron any hotter than necessary while waxing. Divots under the inserts is usually a sign that you've been waxing with the iron too hot. Start low and gradually increase temperature until wax is melting enough to leave a short "trail" when moving the iron. If the melted wax stays hot and shiny for more than a few seconds after the iron has passed, the iron is too hot. Purl doesn't label the melting temperatures for their waxes, but they range from about 110C (yellow, warm) to 135C (blue, cold), which is quite a bit lower than melting temperatures for toko/swix.

[@kirthilker]

I use that method thanks to your other video- but I often end up waxing the back of my hand at the same time 😬 Gotta watch those drips

[@fuzzymuffinsthe3rd]

I got my board waxed at end of season last year. Stored it away in my bag and in basement. It wasn't storage waxing. I want to pull it out in a couple weeks to ride. The wax in my board from last season that I got should be good right? I literally got from shop and didn't ride again and Seems to be still ok

[@Felix-kd8tn]

Yeah it's still fine

[@fuzzymuffinsthe3rd]

@@Felix-kd8tn ok thanks 😅. The super shine is not there like directly after the wax so I was worried

[@yonishara]

What do you think of base structure? Last season I rode a stone message snowboard, which comes with significant structure in the base. I rode almost everyday (snowoboard instructor) and barely put on wax the entire season and didn't feel any difference (sintered base). My new board is extruded and have zero sctructure and I worry i'll need to wax it a ton. Should I do a base grind? really would love your opinion on that!

[@lucasrocha633]

It's the opposite situation. Sintered bases are known for their porosity, which means they can absorb more wax. This characteristic makes them faster when well-maintained, as the wax helps to reduce friction between the snow and the board. However, because of their ability to absorb more wax, sintered bases require more frequent waxing to maintain optimal performance.

[@lucasrocha633]

that means extruded base needs less wax than sintered not more.. My wife has a sintered and I have extruded..

[@elho001]

Myself, I am still not finally decided about structure... According to AngrySnowboarder, the US National Snowboard team stopped hot waxing boards other than for actual competition which lead to less boards failing over the course of a season. Then there is also some reserch done in Finland about how much different factors like the structure and wax actually contribute to the glide performance with IIRC both amounting to similar values, so just one helping as much as just the other seems plausible. Two years ago I took the opportunity of a shop in the resort I was for vacation having a DPS Phantom cure station and had their permanent wax applied to two new boards. As a base grind to get a clean wax free base is part of the apllication process I also got a (cross hatch) structure for free. One board was decently factory waxed, the other very noticeably not (both Mervin, both sintered bases). After the treatment both did at least as well as another unstructured but hot waxed board. That was mid cold early season with recent snow and also with both fresh snow at the top and finally late season warm slush. I was almost convinced, it only neede to survive the long term test. Then the season after, early seson there was very recent snow, but the heaviest pow (if you dore to call it that and not jelly) I've ever experienced - and one board I could not ride after strapping on, because there was a thick layer of snow sticking to the base that was not easy to scrape off. As I happened to be in the same resort where I got the Phantom done, I went to the shop and they said something about very weird snow and big temperature changes and gave me a new, finer structure on that board for free. That did work well for that snow, I compared all three as above on the same run and the fine structure plus Phantom was again as good as the unstructured hot waxed board and the coarse structure with Phantom was badly slow in certain spots - not "maybe I need to wax it soon" but like "who put glue on my base?!". Lateron, when it was pretty bad snow and icy up high for having been way too warm, there was fresh pow up on the glacier and all 3 boards did fine, but at some lower point I was noticeably slower in the flats than a friend on a new (only factory waxed) board even after going in faster (and usually being the one that makes it further than anyone else) with both structured boards, but especially the fine one. Some rub on wax made it less worse, but not good. Some time later, I had recent to old snow in mostly very cold conditions (and only a bit of slush near the end) and all three boards did well again. Early this season there was fresh snow with no bad temperature changes (the rain came 2 days later) and I noticed the fine structure with Phantom plus fresh hot wax on it be slower (not terrible, but well noticeable) in a flat section than two hot waxed boards, one of them by me with same wax and same level of thorough brushing. With that free grind I unfortunately could not test the structure and DPS Phantom independently of each other. I will collect more data points with hot wax added to the structured boards first. But right now it seems as if while the right structure for the conditions is good, the wrong one is a lot more worse, so that it might not be worth it. Thing also is, that while AngrySnowboarder demonstrated how you could belt grind a board 200 times and still have enough base and edge left, others say a stone grind to change structure takes off a lot more than a belt grind (at least the structure depth seems quite logical) and a (ski centric) video from Swix talked about only 4-8 stone grinds per ski. In other words, getting the matching structure whenever the weather changes likely is no option either, even if the cost of it plus effort to find a tune shop doing it in every place you happen to travel to was not an issue to boot with.

