How to Remove Snowboard Wax

Test the wax to see if it is properly cooled after hot waxing. After melting wax and applying it to the base of your board, a half-hour is typically needed for the wax to harden and cool to room temperature. Scrape your fingernail along the base. The wax should feel firm rather than soft to the touch. Alternatively, wait for the wax to cool overnight and scrape the excess off the following day.

Search for dry spots on your newly waxed board. Dry spots tend to have a whitish appearance and potentially a rougher texture due to dry pores on your snowboard's base. If such areas are present, reapply hot wax to these sections.

Secure your board in a tuning vise or workbench stand. If you do not have either of these pieces of tuning equipment, simply straddle your board, using your knees to apply pressure to hold your board in place.

Pull a scraper down the base of the snowboard at a 45-degree angle. Hot-waxing your snowboard results in uneven layers of wax that increase friction. When scraping, eliminate these micro-textures from the base of your board. Typically, a few passes with a scraper should lead to a shiny, evenly waxed base. Large buildups of wax, however, will require more passes.

Pull a scraper along the metal edges of your snowboard once you have scraped the base. It is best to use a separate scraper for the areas around your edges, as the metal can cause burrs to develop on a scraper. Some scrapers even feature a right angle cut into them to allow you to scrape both the vertical and horizontal components of your board's metal edges with a single pass.

Scrape until the wax appears as a thin, glossy layer on the base of your board. Wavy areas or hardened drips of wax indicate additional scraping is necessary in these areas. In general, however, it is best to leave a little too much wax on the base of your board than too little. Over several runs down the mountain, snow will typically remove small amounts of excess wax.

Polish the base of your board, using either a polishing pad (available at snowboard and ski stores) or a plastic kitchen scrubbing pad. This provides an even smoother base surface by evenly distributing wax.

Brush the base of your snowboard with a tuning brush. For the best tune possible, use several brushes with varying degrees of stiffness. Begin with the stiffest brush and make several passes from the nose (front) of your board to the tail (back). Then wipe the base of your board with a clean rag before moving on to the next stiffest brush. Repeat this process until you have used your softest brush.

Rub the base of your snowboard with a clean rag. This removes loose wax scrapings that tend to cling to the base of a snowboard after a tuneup.

Clean up your work area. Wax scrapings can easily become embedded in a tile or wood floor, resulting in dull luster that is difficult to remove. It is best to simply sweep up your work area and then either mop up the area or run a wet rag over affected floor surfaces.