extruded or sintered-

im looking at the choices i have and im wondering if have a sintered base makes that much of a difference? what are the pros and cons? does extruded have more durabilty? i dont want to be buying another board after i get a stairmaster so i hope it will last at least 4 seasons...

a lot of that info is wrong, like that extruded is more durable.  it's less dense and is more prone to impact damage.  the plus side though is that if you DO get a gouge it's easier to fix than sintered.

Go with extruded, it's less maintainence and cheaper overall to buy. Sintered bases need more TLC and are more suited for racing. You gotta know your stuff to properly wax it to the snow conditions of the day you're riding to notice any significant difference.

My 2cp, extruded base with an all temp wax and have fun! If you want to spent more money and go a bit faster, sintered.

waxing isn't difficult but if you are a lazy individual extruded requires less work from what lve been told. 

i know, i was just saying that the way he said it made it sound like a big deal, and also that an extruded base with easy all temp wax is fine... but that's what can be said about sintered, not extruded.  if you can spare the time/effort to wax, sintered is worth it, but if you are lazy and don't wanna do it then extruded is the way to go.  otherwise with no wax, you will literally not slide down the slope.  i had a fully dry base the day i rode a new (used) board and had no time to wax first.. basically couldn't move at all.  it honestly felt like sandpaper or something.  hotwaxed it and it happened to be one of the fastest boards i've ever owned (07 cambered malolo)

For waxing my snowboard would i need to buy a special snowboard iron or can i use a normal iron?

Originally posted by kel Originally posted by nautika96 funny i heard the same thing about sintered costing more. it was during a maintenance class at REI but maybe the tech was referencing repair-wise. I also learned that if you leave the iron on your board in a single place for too long your base is pretty much toast regardless of what it was before. yep thats true cuz your causing the pores to shrivel up and wont hold the wax as good as before

Originally posted by nautika96 Originally posted by Lachsta For waxing my snowboard would i need to buy a special snowboard iron or can i use a normal iron? you can get away with a normal iron, just try to use it on the lowest setting necessary to melt the wax. oh and dont use the iron on clothes afterwards.

+1 and remember to not put water into the feed mechinism. did that once, the base looked bubbly, literally

So would it be better to just buy a fairly cheap iron for waxing my board? I also read somewhere that you can put foil over the end of the iron so not to wreck it with wax.

One more thing: 

wouldn't it make more sense for them to use extruded on the sides, as more gouges would be in those areas anyways from jibbing/rails=easyer to fix, and sintered in the center so you can change waxes for diff temp and speed, and durability as less gouges happen in the middle?

i dunno, most deep gouges i have ever had with boards happened on the edges..so when growning up and jibbing anything i could and being a jackass with my board it would of been easier/cheaper to fix and last longer. interesting idea, honestly, i do not ever remember seeing any mixed bases before.

^^ You're carving edge to edge, having sintered on the sides will give you more speed.   Ofcourse if you're a park rat, I'd stick with a extruded board, especially during the learning stages.

Originally posted by fj5 Originally posted by spenser a lot of that info is wrong, like that extruded is more durable. it's less dense and is more prone to impact damage. the plus side though is that if you DO get a gouge it's easier to fix than sintered. also, extruded is not pressed together like it sounds like they're saying, the pellets are melted and the liquid state pellets are extruded through an opening into their shape. that's literally what extrusion is, like when you make spaghetti noodles or whatever. it also makes it sound like an extruded base is always "much" slower than a waxed sintered base. this is simply not true. you can have very fast extruded bases, but sintered bases CAN be faster at times depending on the conditions, and you can also fine tune your waxing to the specific conditions to gain a slight edge, but it's not nearly as big of a difference as they make it seem. for sintered, they don't just force the pellets together. they grind them up into a powder and then do it. that's literally what sintering means. they also use a more dense plastic, it's not just the same material as extruded. there are also NO PORES IN SINTERED BASES. that is a metaphor for base structure. there are microscopic nooks, crannies, vallies, etc in the base, because of the way they're made and finished. that's what the wax adheres to, but it does not go INSIDE the base. that's also why a sintered base with NO wax is so painfully slow.. the structure basically grips the snow. my general opinion is that if you have the time to take care of your base and prefer to fine tune and wax regularly, always go sintered. if you want to not care and just go ride, go extruded. i know a handful of guys who have been riding for 20+ years, old gnar dog shredders, who still prefer extruded cause they just want to go snowboard and not care so much. Spenser, THANK YOU! This is the absolute most informative post I've ever read about bases. I had no idea how inaccurate all my other readings were.

I agree but its not only this post, i've found that all of spencers post are in depth and greatly helpful. Great work and thankyou Spencer.

Sintered snowboards are usually quicker and I find them easier to wax. The base is generally harder so they dont get as much damage.

I recommend sintered boards to most people.  I found extruded to just be too slow.  I had one in the past, and it just always seemed sluggish to me.  True, there are good extruded boards, but in general, they are slower than sintered boards.

thanks everyone for commenting, spenser that helped alot:) im planning on dinging it up a bit, so extruded is probably the way to go, but i just dont want it to fall apart on me, i want it to last through highschool

It also depends on what you're going to be doing with the board, and where you're taking it.  For example, Mt. Hood gets super-slushy a lot of the year, and a good wax will keep you from needing to skate down cat tracks.  On the other hand, if you're a jibmonster that's constantly hitting rails, the extruded might be better due to the greater ease of repair and lower overall replacement cost.

Spencer- What year is your CS?  I thought Capita switched to sintered for 2010; that's at least what they told me when I asked.

pretty much what spenser said. i do know that for jib/park board go with extruded, go speed go sintered. 

Originally posted by Shaz I like sintered basis, they are usually faster, more scratch resistance and are easier to wax.

So does people usually have more than one boards?
Considering people are greedy and want more

Originally posted by Custom09 I heard that extruded bases seem to make your graphic pop out more, if that even matters

That's debatable... just the thickness and depth of the material determines visibility. i've owned boards that were extruded and the graphics practically sung to you. On the other hand i've had extudeds that looked like a cloud on top of the graphic. Same with sintered.