# Wax Dried Up After First Ride



## tanscrazydaisy (Mar 11, 2013)

What was the snow conditions like? 

Abrasive snow eats through wax.

I'm against using base cleaners, unless you're prepping for repairs 

I prefer the hot scrape method using cheap warm temp wax.

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## Fielding (Feb 15, 2015)

Hard to say what happened without seeing a pic and without being able to touch it. My best guess would be that the fuzziness you see is actually thick wax that remained on the base after you were done with your waxing process. If it's soft and you can scratch it with your fingernail then it's wax. This means you should have scraped more or --even better-- brushed it with wire, then nylon, then horsey brushes. It's really easy to leave a ton of wax on your board. That extra wax will slow you down. I doubt that your board has completely dried out, as you had suspected, based on its age and the fact that you waxed recently. I suppose it's also possible that your wax didn't properly bond to the board after you use the cleaner product. Any leftover residue will inhibit wax adhesion. If that happened then your board could be a might dry. Either way, you should do a hot-wax clean and then reapply your wax. Let it cool for 20 mins then scrape vigorously, tip to tail until you get nothing at all. Then use brushes until it looks like a mirror gloss. It's very hard to do this well without a vice or a decent homemade work stand so hopefully you've got something to work on.


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## Argo (Feb 25, 2010)

What kind of base on the board? Sintered vs extruded....

What was the snow surface? Ice vs powder....


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## f00bar (Mar 6, 2014)

Sometimes people confuse a 'dried out base' with a board that hasn't had all the wax scraped off it. As you ride the extra wax starts to get scraped off and gets a white cloudy/grainy appearance. This is more prevalent on people who are sliding through turns rather than carving and on manmade hard pack.

The easy test is just apply the hot iron to it. If it melts, it's just wax build up. I find it highly unlikely you actually dried or damaged anything. In fact I think a truly dried/burned base is only ridden by Sasquatch.


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## johnsnowboards (Feb 6, 2015)

@tanscrazydaisy, @Argo: board is extruded. condition is maybe 2 or 3 inches of powder on top of hard packed, no ice at all, probably a mix of man made snow from the night before, and it was also snowing for an inch or so on our drive over to the mountain

@Fielding, @f00bar: wow guys that makes a lot of sense, and is probably my issue here. I woke up late on Saturday and only started waxing my board and my wife's around 12, and we had to leave around 2 pm. So I may have rushed the scraping part a bit. I do brush after waxing, I usually do scrape->wire/nylon brush->scotch brite buff->soft horse hair brush. 

Like f00bar suggested, I will try to see if the white stuff melts. If this is the case, I guess I just reiron to melt, scrape, then brush/buff? no need to rewax?


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## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

johnsnowboards said:


> I cleaned it up with a oneballjay citrus cleaner, then used Hertel wax and did the crayon+wax method @ 189 degrees F as suggested by Hertel.
> Thanks


this is the issue....citrus cleaner....deep clean and then only used the crayon method....thus there was not enough wax to saturate and build up a base of wax.

because of were I ride...I don't haven't done a deep or citrus clean for years...because it has not been necessary...and the crayola method works well if you got base that is well saturated. 

but if you do a citrus or base clean...then you want to really saturate the base...using the drip/iron in method a couple of times to get the pores to open up and the wax to get in...then you can crayola every 3-6 times out and you will glide fine. And even use whatever temp wax the conditions call for...by just crayola that wax on the built-up base

btw...the other issue is you did a citrus base clean...and then immediately waxed the board. you got to let the cleaner evaporate or the base to dry out before waxing. thus what might have happened is that the cleaner did not allow the little wax that you put on to really penetrate the base.


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## Fielding (Feb 15, 2015)

johnsnowboards said:


> @tanscrazydaisy, @Argo: board is extruded. condition is maybe 2 or 3 inches of powder on top of hard packed, no ice at all, probably a mix of man made snow from the night before, and it was also snowing for an inch or so on our drive over to the mountain
> 
> 
> @Fielding, @f00bar: wow guys that makes a lot of sense, and is probably my issue here. I woke up late on Saturday and only started waxing my board and my wife's around 12, and we had to leave around 2 pm. So I may have rushed the scraping part a bit. I do brush after waxing, I usually do scrape->wire/nylon brush->scotch brite buff->soft horse hair brush.
> ...


Nevermind what I said above. Extruded base is basically no maintenance. Spray some sprayshit on there if you want to but you don't have to. An extruded base pretty much won't accept the kind of base prep that downhill ski/snowboard racers do. You'd be wasting your time. Just keep your edges maintained.


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## johnsnowboards (Feb 6, 2015)

wrathfuldeity said:


> this is the issue....citrus cleaner....deep clean and then only used the crayon method....thus there was not enough wax to saturate and build up a base of wax.
> 
> because of were I ride...I don't haven't done a deep or citrus clean for years...because it has not been necessary...and the crayola method works well if you got base that is well saturated.
> 
> ...


I let the citrus cleaner dry for 30 mins, but yeah what you're saying does make sense that after thoroughly cleaning, I'll have to resaturate with more wax. I'll just rewax with the drip method again this weekend just to be sure.


as for using the citrus cleaner in the first place, I've read somewhere that it's not necessary and most people recommend just hot scraping. Unfortunately I didn't have a lot of time to hot scrape last weekend. Plus I had a bottle laying around and it felt bad wasting it by not using it. lesson learned though and thanks a lot for the tips guys




Fielding said:


> Nevermind what I said above. Extruded base is basically no maintenance. Spray some sprayshit on there if you want to but you don't have to. An extruded base pretty much won't accept the kind of base prep that downhill ski/snowboard racers do. You'd be wasting your time. Just keep your edges maintained.


interesting, I will research this for more info. thanks


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## Oldman (Mar 7, 2012)

If your deck has an extruded base, then I would suggest you don't waste too much time with waxing it.

