Be careful when using your gear—develop good habits of taking good care of it.

The ski season is ending, and it’s time to maintain your board. Instead of sending it for repair, why not do it yourself? Flatten the base, iron and scrape wax, tune the side and base edges, fix base damage, and more

I found a video series that clearly explains step-by-step how to maintain and adjust your snowboard.

Series link: http://www.youku.com/playlist_show/id_19036009.html  Copy the link and paste it into your browser.


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Here are some of my own tips:

Edges:
           Non-professionals don’t need to tune the base edge
           After every ski session, the inner steel edges on both feet will develop burrs. Make it a habit to remove these burrs after each use
           The larger the steel edge burrs (curls), the more damage they cause to the base edge (so remove them early and lightly grind them off)
           Before maintaining or slightly tuning the side edges, measure the side edge angle and choose the corresponding angle gauge to avoid grinding at the wrong angle
           For non-competitive side edges, it’s usually 90 degrees; factory side edges for competitive use are generally 89 degrees
           For daily side edge maintenance and minor tuning, a combination portable angle gauge (side and base edge portable all-in-one tuner) is sufficient
            For major side edge repairs (changing angles, e.g., from 90 to 88 degrees), you must use an angle iron gauge + long file (at least one coarse and one fine)
           After minor or major side edge tuning, you must remove the steel edge burrs—this is a crucial and mandatory step (foreign brands have specialized “finish diamonds” of different grits, but you can actually use a small square sharpening stone with #200 sandpaper; use coarse sandpaper to remove burrs and fine stone to sharpen)
            Use specialized tools for edge tuning

Base Repair:
              I’ve used Toko Gallium, Swix, and other repair glues—they’re all the same as long as they’re professional-grade, so go for the cheaper ones
              Don’t use any counterfeit PVC or plastic glue sticks
              After dropping glue in, you must scrape it flat

Base Scraping:
           Before scraping wax, make sure the ironed wax has dried—overnight is best, or at least 3–4 hours
          Non-professionals don’t need to use base scraping pads, foam pads, scraping cloths, or scraping sandpaper. Just scrape directly after ironing the wax
           Try not to use steel scrapers (they damage the base edge)
           Prefer using thick acrylic scrapers, which make it easier to remove base repair glue (the glue hardens and is tough, and thin scrapers can break)
           When a thick acrylic scraper becomes dull, you can sharpen it again using a side edge tuner at 90°

Waxing:
          Don’t buy the wrong wax—one type is for fast sliding (glide), and another increases friction for walking on snow (grip)
          Non-professionals don’t need to get too deep into the details of wax types (base wax, cleaner wax, additive wax, LF wax, HF wax, NF wax)
           Waxing is just expensive, and there's no need to research adding base waxes or extra wax layers to extend durability. One maintenance at the end of the season is enough, and one before a race is sufficient—as long as the base isn't completely worn out, you can still sell it second-hand.
          Before waxing, use a copper brush to remove old wax, and a horsehair brush to dust off debris (essential).
          Just apply wax evenly and iron it fully—no need to overdo the wax, which leads to waste.
           If racing, scrape the wax off in reverse direction, aiming for as smooth a finish as possible.
           For daily use, scrape in the forward direction, leaving some wax thickness for better durability.
           For storage, do not apply wax—just protect from moisture, sun, and high temperatures.
           After scraping, you must structure the base—with forward strokes, using nylon first, then horsehair.
           Before riding, scrape off any floating wax on the edges—using a bank card works best.

All of this is just basic know-how. As for snow temperature, HF wax, LF wax, base wax (base layer), cleaner wax, wax sequencing, and all those other wax-related details—you can just go straight to the Toko website to learn. But honestly, for everyday maintenance, using a base cleaning/all-temp/freeride combo wax is more than enough. No need to get too technical—save your money.