Whether your board is new or second hand, at some point you’re going to need a fresh coat of wax on it. Anyone can wax a board, right? Well yes, but there’s a bit of a dark art to clearing the old wax off and laying down a perfect wax job.
You will need:
– 1 x block of base coat / tropical wax
– 1 x block of cool-water wax
– 1 x wax scraper
– Hot water and an old cloth
– About ten minutes
If your board is new, skip the first four steps but bear them in mind for when you need a wax change.
- 1. Take the fins off your board and lay it on the ground. Put something under it so it doesn’t get dinged up.
- 2. Pour hot (not quite boiling) water over the old wax on your board. You’ll see it quickly start to soften and run off. Beware of splash back if you’re wearing boardies!
- 3. Scrape the soft wax off the board in long steady strokes. Don’t jab or put too much pressure on the deck.
- 4. Once most of the wax is scraped off apart from bits trapped in pressure dents, pour more hot water over the board. Now use the cloth to wipe the board clean.
- 5. Take your hard base coat / tropical water wax and key diagonal lines across your board in both directions. This is important as it gives subsequent wax layers something to bond to.
- 6. Using the flat edge of the block of hard wax, rub a good layer over the keyed up area.
- 7. Now, take your cool-water wax and using a flat edge rub a good layer over the waxed area. You should start to see the ‘humps’ appear!
- 8. Throw all the old wax in the bin, and go out and get some waves! Top up with cool-water wax before each session.
