Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Putting Your Board Away. Or, What the Hell Happened to Winter?

OK, for those of us being blessed by El Nino, this post is a little premature but, there will come a time when your board's services will no longer be needed. At least for a few months. When finished riding for the season, there are a few things that should be done to keep your board in good condition while you ignore it and go skateboarding and drink beer at the beach.

Firstly, wipe it down and get all the dirt and other crap off the top and bottom. To best maintain the core's integrity, it is best to remove the bindings. Be sure to mark on your board where they were and your stance and foot angles. Since you probably milked the last hot, slushy days out of your local mountain, there is probably some disgusting dark grime on your base. Remove this either by using wax remover or hot scraping it. Hot scraping is waxing your board with an all- temp wax, and then scraping it off while the wax is still warm. The dirt and grime will stick to the wax and be pulled out when you scrape. This is the better of the two methods.

Finally, re-wax the board with the all- temp wax, coating the base more heavily than usual. Also, allow the wax to get over the edges too, as this will help keep them from rusting. Done. Put your board away somewhere relatively dark and cool for the summer.

Why is this important? The base of a snowboard is sensitive to UV rays, hence somewhere out of the sun. The base is also porous, so this treatment maintains it's integrity, keeps it from drying out. Come fall, just scrape that protective coat off, re- wax with your normal, fast concoctions of wax, and your baby will be ready to run like hell for another winter!

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