Don't get me wrong, you can wax it, but be forewarned. The composition of an extruded base is such that any wax that you put on it will be gone within a run or two. ( As you found out )

I suggest to anyone on an extruded base, don't bother waxing, just ride it.


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## poutanen (Dec 22, 2011)

Bases don't have "pores"... there's a lot of misinformation surrounding base prep. I've even heard this repeated by guys that spend 150+ days a year on the hill... scary!


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## dave785 (Jan 21, 2016)

poutanen said:


> Bases don't have "pores"... there's a lot of misinformation surrounding base prep. I've even heard this repeated by guys that spend 150+ days a year on the hill... scary!


It's a metaphor bro.

A jar full of pebbles doesn't have pours either. But if you pour water into it, it'll fill the gaps between the pebbles


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## WasabiCanuck (Apr 29, 2015)

Ugh why do they still sell extruded bases? I suggest this dude buy a new snowboard. My 5 yr old has a Burton Afterschool special and it has an extruded base, that kinda makes sense since I don't need him to go super fast but why for adults.

OP: get a new board, one that will benefit from all that base work you are putting in.


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## david_z (Dec 14, 2009)

WasabiCanuck said:


> Ugh why do they still sell extruded bases? I suggest this dude buy a new snowboard. My 5 yr old has a Burton Afterschool special and it has an extruded base, that kinda makes sense since I don't need him to go super fast but why for adults.
> 
> OP: get a new board, one that will benefit from all that base work you are putting in.


They're generally cheaper, and require less maintenance. I believe also more durable. So, they tend to be found in lower-end pricepoint, rental boards, beginner boards, and some park/freestyle boards (why pay extra for sintered base if you're just going to huck yourself down urban rails and stuff?).


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## Kenai (Dec 15, 2013)

johnsnowboards said:


> *(I believe the Swix brand wax recommended 250ish degrees F, in comparison, Herte'ls 189 seems low)?*


Whoa! 250 deg. is not the recommended temp - it is the "max" temp! It is essentially the temperature at which your board (resin/glue/etc.) will start getting destroyed. There is never a need to go this high. 

Why don't more people hot box their boards? Getting a good, deep wax is time consuming and can be difficult with an iron. Once a board is hot boxed the upkeep waxing is a lot easier.


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## WasabiCanuck (Apr 29, 2015)

david_z said:


> They're generally cheaper, and require less maintenance. I believe also more durable. So, they tend to be found in lower-end pricepoint, rental boards, beginner boards, and some park/freestyle boards (why pay extra for sintered base if you're just going to huck yourself down urban rails and stuff?).


Ya makes sense for a jib board. I hadn't thought of that, good point.


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## dave785 (Jan 21, 2016)

Extruded boards are not more durable, but they are more "fixable"

Sintered boards are made of the same plastic (ptex) as extruded boards. The difference is that sintered boards are made by keeping the ptex under pressure (sometimes extremely high pressure) which makes it more dense, durable, and strong.

Downside is that if you want to fix a gash, you can't really recreate that high pressure easily. A $2 ptex candle works great for extruded boards since it's exactly the same thing. But it isn't the same thing (and it won't bond as well) on a sintered board.


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## Fielding (Feb 15, 2015)

Kenai said:


> Whoa! 250 deg. is not the recommended temp - it is the "max" temp! It is essentially the temperature at which your board (resin/glue/etc.) will start getting destroyed. There is never a need to go this high.
> 
> Why don't more people hot box their boards? Getting a good, deep wax is time consuming and can be difficult with an iron. Once a board is hot boxed the upkeep waxing is a lot easier.


Hotboxed my board very well today in my car. Definitely got it in the pores.


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## ridinbend (Aug 2, 2012)

If your iron is smoking and the wax is burning your iron is too hot. Wax twice. And fuck the crayon method, lather that baby up a couple times.


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## johnsnowboards (Feb 6, 2015)

WasabiCanuck said:


> Ugh why do they still sell extruded bases? I suggest this dude buy a new snowboard. My 5 yr old has a Burton Afterschool special and it has an extruded base, that kinda makes sense since I don't need him to go super fast but why for adults.
> 
> OP: get a new board, one that will benefit from all that base work you are putting in.


I'd love to get a higher end board. But I guess I'm still a beginner/low-intermediate and I only ride maybe 15 times a year. At this point I can't justify spending $500 on a board. But believe me I would if I could :grin:





Kenai said:


> Whoa! 250 deg. is not the recommended temp - it is the "max" temp! It is essentially the temperature at which your board (resin/glue/etc.) will start getting destroyed. There is never a need to go this high.
> 
> Why don't more people hot box their boards? Getting a good, deep wax is time consuming and can be difficult with an iron. Once a board is hot boxed the upkeep waxing is a lot easier.


interesting I've never thought about "hot boxing" the board. I wax in the basement which is pretty cold like 65 F maybe so the board/wax cools really quick. I can maybe stick a portable heater in a bathroom to get it hot, then leave my board in there for half an hour or so. I will try this when I get a chance. thanks


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