[@yonishara]

@@elho001 thank for all your insights this is actually super interesting. For now after 30+ days of riding the extruded base I did find myself super slow on fresh wet snow, and had to wax it for better glide. Also bought a Huck knife pro which is sintered and comes with a fine structure finish, for now the glide is good for around 10+ days of riding. Seems like wax is really important for that new fresh wet pow that sticks to the base like glue. On the piste I find it much less important, the glide is ok but superb with fresh wax. Sometimes so good that it feels weird hitting jumps and rails as you can't calculate the speed as good

[@elho001]

After two days and the night between of constant raining with just a bit snow thrown in and the higher alpine sections closed, I did more testing in ultimale]y met, heavy and sticky snow at around the snow line. Board with no structure and waxed violet for cooler, slightly below freezing temperature: You noticed patches of the snow not being very fast, but all in all it was quite fine. Board with DPS Phantom and fine structure: Unacceptable. The only reason I did not tomahawk in those patches of extra slow snow was that I never picked up considerable speed. Same board with yellow wax for above freezing temps, ie. wet snow: A lot better, but still net as good as the unstructured board with less optimal wax. Somewhat better in lower regions with more spring like slush, but bad in wet spots below trees and the wet "powder" in higher regions, whatever that tells us. Board with DPS Phantom and coarse structure and same yellow wax added: Awesome. The heaviness of the snow still sucked, but glide even in the previously identified "slow" patches was like the snow was perfect. This seems to support my theory that the adverse effect of a bad matching structure is worse than a positive effect of e.g. matching wax.

[@Chapz666]

Are you gonna do a video about detuning the edges soon? Just got my board back from maintenance and the edges are sharp all the way round 😅

[@wrinkle66]

Waxing... oh I remember. I used to wax religiously every week. Wax, scrapers, iron, brushes, dispose of wax shavings....I even built my own portable waxing station. But unless you're a pro and need to shave a fraction of a second off your run don't bother. Instead, I have Phantom DPS on all my boards - a one time treatment for the life the board (penetrates the base layer). It's important use the pads that come with the treatment to remove any imperfections and you will glide like never before in all conditions. Wax is soft. One rail slide in the park and it's gone from where it contacts the board. You can still put a speed wax over your DPS treatment - but again - unless your a pro in a race I wouldn't bother. Claim your time back.

[@elho001]

Ah, I am not the only snowboarder with Phantom... So you did apply it yourself, it seems? And no structure on the base? As the general picture seemed to be some people that applied themselves were not happy, but those that had it done in a cure station were, I did opt for having it done, which given no extra cost seemed nice. Results are mixed for me, or rather uncertain because the two boards with Phantom also got a structure and the others with hot wax have not. See my reply to the comment of yonishara about structure.

[@SugmaDLigmaNutz]

You should invest in an infrared wax iron, it'll save your wax(less waste) and prevent you from needing to scrape.

[@alexanderpernitsch4880]

Is it necessary to loosen or remove bindings before waxing (heard something about getting dimples in the base)?

[@ProgramKiraTV]

I’ll usually just have my board waxed at the mountain. They just do machine waxes and I wonder how that compares to hand wax. Sure hand wax is better but by how much?

[@TWfatfish]

Hi Tommie love your video. I wish that I could see you make a video about rub-on/liquid wax for those who can't hot wax in an aprtment.

[@tommiebennett]

Definitely love that idea. Thanks for the idea.

[@brianp9268]

Why could you not hot wax? Ive hot waxed in a hotel before…(dont tell them)

[@TWfatfish]

@@brianp9268 Mostly is time and space, I'm now live in Japan so the apartmet is really small here. And I don't really want to cover my apartment with wax shavings. So I use Gallium paste wax and take it to the shop for base wax.

[@elho001]

Some info on "laid back" lquid (6r paste) use would be nice, so far I have only come across statements like "it's great, instead of hot waxing every night I only need that every 3 or 4 days and can use the liquid inbetweun)", but not from people hot waxing say every two weeks - if the liquid only gives you 3 extra days there, it would not make much of a difference. Any of these entirely replacing hot wax does not seem to be the idea, at least (unlike it is with the permanent waxes).

[@michael748]

hey tommie, do you think you could maybe add video chapters to your future uploads?

[@kevinlizzo8031]

Waxing is necessary. Relying on structure only is for the birds.

[@dereklin350]

What’s the temperature setting for the iron when put on snowboard base to smooth the wax from tip to tail?

[@maxkrug2000]

I'm a beginner, I don't want my board to pick up speed fast

[@AK-bw8xk]

Clean the base before you wax right? Goof off and scotch brite seams to work. Am i wrong

[@steveng.clinard1766]

Base cleaner is more of a once per season thing unless you are picking up a lot of dirt during spring or summer riding. Base cleaner removes both dirt and deep pore wax. The deep pore wax is good for your base, so it's best to leave it be. I use base cleaner at the end of the season before putting down storage wax. You can use a wire brush to remove crud and old surface wax before re-waxing, but really a simple wax and scrape is more than 90% of a detailed tune in half the time.

[@c4rwr3ck]

wax on wax off

[@jacobsimpson347]

Where's the spice!!!!

[@SkylarRocketMusic]

so you have to scape the wax off the next day