If you’ve ever thought about tuning your own skis or snowboard, here are some of the tools you’ll need to get started with waxing.
- Bench: A sturdy table or bench that is around the length or longer of your skis or board.
- Vices: Vices to hold your boards to keep them from moving when you are scraping and brushing.
- Towels: Any old rag works great.
- Citrus cleaner: This helps clean the bases of any dirt and rust. $10-$30 per bottle.
- Stone” These come in many different grits and generally either 70 or 100 millimeters in length. A 200 grit, 100mm length stone is a great starting stone.
- Iron: Choose one that allows you to regulate the temperature. Yes, you can use your old clothing iron. But once you use a proper ski iron, you will never go back.
- Waxes: The sky is the limit here! Figure out what temperature the area you ski at most is generally, and buy a wax to correspond to that. Don’t know? Ask your local ski shop what they recommend. Use a rub on wax for scaled skis.
- Scraper: These come in different widths, 3-5 millimeters, depending on how much flex you want from your scraper. 4 millimeters is the standard width. Consider also buying a panzer file to keep the plastic edge sharp.
- Brush: These come in different sizes and stiffness. A good one-quiver brush is a big white nylon brush. // (Sandra Townsend)
