Thanks!
Now that I have my first snowboard (thanks to Shane), I need to make sure I keep it maintained and waxed. I am here until July and don't know if buying everything to wax the board myself is the best idea. It's a bit pricey right? When I picked it up from having the edges sharpened the guy in the shop told me I can take it somewhere to have it waxed by a machine for about 10 CHF. Does anyone know where there is a place that does this in Lausanne? Would it just be best if I bought everything and did it myself?
If you're planning on boarding every season then you could buy your own tools to wax it yourself, you'll save money in the long run. I recently did just that and spent around 100CHF on everything.
You'll need an iron (I bought an old skool clothes iron from a flea market), wax scraper, wax, brush and some liquid spray cleaner. I got all of that from Oschner Sport.
Otherwise I'm not sure where to take it to get it done in Lausanne. I'm assuming there are ski shops in the city?
You could just get it waxed at a resort if you can't find any.
Do you do at home sharpening as well?
I need to get more routine at sharpening, but I'm guessing this might be a better job for the pros
It is a matter of having time to do it yourself, and wanting to mess around with it.
When I do day trips, often I bring the board to a shop Saturday after boarding and then pick it up on the way up on Sunday. Right at the piste (there are usually shops around all of the larger resorts)
I thought about it but then decided against it. There's probably a big chance of screwing up the edges if you're a novice.
Hard to mess up unless you put all your muscle behind it. Most sharpeners come in a block style with degree settings. Start at 0 degree and run it down the edges a few times with light pressure. (in the same direction of skiing) Do not try to get them razor sharp unless your competing in W.C races and you have a truck full of free skis. Mostly just try to smooth out the burrs is all you really need.
Since the title says Snowboard wax I will say the best wax I have ever used is One Ball Jay 4WD. Hard to find in CH, so I use Toko which really is just as good but not as cool.
Ok thanks everyone, since I'm just here until July I will just take it to a shop. How long does it take for shops to do it?
There are shops around most resorts that do quick waxing (using a machine) for around 5chf, and they do it on the spot within 10 minutes. If you want the proper waxing you may have to wait for at least 2 days cos it really is time consuming and they probably have just 1 or 2 employee capable of doing it.
Bumping this topic as 'tis the season...
I was going to go solo & try this for our snowboards but the 2010 poster above suggests chf10/board which doesn't make it worth while.
Anyone got more recent prices for snowboard or ski waxing?
Edge tuning also? This seems simple with the right tools.
A guy in my village has all of the professional equipment for skis and boards, like a garage load of tools and machines .. Last season he was I think 20 to wax and edge my skis.. A little more to repair deep cuts. Came up like new.
So there are good prices out there.
Just look on the SportXX or Ochsner sites, they do it all over Switzerland.
I do ours myself - four pairs of skis makes it worthwhile, less than that and the mess it makes would probably put me off.
I just have the basic Toko iron (well worth it, a normal iron really doesn't heat control well and the edges aren't bevelled enough so the wax goes up the sides instead of underneath), and the edge file which is just a file fitted in an angled slider.
Maybe someone has some input for me:
The thin, plastic laminate on my skis is starting to come away. On the tip area.
It's still attached at the tip and on the flat area, but along the tip curve it is all loose.
Anyone know how easy it is to get this fixed? It's just cosmetic, but pretty ugly nevertheless, and it will start flapping around when it loosens at the tip.
Ideas and potential costs would be greatly appreciated!
@Chemmie got a pic? If its a soft delam (ie. you could press it down with your hands and gluing would work) you use urethane glue, grab a syringe for food or something (one of the big ones), apply, clamp, let it dry and you're good. It's a flexible bond and will work well.
Considering the cost of materials and time, a normal shop should do it for like 20$. Here, I'd then guess around 9500CHF?
If you can find the glue here then just do it yourself.
Is it the top sheet? Top sheet damage doesn't normally affect your ski, but equally, the top sheet doesn't normally just peel off for no reason?
How old is the ski? If it's fairly new get it sent back to the manufacturer. If it's pretty old, I'd just get yourself some strong glue and a clamp to fix it...... or new skis!
If you are looking to buy tools to tune your own skis, www.wax.ch their prices tend to be 10% or lower than most other places that I have looked at.
I'd also highly recommend tooltonic edging tools, they have a rotating diamond file system which means you don't have to keep moving the stone around to in the tool
It's totally an aesthetic issue, I think it is probably a manufacturing issues. I could get some glue, but it's hard to get underneath the sheet since it is tapered on the edges like the ski. Also I don't have or want to get clamps that will do justice on the blade bend.
They're 3 years old, so Salomon probably won't do anything for me, but I still want to get a good 7 seasons out of them
We too would have fours sets, 2 skis & 2 boards.
So for the hardware setup you're talking ~CHF300 including iron, wax, file & brushes.
go a buy some yellow wax at a shop and an old iron. Thats all you need.
For the first time, I recently bought a proper Toko waxing iron. All these years I've been using an old philips travel iron. Was fine on old narrow skis, but gets too cold about half way down my 122s and takes ages to heat back up It's difficult to find a domestic iron these days that has a flat sole - mostly they've got holes for steam, which I always imagine would get quite messy if used for waxing.