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Tuning question

2.5K views 7 replies 7 participants last post by  tanscrazydaisy  
#1 ·
I never get time to drop off my board for waxing and edges. Last year I picked up some waxing and edge sharpening gear. Watched a couple vids and realized it isn’t that hard to do.

I just got a new board, Rossi magtek xv. It’s a badass ice coast carving machine. But there are a few issues with tuning.

First, sharpening the edges on the magnatraction is a pain. Anyone have advice?

Secondly, this is my first board with a sintered base. It seems like it takes up a lot of wax. But it also sheds wax pretty quick too. Is that normal or am I doing something wrong?
 
#4 ·
Lib Tech sells a sharpening tool designed for Magnatraction. Basically the file is shorter than normal. I have one, and it works well enough on my Gnu Park Pickle. Just make sure you are pulling the tool in the correct direction, and using the side that is appropriate for your edge profile (most are 90 degrees, but check the Rossi website).
MTX Tuning Tool - Lib Tech

There's lots of theories on waxing. Some people never wax for various reasons: The wax only lasts a few runs, it causes boards to lose camber, leads to delamination, bad for the environment, etc.

On the other hand you have people that wax frequently for speed, glide, and the idea that a base will stay harder and last longer. Waxing every 2-3 days seems to be the recommendation with this crowd.

I wax my all mountain set up every 3-5 days. I do a combination of the "chalking" method plus the hot drip. If you chalk the board first, you use less drip, and the iron spends less time on the board since the chalked wax melts quick. It's all about using the least amount of heat possible, and having the iron in contact with the board for the shortest period of time. I also hot scrape instead of using a base cleaner.
 
#5 ·
Be careful with sharpening edges. Practice on an old board because it’s super easy to fuck up and once you do you fixing it is hard if not impossible. My edges on my east coast ice ready board (softboot board) are set at -.25 base and -.5 or -1 on the sides. Lifting that base edge just a Little makes a board less catchy and makes for a sharper actual edge. By starting at -.25 on the base you leave yourself some room if you later need to redo the base edge due to hitting rocks or whatever. I keep soft boot board edges at mild angles because I don’t think softboots can achieve the kind of leverage needed to engage something like -1base and -3 sides on a wider board.

If you ride on things that aren’t snow then just forget about tuning edges.

Tuning bumpy mongotraction edges? Gotta set the file -hopefully it’s a fairly narrow file- perpendicular to the file guide. I’m talkin about the kind of file guide that’s just an angled piece of metal...you use a clip to hold the file to the guide. Those kits by dakine or similar that hold those little files inside of an adjustable plastic jig aren’t right for this job. You won’t be able to evenly remove material through the bumpy sections with a tool that puts 2 inches of file in contact with the edge all the time. The idea is that you want as little of the file touching the edge as possible as you go through bumps. Then proceed with great caution. You may want to file the bumps in both directions if it seems you’re not taking off metal evenly on both sides of the bumps.

Remember: only wAy to reset a base to 0 angle is with a full base grind.

As for wax, if it seems that you’re losing wax too quickly it means you either didn’t heat the wax enough when you applied it OR (more likely) it’s not the best wax for the job. Early season east coast man made snow takes softer waxes right off. Use a suitable wax. Put harder wax near the rails. Wax early and often.


You shouldn't have to sharpen edges on a new board, if anything detune the edges. I wax every 3-5 days, but I dont ride on ice, if you ride ice it would probably need waxing more frequently. Even as often as every one to two days.
 
#8 ·
As for wax, if it seems that you’re losing wax too quickly it means you either didn’t heat the wax enough when you applied it OR (more likely) it’s not the best wax for the job. Early season east coast man made snow takes softer waxes right off. Use a suitable wax. Put harder wax near the rails. Wax early and often.
The waxes marketed to snowboarders are "all temperature" which is fairly hard good to about 15 degrees F.

If base burn by the edges is a problem, then you need swix CH3 powder to apply by the edges.

https://youtu.be/AZ6lZRM2jRM

Or, you're not waxing enough.




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#6 ·
I have a magnetraction friendly file that has a few small files on springs. I have never used it because you don't really need to sharpen mag because of the way it works. They can be detuned and still hold on ice very well.

Il use the file to deburr rock damage and stuff like that tho. Sharpening is not hard to do just time consuming, plenty of YouTube vids out there if you still want to.
 
#7 ·