The Best Way to Remove Wax from your Surfboard
Having been a surfer for over 17 years now, I have had to wax boards hundreds of times at this point. Similarly, I have had to remove wax from my boards probably about a hundred times. This number started to skyrocket when I started buying old, beat up boards which always seemed to have 10 year old wax baked onto the deck, fins and anywhere else you can imagine. Because I was removing wax from boards so frequently, It got me wondering what the best way to do it was. These are my findings:
Just Scrape It Off
The obvious choice is to just scrape off the wax and you're good. I've learned that this works great for boards that you use frequently and has fresh wax on it. It comes off easily and if you don't care about the bit that gets left behind, just throw on a new coat of wax and go surf.
Things to take note of:
1. Select your wax comb wisely. I have one that has the comb part exactly opposite of the scraper side. This means that as you scrape the board, the comb digs into your palm making it a very painful experience. (The yellow, Creatures comb is much better)
2. If it's sunny out, leave your board in the sun for about 5 minutes to let the wax heat up. It comes off so much easier this way.
3. If the sun isn't out, you can use warm water (depending on the temperature of wax on your board) to heat up the wax making it easier to remove.
Wax Remover Solution
This is my personal favorite option. I have the Sticky Bumps Wax Remover here and its great. It does a really good job of loosening and dissolving the wax so that you can basically wipe it off with a paper towel. Unfortunately, this stuff is not very cheap and I use it pretty liberally. To cut down on that cost, and not waste so many paper towels, I scrape off as much wax as possible and then use this to clean the board completely.
Another win for this wax remover is that it is the BEST option for removing old wax. If I buy a board with crusty old wax, I get a bottle of this stuff and dump it all over everything. After sitting for a few minutes, I come in with towels and start to wipe the dirt and wax away. It generally takes a couple of applications but it will get everything off. It’s expensive and it feels very wasteful but I have not found a better way to get the job done.
Foam Based Wax Remover
The product that most people know of is the Pickle Wax Remover. My local shop had one called the Cannonball Wax Remover that I used for this testing. They are both the exact same thing, which is nylon stockings, filled with surfboard foam dust.
Overall, I think these are good products. They do require that you scrape a majority of the wax off your board before using, but it does work great at removing the dregs of wax left on your board. It does require a bit of elbow grease and will leave your hands all dusty, but is reusable and much less wasteful than the Sticky Bumps solution.
And that's all I have for this one. What’s your favorite way to remove wax from your boards? Do you just have 10 bars worth on your board right now and just never clean it off? Let me know if there are any other methods you want me to test.
Stay Stoked!