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What if I Don't Wax...

87K views 132 replies 53 participants last post by  Craig64 
#1 ·
... my legs, that is :D.

Ok, kidding aside, ppl on this forum talk about "base damage" if you don't wax your board as needed. What if I pulled a BA (no offense dude ;)) and decided not to wax my board at all? I don't care if the base looks blue/gray/puke/insert-color-here because of prolonged wax deprivation. Also don't care if I'm a couple of mph slower while charging the mountain.

I'd like some specifics of "base damage" - something that will compromise the integrity of the board. Otherwise, why should I care?
 
#58 ·
I wax and I notice it. When it needs another wax I can feel it, and as people have said the first place you will notice it is on a flat runout, if you were on 30+ degree slopes all day you would rarely need wax as gravity is helping you get down fast.
I can even be riding and think to myself that heel side is getting a bit sticky, look at the base and sure enough the heel side looks white, go wax the board and its problem solved.
To listen to some in this thread what I am experiencing is some kind of delusional mind trick engineered by the wax makers. Im not that dumb, I wax when I can tell it needs it and for me that happens to be around very 5 days or so.
 
#59 ·
So I have a new theory based on some recent unscientific experimenting.

The reason wax feels faster is because you waxed previously. Wax picks up gunk and makes you slow. So you need to wax again to get rid of that gunk.

That's why people can say they never wax at all and feel no difference, and others say there is a huge difference if you go too long without waxing. Both are correct.

If you go waxless and use your edges a lot, you'll notice that your edges don't accumulate that white film after a few days. Some people think that this means your base is dry and you need to wax. This makes no sense, because it scratches off and leaves a film of gunk on your fingernail. It's that gunk that is slowing you down and requiring you to get another wax.
 
#60 · (Edited)
That makes a lot of sense.

However, the problem with not waxing is that the gouges in your board will be the only things channeling water when you're flatbasing. If all of your gouges are tip to tail gouges then you'll be fine... it's the horizontal gouges that'll slow you down.

What wax does is fill in the horizontal gouges. Then you HAVE to go over it with a stiff nylon brush tip to tail. That'll open up a ton of micro channels that are moving in the direction you want the board to move.

In other words, you want all of your grooves on the board to be tip to tail so that everything gets channeled tip to tail..

Tires have a similar principle but they're trying to accomplish the opposite of what we are. Tires WANT traction, suction, friction, etc. That's why the more "winter" or "all weather" the tire is, the more noticeable the horizontal grooves are. We want LESS friction, not more. If you have a ton of heelside stops and pick up some rocks while you're doing it then you need the wax to build in some vertical grooves and get rid of the horizontal ones. IF all you do is fill in the scratches with the wax and have a perfectly flat base then you'll have too much suction.. .there won't be anywhere for the water/snow to go. Although to be fair, the point of "scraping" the wax is that you'll naturally get some vertical grooves at the ends of your scraper. (that's why you always scrape from tip to tail).

Waxing without using a brush afterwards will absolutely slow you down because it'll create suction. Suction is the enemy. It's worst when things are slushy because the water can cause suction much more readily than the snow can.

If you're on an unwaxed base that doesn't have any horizontal gashes then you're fine, especially if it's a higher end base that already has micro channels built into it.

Some sintered bases don't come with any microchannels built in or ground in.. so you'll need to add wax and then add in the channels yourself with a brush.

Disclaimer: this is knowledge from my skiing, not snowboarding, but I imagine that for snowboarding it would be even more true considering the increased surface area.
 
#64 ·
No base damage...but getting stuck on flat sucks. The satisfaction of passing skiers on flat is all about that wax job the afternoon before.
 
#65 ·
I don't know about these other dudes but I love waxing my board. Maybe it is in my head but the base just feels better and I think it rides smoother. I've had the same board for a long time and the base still looks brand new. I believe that is because I waxed it so often. I used to wax before every day out. Now a days, I'm less OCD about it. I probably wax every 2nd or 3rd trip out.


I say do what ever the fuck you wanna do!
 
#66 ·
What about using a board on dry slopes? I only get about 2 weeks a year on snow, and the rest of the year I go to my local dry slope. I wonder what sort of damage I'm doing to my board and edges. I get enough speed down there (provided the sprinklers are on) to not need any more speed (or furniture polish), but I wonder what sort of damage it's doing to my base. I've recently bought a new board, so my old set up is currently for dry slope use, and the new one for when I'm on the snow. But as much as I want to keep one 'for best' it defeats the point of having the second board as it rides slightly differently, so the summer practice doesn't transfer over to the snow as well. Or is this for a different thread entirely?

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#73 ·
I wax each time I go out. Not the whole board each time, sometimes if I didn't ride much last time I'll crayon on around the edges and just put a thin layer on, good enough and saves wax as well. Always hot wax. I've never not tried my board without waxing for a long time, but the black shiney base looks awesome with a fresh wax. Skating off the lift and on flat parts I'm passing skiers and they look at me like wtf!?!?

Also noticed out on the hill how little people actually do wax, skiers and boarders alike.
 
#79 ·
Lol it only took me a minute to snap a photo in my way thru the garage. But yeah it took a lot longer to find that link than it was worth. Haha. I had to tilt my phone so my wife wouldn't see what the Google search cane up with. Certainly nothing to do with snowboarding lmao
But hey kept my mind on snowboarding for a bit and delayed me from work lol.

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#80 ·
Back to the OP, this is from the Bataleon website:

Hard and fast. Our sintered base material is tough stuff and its microscopic pores retain wax nuggets for a slick slide. To get the maximum benefits of a sintered base it needs to be waxed regularly. We finish ours with a proper hot wax before they leave the factory.
 
#84 ·
It's not even close to summer and this thread is still going strong lol
 
#89 · (Edited)
So my buddy is still riding a 1994 Burton Ouija with step ins, no I'm not kidding. He can't remotely remember the last time it was waxed or sharpened. I can honestly say neither speed nor carving is an issue for him. All that being said, his deathtrap bindings finally died, at the bottom of the mountain thankfully. YMMV
 
#90 ·
Yesterday I meet up with some guys from work. We went to an area that takes you away from the resort. You get back via a long cat track at the bottom. From the look at these guys boards you could trek there was no wax. They were fine on the steeps but that cat track was a sticky Ness for them. I made it back. Went for apiss and was halfway done with a beer before they showed. So I guess if you don't drink beer then don't wax that way your buddies will be ready to jump on the lift when you get there

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#94 ·
yeah I'm at work right now and leave to drive up to mammoth in 6 hours and 10 minutes. I'm hitting refresh on weather.com and on this website way too often. my 10:30 client meeting was a no show... and I already got all my trades in for the day. wheeeee so board.
 
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