# Electric buffing wheel to polish/buff wax?



## doughpat (Dec 20, 2016)

For years I have just used whatever-the-heck towel/cloth I had laying around to 'polish' my board after applying wax (either hot wax or rub-on). I just picked up an electric buffer (the kind meant for buffing cars). I was wondering if this might be a faster and more thorough way of getting that final smooth surface that we're all looking for in a wax.


----------



## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

over thinking and it will make a mess of wax fluffiness flying everywhere


----------



## doughpat (Dec 20, 2016)

I doubt any wax would fly off....there is only a tiny amount on there in the first place, and it would just get caught in the fibers of the buffing pad.

As for overthinking it....yeah, maybe, but thats fine with me


----------



## Deacon (Mar 2, 2013)

doughpat said:


> I doubt any wax would fly off....there is only a tiny amount on there in the first place, and it would just get caught in the fibers of the buffing pad.
> 
> As for overthinking it....yeah, maybe, but thats fine with me


Risk><Reward is not in your favor on this one.


----------



## dave785 (Jan 21, 2016)

AFAIK snowboard wax is meant to perform a completely different function than car wax. The way in which you scrape the excess wax off is extremely important. Buffing it like this would slow the board down significantly AFAIK.


----------



## KIRKRIDER (Mar 18, 2008)

dave785 said:


> AFAIK snowboard wax is meant to perform a completely different function than car wax. The way in which you scrape the excess wax off is extremely important. Buffing it like this would slow the board down significantly AFAIK.


I think he means buffering after scraping it
scrape
Brillo - Pad
Polish - auto buffering


----------



## f00bar (Mar 6, 2014)

Oddly, I save money by not buying a buffer and scraping the wax off my car.


----------



## doughpat (Dec 20, 2016)

KIRKRIDER said:


> I think he means buffering after scraping it
> scrape
> Brillo - Pad
> Polish - auto buffering


Correct--the scraping part (using metal/plastic edge) is not what I'm referring to. Its the buffing part with a brillo pad. It seems the purpose of this step is to get the wax to as smooth of a surface as possible--so perhaps the additional rubbing action that an electric motor could provide would be useful....


----------



## f00bar (Mar 6, 2014)

The snow is so abrasive that I question the importance of the final step altogether. And I have thought of using the car buffer simply because its a tool I use once a year, so why not. But honestly by the time I pull it out, find the buffer pads and get the job done and put it all away I'd be done and onto another beer..


----------



## KIRKRIDER (Mar 18, 2008)

doughpat said:


> Correct--the scraping part (using metal/plastic edge) is not what I'm referring to. Its the buffing part with a brillo pad. It seems the purpose of this step is to get the wax to as smooth of a surface as possible--so perhaps the additional rubbing action that an electric motor could provide would be useful....


Sure. But then you have to buffer with a Brillo Pad attached. I do it by hand but mostly for visual purposes  it really makes no difference after 3 meters on the snow it's gone already.
Unless you are racing, and even then I'm not sure.


----------



## f00bar (Mar 6, 2014)

This one time I was sure I would have gotten the last bacon jalepeno mac n cheese if I had just buffed my board properly.


----------



## F1EA (Oct 25, 2013)

doughpat said:


> Correct--the scraping part (using metal/plastic edge) is not what I'm referring to. Its the buffing part with a brillo pad. It seems the purpose of this step is to get the wax to as smooth of a surface as possible--so perhaps the additional rubbing action that an electric motor could provide would be useful....


No no, that's where you're mistaken.

The brillo step is not to make the surface smooth. It's to make sure there's no superficial wax left on and around your base structure. Your base structure is not smooth. And a scraper only takes away whatever's on top, but not what's within the structure.

The next step after brillo (if you even care to go that far) would be hair brush; amd even that one is not trying to make the surface smooth, but to make sure all superficial wax is gone.

If you want a machine something to do something...... better than a wax buff would be some sort of horse hair bristled or maybe soft nylon roll on a drill..... then you make passes with the base on the spinning roll from tip to tail. Sort of like a belt sander but hairy......


----------



## KIRKRIDER (Mar 18, 2008)

F1EA said:


> No no, that's where you're mistaken.
> 
> The brillo step is not to make the surface smooth. It's to make sure there's no superficial wax left on and around your base structure. Your base structure is not smooth. And a scraper only takes away whatever's on top, but not what's within the structure.
> 
> ...


