One last item you may want to invest in is a vice. Though I've waxed many a board suspended between two stacks of phone books on the kitchen floor, I highly recommend a proper place for working on your stick. There is a variety of snowboard vices on the market. Some are good and some are cheap; however, none seem to be inexpensive. Portability is a noble feature but go for a vice that securely holds your board. While you may not need to secure the board for applying wax, you will once you start scraping. Whether it's between two saw-horses or on a high-quality vice, a proper place to work is a must if you plan on servicing your own board. (Look for a vice review coming soon to SOL.)

Believe it or not, this is all you need to put a good finish on your stick. Now, how to do it.

Before you go to work on your board, look it over to make sure you didn't gack the base on a rock or do any other such damage to your board last time you were out. If so, you will want to repair that before you wax. As a rule, waxing is always the last step in a series of repairs. If the damage is really bad you will want to take it to your local shop.

After you've given your board the once-over, put it in the vice or whatever contraption you may have McGuyvered in the garage to secure the board. You always want to wax a clean board. Use that citrus cleaner to wipe all the crud and old wax off the base, then give it about 10-15 minutes to completely dry. If you don't have any citrus cleaner, at least scrape off any left-over wax and scrap with the scraper.

Now that your board is clean and dry, apply wax. There are two schools on hot-wax application: the school of drip and the school of crayon. The drip method is easier and negligibly faster, but the crayon method will better conserve your wax. The drip method is obvious: hold the wax against the iron and drip off one corner. The crayon method requires slightly more skill. Touch the bar of wax to the iron momentarily and then rub it on the board. Repeat until the board is covered. Done properly, you will get a thin layer of wax on the board. Remember, you're going to scrape most of that wax off so don't put too much on--just enough to cover the base when the wax is melted.

Once the wax is applied, start ironing it in. Just smear the wax around with the iron until the whole base is covered. The iron should be hot enough to easily melt all the wax but not so hot that it smokes. Be careful not to heat the board so much that the top-sheet is hot to the touch; this could cause glues or resins in the board to soften, relinquishing their hold on internal materials.

When the base is well-covered and the wax ironed in, let it cool sufficiently. (If the base is really dry it will want to soak up a lot of wax--another application may be necessary to sufficiently cover the base.) Let the board sit for 20 minutes to half an hour--at least until all the wax has dried.

Once the wax has cooled and a sufficient amount covers the base, it's time to scrape. The scraper works best if it has a good edge; a new one will work well right out of the package but one that's been around a while needs a little help. I keep a 10 inch multi-purpose flat file on the end of my bench expressly for the purpose of sharpening scrapers. With the file flat on the bench, hold the scraper perpendicular to the file and drag the edge over the file. After a couple of passes you should have a nice square edge on the scraper. This is another reason why a ski-scraper is easier to handle than a large snowboard scraper.

Scrape the wax off the board in one smooth pull from the tip to the tail. Holding the scraper at an angle either toward or away from you will give it sufficient bite. Remember, always pull toward you when working with a file or scraper. Never push the tool away--you're less likely to hurt yourself if it slips. Scrape the board two or three times, taking off most of the wax but leaving a thin layer on the board.

The only thing left to do now is buff out the wax job. The purpose of buffing is to get any remaining wax off the board and out of the tiny crevasses and groves in the base. When your board glides over snow, it actually melts a thin layer and rides on water. If your board is totally smooth it will want to stick to the snow, much like two panes of glass with water between them. We want a structure in the base to reduce this suction. A stone-grinder applies a precise structure or it can be done by hand. In either case, best results are achieved when all the wax is brushed out of the grooves of the structure. For that purpose we want to use a brush or a Scotch Brite pad.

Simply brush the entire length of the ski in one direction, using short, brisk strokes. If you are using a Scotch Brite pad you can wipe from tip to tail in one stroke. Again, you may have to brush two or three times. Buffing in this way works best for a variety of snow conditions. Only if it is very cold out and the snow is very dry will you want to cork the base smooth.

By now you should have a nice finish on the base of your board. The layer of wax should be even, fairly thin , and have a nice luster to it. Don't worry if it's a little sloppy at first, there's really no way you can damage your board by waxing it--and with a little practice you'll soon be a pro. Waxing your board isn't hard. It should only take about half an hour to do and will more than pay for itself in the extra glide and protection you get.