What you need to know about wax

From working in Big Dicks Board Store I know there are a lot of people asking about waxing skis and snowboards. questions such as how often, what wax, do I need to wax before I store my equipment and how to apply the wax. i hope to cover questions below

• to start with the questions how often should you wax your ski?

The answer is if your are on a weeks holiday then a wax befor you go will see you out week. if you are on season skiing every day for 8 hours (your are living the dream) you should be waxing every 3 days or so.

• What wax to use?

you can get wax specifically designed for temperature ranges and snow conditions, different coloured wax for different temperatures

BLUE = -20 TO -14     RED = -4 TO 14      YELLOW = -4 + 

however this wax is expensive and you need to spend a lot to make any difrence. In my experience it is better to stick to a product such as Toko Mouse Tex Wax which is also easy to apply with a standard iron and is £8.00 per packet from Dicks Boardstore. Its a lot less messy than melting big blocks of wax and wasting most of it when you scrape it off.

• Do you need to wax your skis or board before you store your equipment till next season.

As long as the base is not bone dry it is not essential for the  base to have a brand new layer of wax. The truth is you will need a wax before you go shredding the next tim,. so if you choose to wax just before the trip or after the last run of the season it doesnt mater .One thing I would recommend is to put Vaseline on the edge to stop them rusting.

• How to wax a ski or snowboard

To learn thi,s it is best to watch this video it is exactly the right way with out any unnecessary steps. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SN_x9F0pk0c

if you are looking to get a iron you can use your house hold one, just rember to use a layer of tin foil over the holes and don't use the steam on the iron.The iron temperature not too hot, just enough to melt the wax, so it glides on the surface.