Before you get started you're going to need some gear. You can purchase a waxing iron if you've got the scratch, but it really isn't an absolute necessity because most of the items you need are relatively common household items.

You'll need:

• Base Cleaner - You can base solvent for this or just use a solution of dish soap and lemon/lime juice.

• Waxing Iron - Keep your money, go to Goodwill a buy a used one.

• Wax - All temperature snowboard wax is perfectly fine.

• Plastic Scraper - A wall paper scraper is idea for this. The wider the better.

• Scouring Pad - Any medium, rough pot scrubber will work.

In preparation for doing a wax job, it's ideal to find a suitable surface the will allow you to secure your board upside down and level. Because your not going to be using a lot of force in waxing, two dining room chairs suffice because their backs are usually high enough to rest the board on at a good working height. Make sure you put some old sheets over them 'cause your mom is going to rail on you if you get wax on her cushions.

Once you're set up, start by giving the base a cleaning with a soft cloth to remove any grime or foreign material. You don't wan to end up ironing this into the board.

Next apply the wax. Set your iron to medium heat and once heated, hold the block of wax against the iron with the point down and drip a liberal portions of wax onto the board in several strips from tip to tail. You want to have enough wax to cover the board entirely when you iron it in.

Once the step above is completed, slowly pass the iron over the wax strips to evenly distribute the wax onto the base. Be careful not to let the iron rest in one area too long. If the wax starts to smoke, you're stopping in one area too long or your iron is too hot. In either case, be careful because this could damage your board. The idea is to heat the surface just enough so the pores in the board open up to accept the wax. After you've applied a uniform coating of wax, let your board cool off completely before proceeding.

After your board has completely cooled, scrape off the excess wax by scraping it tip to tail in the number of passes it requires to cover the entire surface. Some areas may require additional passes with the scraper. Since the whole point to waxing is to get a thin coating, you need to scrape off as much of the excess as you can.

Next, use the scouring pad to remove any excess wax you could not remove using the scraper. This will also give your wax a nice polish so it glides through the snow.