After the brush you can use the cork too...and then the microfiber cloth... and don't you dare get stuck on flats after that. :grin:


----------



## F1EA (Oct 25, 2013)

KIRKRIDER said:


> After the brush you can use the cork too...and then the microfiber cloth... and don't you dare get stuck on flats after that. :grin:


Dont forget the full speed tuck. That's how you clear the flats


----------



## KIRKRIDER (Mar 18, 2008)

F1EA said:


> Dont forget the full speed tuck. That's how you clear the flats


Had to smile at the end of every run Saturday. They had little open and in the sun (so not blue-ice glass) at Kirkwood and the run I choose had a nasty short uphill to get to the lift, you needed to keep that speed tuck, and after my EXCELLENT wax job (and icy snow) I was cruising all the way to the chair.


----------



## freshy (Nov 18, 2009)

Call me superstitious, but I always do any base ironing, scraping and buffing from tip to tail otherwise my board will not ride straight. 

When you believe in things that you don't understand
Then you suffer
Superstition ain't the way, yeh, yeh


----------



## Kenai (Dec 15, 2013)

Wait, so will this technique help me with spins?


----------



## poutanen (Dec 22, 2011)

doughpat said:


> I was wondering if this might be a faster and more thorough way of getting that final smooth surface that we're all looking for in a wax.


That's where you're mistaken. You want texture on your base, not smoothness. A buffer will do you no good. You want a brush instead.


----------



## Hungrytitan (Dec 22, 2014)

poutanen said:


> That's where you're mistaken. You want texture on your base, not smoothness. A buffer will do you no good. You want a brush instead.


This. It's easy to think a smooth waxy surface makes you glide better, but it's the opposite. You want the wax to create a micro rough surface that causes friction on the snow causing it to create a tiny layer of water causing you to glide better. The buffer won't do you any good.


----------



## doughpat (Dec 20, 2016)

Thanks, everyone--after lots of further reading, you all appear to be right  Time to put the buffer away...


----------



## mjd (Mar 13, 2009)

Buffers whip around in circles right? So that sort of takes it out of the equation imo.


----------



## doughpat (Dec 20, 2016)

mjd said:


> Buffers whip around in circles right? So that sort of takes it out of the equation imo.


Not sure I follow your logic...


----------



## Snow Hound (Jul 21, 2012)

doughpat said:


> Not sure I follow your logic...


A structured base consists of tiny straight grooves running from tip to tail.


----------



## Fielding (Feb 15, 2015)

They make them. I've seen them in ski widths but I've never seen one wide enough to do a board in one pass. I don't think I would use one because I think that it would be hard to control results. I'd rather just wax, scrape, brush, then maybe scotch brite. Never found it to be too time consuming and I can get great results.


----------



## doughpat (Dec 20, 2016)

Snow Hound said:


> A structured base consists of tiny straight grooves running from tip to tail.


Got it. 

For the record, all of the electric buffers/polishers that I've used don't actually rotate when they are pressed against a surface. They'll rotate very quickly when they're just turned on without anything to push against. But once the pad gets pushed, rotation stops and it just turns into vibration. So if you moved the buffer lengthwise along the board, you might get those lengthwise patterns. 

But regardless, I'm pretty well convinced that buffing would actually be counterproductive, since the goal isn't to actually smooth the surface. It might be interesting to use an electric buffer in an earlier stage than I had previously imagined--i.e. a rougher pad that is used to remove excess wax (rather than smooth it out).


----------



## f00bar (Mar 6, 2014)

Snow Hound said:


> A structured base consists of tiny straight grooves running from tip to tail.


I'm still not certain that that matters in the removal of the wax. The structure of the base is much harder than the wax or buffer being used. You aren't going to muck up the structure going against the grain.

Plus depending on your polisher you can at least with some put it on edge.


----------



## Heath (Dec 22, 2016)

A textured surface will effectively reduce the contact area of the bottom of the board as it glides across the snow. Thus making your board faster.


----------



## francium (Jan 12, 2013)

This is what you want as others have said you brush tip to tail to make sure all the wax is removed from the structure on the base. By the way these things are boss.


----------



## robotfood99 (Mar 19, 2016)

I use the rotor brush after scraping, then wipe down with a rag. Probably saves me 10 mins? Wish I had one of those shields that cover the brush because wax powder will fly off everywhere. That's the only downside to this, me think.


----------

