newbie board tuning

[north east will]

i just recieved my burton 178 speed
what kind of wax should i use? i probably ride 15-20 days a year.
can i use a regular iron or should i invest in a waxing iron?
what other tuning tools should i get?

most important: what do i need to do(if anything)before i ride my board for the first time

will

[cliffh]

just do a search on the subject, much has been said. here's my take.
1. buy a cheap iron dedicated to waxing.
2. I use cheap bulk wax and wax often (just about after every time out)
3. invest in file guides and learn how to use them (carefully!)
4. Diamond stones are your friends between and after taking a file to the deck.
5. get a good brush to get the wax out of the structure after scraping.
6. get a snowboard vise - makes life a lot easier (I have the ones by Red)

read all about it on tongars website: http://www.tognar.com

[joecarve]

I used a cheap travel iron for a couple years, but after using a dedicated waxing iron (I've got a Swix std), I really like it. The upturned edges spread wax better and it's just easier to deal with. Wax a new board several times before scraping it down...a new base tends to really soak it up. I also still use cheap, non-fluoro wax and wax at most after every other day of riding...

Loosen (or remove) your bindings before waxing, and don't retighten until the board has cooled down. Not doing so can lead to "binding suck", where the base will pucker in at the inserts. Not good.

I found the following (ski) tuning article on Toko's site...actually has photos, unlike a lot of other online guides: http://www.tokous.com/pdf/alpine%20tech%20manual.pdf. Since I'm not a tuning god by any means, can someone else here review it and pass judgement?


joe...

[JohnSch]

Detune the tip & tail ... how much depends on how you plan to ride. (For solely carving groomed runs, many will say don't detune at all.)

[Vahur]

Is it really needed for carving boards? When I rode freeriding/freestyle boards, then boards seemed to have this edge catching problem, but with carving boards I never had such problem when riding flat (of course I ride flat very rarely now, only for gathering speed :) . Now I sharpen edges along whole length and never detune them....