I promise its not that hard:) 45 minutes of Waxing your skis or snowboard and tuning your edges  is one of the easiest things that you can do to increase the performance of your board or skis. Waxing makes your equipment easier to control, thus it glides much better, increasing both your speed and the ease of turning. IE- you don't get as tired.  Second, Waxing prolongs your equipments "useful life" since waxed bases are more resistant. Consequently, you get the most from your Snowboard or skis.  And lastly when you blow by your buddys not only on the slope but on all the all important cat-tracks you'll truly understand why the pro's wax every session.

720Sports carries everything you need to do the job described here,  we sell pre-built waxing and tuning kits that take all the guess-work out of what equipment you need to wax and tune- simply click here for our tuning supply page

So Lets get started- we'll keep this as a simple guide to waxing only-  I'll cover Edges and Base repair in another guide, 

First find a large enough work area to move your board around etc,  I don't recommend a carpeted area since you will be getting wax on and this in the carpet-  almost impossible to remove,   A garage or basement workbench and an actual snowboard vise will be the the best option for the home tuner,  a mobile snowboard bench folds down and provides an excellent working surface -  if none of these are available-  you can make due almost anywhere-  I've done it on the floor with 2 phone books holding the board

Now for the equipment you must have-

• Waxing Iron- Moms iron will actually work but the results won't be nearly as good due to the steam holes in any modern iron plus the sharp edges and high heat range is likely to damage your base before you know it- And mom is not going to be any kind of happy...   A good waxing iron has beveled edges and a heat range to melt wax but not the plastic of the base
• Wax- multiple varieties- fluorinated, cold, warm, all temp etc-  just make sure its a hot wax- not a paste wax
• Wax Scraper-simple plastic rectangle or triangle
• Buffing/polishing gear- While a variety of brushes can be used- Nylon, Brass, Horsehair etc can be used,  in the interest of keeping this guide as simple as possible  I suggest using scotchbrite pads.

Now the fun part!  

1. Drip

Pre heat the iron- then press the wax against the iron and drip all over the board, It should be hot enough to easily melt the wax (if the wax smokes then the iron is too hot)   Hold the iron perpendicular to your snowboard. Press the wax bar against the hot iron and hold it there. As the wax drips, move the iron up and down the base of your board until you have dots of dripped wax 1 to 2 inches apart. Set the wax aside

   2.  Iron

 Now iron in all that wax until the base of your board is fully covered. the trick here is to keep the iron moving; leaving it in one area for too long can damage the snowboard.

   3. Scrape

Turn off the iron and wait about 15 for the wax to cool and set. Now take your scraper and scrape off the excess wax from nose to tail, Scraping off all the wax may sound counter-productive, But hot wax actually opens up the pores in a snowboard's base which is where you want wax to go. Excessive wax will only the board down. (tuners tip- Scrape thin to win!)

   4. Buff

After scraping,  polish the base with the scotchbrite pads start with coarse pad (Red) and work your way to fine (White),  in a nose to tail motion to take off the last of the wax and give your board a finishing touch. (tuners tip- Make it shiny!) You are now ready to ride!