Preparation
Your SWOARD has been sharpened and waxed at the factory. The factory waxing is perfect and ready to ride. For safety reasons, during handling and shipping, the edge grind is not as sharp as possible. As a result the edges should be tuned before your first ride.
Preparation of the side-walls "extremecarving special"
During a turn that is completely laid down, the board glides on the sidewalls just as much as the base. It is therefore beneficial to smooth and polish them with fine sand paper (150 grit).
The side wall should always be waxed, in the same way you would wax the base. During this operation, some wax will inevitably drip onto the top sheet and will need to be removed. If a scraper is used, you run the risk of scratching the top sheet. To avoid this we recommend using a soft cloth with a standard wax remover. Test a small corner of the board to ensure that the chemical and the cloth (!) are not too aggresive. An autobody approach can also be used: before waxing protect the topsheet with some masking tape and newspaper.
Caution: to avoid cutting yourself, do this step before sharpening the edges.
Edge Sharpenning
Use a fine file, inserted into an egde tool if possible.
In order to maximize the lifespan of the edges, we recommend sharpening your edges to 90 degrees. If you wish to increase the stability of the board when it is riding flat on the base, a negative one (-1) degree can be applied to the base edge and 89 ° to the side edge. We do not recommend sharpening your edges to less than 88 degrees (on the side edge), as this reduces the edges' lifespan.
Our boards have been designed to provide a progressive edge hold along the entire running length. In addition, the nose guides the board accurately through a carve.
For these reasons the edges must be shapened from tip to tail, for the entire edge length, including the entire nose.
De-tuning (unsharpening) the ends of the nose and tail, a very common practice with many snowboarders and skiers, will decrease the overall performance of our boards. This is especially true in icy conditions. De-tuned edges will result in less edge hold and a ride that is less accurate.
Note: To avoid wasting time when sharpening edges that are new or in poor condition, use a coarse/rougher file to remove the worst sections. When the edges become sharp, switch to a fine file to complete the job.
Caution: A snowboards' edge can cut skin like a knife once sharpened.
Base preparation
At the factory, the base is sanded to a very fine finish. It is ready to ride immediately, no further base work is required. One of the characteristics of the P-TEX 4000 ELECTRA is that the smoother it is, the better it slides. For this reason we strongly advise that you NOT sand or structure the base again. If you are forced to sand, the base must be as smooth as possible.
Never stone finish the base, the board will slide very poorly with this kind of finish!
Waxing
Use an iron to drip the wax on to the base. Spread the wax evenly on the base surface.
Caution: to avoid excess heat, never stop the ironing motion! Excess heat can leave an impression on the base or even delaminate it!
Allow the wax to cool, then use a plastic scraper to remove the excess wax.
Tricks of the trade
Small repair (applicable to any snowboard or ski)
To repair a ding or minor delamination (Example - nose or tail delamilated) read the following.
Spread the delaminated area (the "lips" ) with a little screw driver or sharp knife (Carpet knife or Exacto knife). Then, fill in the delaminated area with a few drops of cyanoacrylate glue. (Cyanolit, Loctite 406 or 401, Superglue, Crazy Glue, etc...). Use a C-clamp to pull the delamination together. Finally, clean the area with a tissue.
Make sure your fingers don't get glued together.
About two hours later, remove the clamp and use a cutter to scrap/remove the excess glue that has hardend.
Your board will then look like new!
Useful links
http://www.tooltonic.com
http://www.toko.ch
http://www.kuu.com
http://www.swixsport.com
http://www.tognar.com