How to Tune a Snowboard

Repairing, cleaning and tuning the edges of your snowboard is essential to maintaining your boards performance season after season. Basic snowboard tuning is a fun activity that can be done at home with the proper tools and is a good way to get stoked for the upcoming season or next day on the mountain. If you're looking to learn the ropes on how to tune your snowboard yourself, scroll down through our in-depth video guides to learn more. 

Here's what we’ll cover:

• How to Repair the Base of a Snowboard?
• How to Sharpen Snowboard Edges?
• How to De-Tune Snowboard Edges?
• How to Clean a Snowboard Base?

Whether you’re a casual rider cruising the groomers, or an advanced park rider who prefers riding boxes and rails, it’s inevitable that the base of your board will experience some form of damage in its lifetime.

Although major gouges and scratches might need to be repaired in a shop by a professional, many minor blemishes can be repaired at home with the right supplies and skills. Fixing damage to the base of your snowboard will provide a smoother ride that is fast and catch free. Maintaining a gouge-free base will also prevent water from weakening the core structure of the board. 

The basic items needed to repair the base of your snowboard are the following:

• P-Tex Candle
• Lighter
• Metal Edge Scraper 
• Citrus Based Cleaner 
• Towels or Rags

Tuning the edges of your snowboard is critical to keeping your board fast, catch-free and responsive when initiating turns. It is also a great way to customize how your board rides and feels underfoot.

There are two surfaces on each edge: the base (lies flush with the base material) and the side (runs along the side of the board). Generally, if you bevel the base edge it makes turning easier, because it extends the bottom of the board out further, putting more base and less side edge against the snow. Beveling the side edge will increase the grip of the board, meaning that it will bite into the snow during turns and stops, lending more control to the rider.

The basic supplies needed to tune the edges of your snowboard are the following:

• Edge Bevel Tool
• Gummy Stone
• Metal File

Nobody likes catching an edge on the slopes, especially when sliding a rail or transitioning from edge to edge. Detuning the edges of your snowboard at the tip and tail, as well as between the contact points can lessen your chances of catching an edge by dulling the most likely problem spots.

De-Tuning the edges will allow you to manipulate how the board will ride and perform while on the snow. This is especially important for advanced freestyle rider who like their boards to be predictable and forgiving in a variety of snow conditions. De-Tuning your snowboard can be done at home if you have the proper tools and skills to do so. 

The basic supplies needed to de-tune the edges of your snowboard are the following:

• Diamond or Ceramic File
• Gummy Stone
• Metal File

Properly cleaning the base of your snowboard is an important first step when performing most tuning procedures to your board. A clean base allows for proper wax adhesion when waxing and is especially important when repairing scratches and gouges with P-Tex.

Cleaning the base of your snowboard with a citrus base cleaner is fairly straight forward and a technique we recommend if you are just learning the ropes of tuning. Hot scraping is an advanced form of cleaning that requires added effort and experience to rid the base of contaminates but ultimately results in a deep clean to the pores of the base. 

The basic supplies needed to clean the base of your snowboard are the following:

• Citrus Base Cleaner
• Rags or Paper Towels
• Waxing Supplies *If Hot Scrapping