Servicing Your Snowboard, Part 1

Your season is in full swing – the mountains are drenched with powder, you’re throwing down fives, everyone has a grin from ear to ear and there is not a penny in your back pocket, but you’re still managing to wake up with that stale booze taste in your mouth right up until you’re on the first lift.  The downside is you’re once brand new board which you loved so much has taken a bit of an early season pounding.   Fear not, with these three easy steps, a little pre- season preparation and a visit to BargainBoards.co.uk you can help your equipment last the 6 months of jibs, drops and chutes without paying out for a shop to do it for you.

Step 1 - Edges

 Whip out your snowboard and plonk it on the corner of your best antique oak coffee table, hand carved by naked maidens in the mountains of Peru, light some scented candles and pop on Beethoven’s ninth symphony.  Start by checking your edges for burrs and dings.   You should be able to feel any rough spots by running your finger up and down the rail.  Next grab yourself a pocket stone and run it from tip to tail until  your edge is nice and smooth, this will make tuning your edge a lot easier.  Now you’re going to need a file and a file guide.   This handy little tool is going to hold your file at the specific angles needed for skiing or snowboarding, namely 88° or 90°. Use the 90° guide for those oh too short, soft, powder days and the 88° guide for nasty, icy, hard-packed conditions or racing.  Use  long smooth strokes with the file guide (or edge tuning tool as it is also known) overlapping each section to maintain a uniform edge from tip to tail.  If you are unsure as to how much edge to remove, a good tip is to mark the edge with a black magic marker and then file away until the marker is gone. Be careful to wipe the little shards of metal from your base as you do this to stop them being ground into your board.   Finish your edge by gently polishing with your pocket stone to remove those little burrs filing causes. 

Check back next week for another installment!