Board Maintenance

I have been boarding occasionally for about 3 years and inherited an old burton board from my older sister I was pretty young and didn't know about proper maintenance and care. The hills I ride on are fairly icy and I do have a lot of gouges and dings (no core shots thank god) and my edges are all are all chipped and tor up. Being left over the summer it got some rust and an overall coat of dust. I was going to go tot he shop but don't have time at the moment and want to know how I can get it fixed or how much it will cost? The edges all around the board have chips .

Originally posted by jhoang6 cost about $40 for my to do a board tune up which inclues waxing and sharpening the edges. If you have a gummy stone you can probably just run it across the edge to get rid of the rust. Just remember to dry your gear everytime you're done.

http://www.trusnow.com/Dakine-Deluxe-Tune-Kit-Snowboard-tools-tuning.asp

if it's around 40 you might as well get this kit.
everything you need except the iron, and you can pick one up at goodwill for less than $5.

40$ is a very fair price for base repair and edge and iron wax, the only sets of guides I'd trust with a board/worth buying start at around 30$ a pop and you need one for base and one for side+ a good file which is going to be an easy 10$ minimum. 

If you can get base repair, edge tuning, and a good hot wax for 40, do it...... Unless you are planning on getting more serious about riding in which case investing in the proper tools is always a good idea. By the time you buy and edge tool, gummy stone, wax iron, wax, p-tex.....you're looking well over 50-60 bucks.

FYI if you just need a wax and edge tune, $15 is a good price point to shoot for, but it sounds like your board is pretty wrecked, so $40 may not be so bad.

having an old dinged up board is the best time to start waxing/tuning yourself.  You're gonna make mistakes the first several times (hell, I'm still making them after several years), so if you wait till you get a brand new board, you'll undoubtedly screw it up

the tools can be minimal: whetstone, edge tool, wax, iron, scraper.  (Later, you can add a coarse brush and you'll have everything I use.)

I only had my board tuned professionally one time. I can't imagine paying someone $15 every time I need a tune...which is about every 3 or 4 days of riding.  My home tune jobs aren't perfect, but they definitely work

Here is a good tuning kit to get started and it's on sale through REI right now with free shipping.  You'll save loads of money tuning your stuff yourself.   You'll still need an iron though.  

Originally posted by Piranha I'm an advocate of the kits, but the dakine are inferior and more expensive than the tools4boards brand.   I also recommend getting the one with an iron included...it's a very good iron, specific to waxing, and you don't have to drive all over town searching for a "cheap" iron (with gas and time, will end up costing you about the same as a full kit)

Originally posted by batmanwest Originally posted by Sashap Thanks allot I'll go to my local shop and see how much it is if it cost 40$ bucks or more I'll probably buy a kit :) If it costs more than 20 bucks at a shop...you should get a tune kit. Hell, just get a tune kit. It's nice to know how to work on your own gear. Relaxing, and if you get good enough and have free time, you can do all your friends and families gear for a few dollars-money maker! Really though, look at this thread -> http://www.trusnow.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=51380 and decide if it's something you want to learn how to do. I assure you it's a fairly easy thing to learn, and rewarding.

I'll second that it's nice to work on your gear.  I feel closer to my board tuning it myself.  I end up doing a my friends boards just to be nice, but this season my peeps are starting to do there own stuff since they need to know how to do it and shouldn't rely on me to take care of them all the time.

Originally posted by mbesp I was able to remove some edge rust with one of those green scotch brite pads   as for irons I picked up a cheap dakine previous year model for like 10 bucks from zoomies.   it isn't the best iron because of how the heat element turns on and as soon as it hits the temp turns back off for a while.   But for the price it gets the job done and I've been using it for 2 or 3 years now.

$10?!?!? Score! I know Rei has some good after season deals on tools, picked up some wax and a scraper for a steal.

Sharpening and wax/tune-up starts around $25 but range quite a bit depending on where you get it done (resort vs. big store vs. local shop).  If you plan on maintaining this sport for many years, then it makes sense to invest in a kit right away.  That's what I did, I purchased a full Dakine kit with iron and tools retail from a local shop... wasn't cheap like all the other prices I see above but I've already made up for the cost in just a couple seasons.  Same mentality with rentals and buying your own gear.

yes it is possible, but not generally recommended.  

well your base is flat, your edges are beveled...  so i guess if you consider 10" flat, 0.25" beveled, then yeah tbt just not nearly as prominent. 

Originally posted by sdwc96 keep in mind too the sharper your edges the quicker they'll dull. also you can always take off metal from your edges but never put it back on. adjusting your angles constantly on your board will shorten its life span.

oh crap. I super sharpened my old board because it was really dull. I didn't even think this much ahead Good news is that I use it as a spare for friends/newbies. Hope it last a couple of years.

Originally posted by belleayre Originally posted by sdwc96 keep in mind too the sharper your edges the quicker they'll dull. also you can always take off metal from your edges but never put it back on. adjusting your angles constantly on your board will shorten its life span.  Definitely agree with the latter comment about changing angles but not  sure what you're getting at with the first comment. That logic could be used to argue against sharpening anything, but for the best performance, whether it's a chainsaw or a snowboard it should be fairly sharp. For touch-ups, instead of grinding away on your edges with a standard file you can use a finer diamond stone which will remove less metal.