How to make surfboard wax

Do you want to know how to make surfboard wax?

What for you might ask? Especially since you can get it for a dollar a bar, it’s three dollars where I live, but still not worth it, right? Good.

But why not try it at least once? DIY will make you more knowledgeable and much more of a complete surfer.

There are many different recipes for making surf wax, and they all seem to be as closely guarded as the original cabbage. Sanders Chicken Recipe. It’s just wax.

Most surf waxes on the market today use a large number of chemicals and for those who want to try making their own, these (petroleum based) recipes are nearly impossible to make. Seriously, where are you supposed to get some of the ingredients like Vistanex polyisobutylenes? I think Exxon Mobile could sell it or something and unless you plan to do a thousand bars I don’t think it’s economically viable for a home based project.

Making an organic based surf wax is much easier. I’m not bashing petroleum-based surf wax; I use it all the time. But it doesn’t hurt to make an organic wax and if it works just as well then it’s one less oil dependency of surfing.

There are only two ingredients you need to make an organic warm water surf wax.

• Bee wax
• Coconut oil

That’s all! Add tree resin if you want a cold water temperature wax. (Tree resin is a bit hard to come by, but you can buy it in pellet form or touch a tree)

The recipe:

Warm water: 4 parts beeswax to 1 part coconut oil.

Cold water: 4 parts beeswax to 1 part coconut oil and 1 part resin.

Parts needed:

• Bain-marie (two pots one bigger than the other, fill the bigger one with a little water, place the smaller one inside the big one, this is where your ingredients will go)
• Beeswax can be purchased in many different places.
• Coconut oil, you can make the oil or buy it in a store.
• Tree Sap (cold water recipe only) which can be purchased at the store or touched on a tree.
• Wax molds can be used for just about anything, like ice cube trays or any kind of old mug.
• Something to stir the ingredients like a wooden spoon.

Melt the ingredients in a bain-marie and stir constantly, when everything is blended, pour into a mold. Wait for it to cool/harden and that’s it. This is a very basic recipe, there are certainly more complicated organic recipes out there, but this should do the trick.

I made the warm water recipe and it works great, very sticky and smells good too. One thing to consider is playing around with the proportions to get a harder or softer wax. The wax I made is a bit soft for warm water, so it tends to need to be re-waxed before every surf, which isn’t a big deal.

Good luck.