Waxing and Tuning your Splitboard

We recently got some tuning products from KUU to test out, and wanted to give our report.  KUU is a pationate ski and snowboard tuning company our of Canada.  They manufacture and produce so many different tuning products it will make your head spin.  Recently they released some new products focusing on the novice snowboarder and encouraging basic maintance on our boards that many of us forget about.  Chances are if you took a look at your splitboard right now, the edges would be rusted up, with burs and likely some “base burn” showing up.

Splitboarding is more demanding on a snowboard base.  It requires a clean flat base for skins to stick to, while also maintaining efficiency for uphill and downhill travel.  With some simple tools it’s easy to keep your board in better shape, and maybe even make yourself a little faster up the hill.

The number one thing we see on used splitboards is damaged or worn edges.  A tuning file can help remove rough edges that may be slowing you down.  It can also remove the rust and help to detune the nose and tail, best part is that it only takes a couple minutes with the right tools.  Here are a couple we tried from KUU.

KUU Ice Buster 90 Degree Edge Sharpener

The ice buster is the most solid edge sharpener you might ever use. The thing feels bullet proof in your hands, and very solid against the board.  Simple to use, just adjust the file to the side you wish to use, place flat against the base of your ski/board and run in the direction of resistance to the file.  You can actually feel the file cleaning up the edges.  The file will begin to feel smoother as you continue to use it.  One thing we didn’t like about the Ice Buster is that the file dosen’t hang down very far, so when pressing against the edge of the board or around the corner it was easy to come off the board.

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KUU Combo Sharp Snowboard Edge Sharpener

This combo sharpener allows for edge filing from 86,87,88,89 degrees.  As well, the file offers a base edge of .5 and 1 degree.  It’s super easy to pop the file out and switch it between angles.  It’s light weight, and the file has an arrow to indicate the direction of the sharpening.  This is one of the most versatile and simple to use edge sharpeners we have ever used, and would recommend it to anyone looking to try a few options tuning edges in the future.

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KUU White Lightning Rub on Paste

Rub on past and spray are fun to use, but don’t last a long as a full on hot wax.  However, these are small enough to put in a pocket for a day you forgot to wax.  It’s amazing how much of a difference a little rub on wax can make.  We took a few runs with a board that hadn’t been waxed in a about 10 days on the mountain.  We rubbed on the white lighting paste and there was defiantly a noticeable difference.  This cheap solution is a nice to have in the pocket or bag for days when you feel like your lagging behind and need a quick boost.  Keep in mind you may have to apply it a few times through out the day.

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KUU White Lightning Spray Wax

Now were are getting into the fun stuff.  The KUU Spray wax was easy to apply and faster yet.  It simply sprays and has a foam applicator to rub into and around the base of the board.  However, spray wax didn’t last too long either.  It felt like a couple runs was all it was good for.  But for instant speed and easy application this stuff is great for your next race down the hill.

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KUU Rub on Wax

For a longer lasting rub on wax the KUU wax would be our goto.  Pretty easy, the wax comes in three different colors for different tempatures of wax.

It was a little hard to get applied in the cold weather, so you might be better off trying to apply this in your house before you head to the mountain.

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