DIY: How to Fix Scratches in a Snowboard

If you hit some rough patches this season and your snowboard is looking a bit scratched up there is something that you can do to fix it. This is a simple guide on how to fix scratches in a snowboard yourself.

The easiest method for fixing scratches in a snowboard is to simply apply a nice coat of base wax in order to fill in the scratches and smooth out the entire surface of your snowboard. Wax can be purchased for pretty much and snowboard, ski or skate shop as well as on the Internet around and most brands are equal; just be sure that you are purchasing a solid wax that you need to melt and not a soft rub on wax that comes with a pad.

Now that you have your wax and your scratched snowboard you just need a couple of tools, the first being an iron (preferably an old one that can get wax on it and not your mom's brand new expensive one) and some type of a scraper, I always used a car window ice scraper with good results.

The first thing that you want to do is get your iron heating up; while you are doing this go ahead and flip your snowboard over and give it a quick clean with a cloth to rub off any dirt and make it as smooth as possible to begin with. Now that your iron is nice and hot begin partially melting your stick, or puck, of wax. You want it to still stay hard at one end so that you can hold it. With the melted part on your snowboard run the wax back and forth until you have a nice, even and thick coat of wax on the entire base of your board - not just the scratched areas. Be very liberal here, there is no such thing as too much wax during this step! You may have to reheat and melt your wax puck a few times in order to cover the entire board, this is fine.

Now that your thick coat of wax is applied and has been allowed to dry for a few minutes simply take out your scraping device and go to town. Do not press too hard, just enough to take off the majority of the wax. Be sure to scrape the entire base of your snowboard to ensure that you get a nice and even surface. Your end result is an even base to your snowboard with all of your cracks filled in by wax.

Hopefully you can use this simple method to fix any scratches in your snowboard in a matter of just a few minutes. This also works on skis. You may have to apply this technique every few trips to the slope as the wax wears off but you will find that your snowboard now performs as though it is completely scratch free!