For the surfer who loves the feel of fresh wax, likes the look of a clean surfboard, or just are absolutely meticulous about their surf wax methodology (ahem) … let me introduce you to the Pickle, a chemical-free wax remover. Used by surfboard repair people for years as a method to remove wax from a board to prep it for  repair, this handy little bag of wonder has made its way to the average surfer’s tool kit.

Hand-made in Hawaii, the Pickle is advertised as an environmentally friendly wax remover that uses 100% recycled ingredients. Using the specially formulated contents of the little green bag and some good old fashioned elbow grease, some simple rubbing gets your surfboard clean and free of old wax … ready for reapplication or the occasional repair.

The Pickle does not preclude wax scraping – you still have to scrape the excess wax off your stick, which is why the Pickle comes with its very on wax comb. After most of the wax is removed, it is the Pickle’s job to get your stick back to the smooth, shiny, and clean glassed surface. We liked being able to take all the wax off the surfboard for damage inspection, spotting spider cracks and small nicks that would have otherwise gone undetected as it stayed camouflaged by old wax.

The best aspect of the Pickle is that it uses to liquids or chemicals to clean your board, a definite plus for reducing the mess and the fuss. That being said, it is still best and recommended that you Pickle your board outside where there is plenty of fresh air available … as the Pickle does produce some chunky powder-like residue as it cleans your board. Recycled ingredients or not, you still should seep up the powdery-wax residue that is the result of a clean surf stick.

For our test with the Pickle we used an often used, never completely cleaned or unwaxed since it left the store 9’2″longboard. Set on some old saw horses outside (where we received some unwanted attention from office mates) we went to work on using the comb included with the Pickle kit. We immediately saw how difficult this task was going to be with the flex comb included, and we struggled to get the wax off this nose-to-tail,rail-to-tail wax-covered board. A quick run to the hardware store for a plastic scraper (for 90 cents!) and we were off and running, getting most of the chunked-on wax off the board in only 2 Jack Johnson songs in the iPod.

Holding the pickle in your hand is much like holding a silk nylon stocking filled with sawdust … pliable and almost like a green sea cucumber doubling as a hackey sack. It will take a lot of rubbing and some pressure to get the remaining wax off any board, and our board was no exception!

A constant turning of the Pickle was a definite must, allowing the contents of the bag to do its job as the wax rubs and mixes with the contents and scrapes it off the surfboard surface. If you are sensitive to dust and/or powder residue, make sure that you wear a breath mask or some form of nasal/mouth covering to prevent inhalation of the wax/powder mixture!

The Verdict: The pickle does what it claims to do, which is provide a clean and wax free surfboard, of course always with a lot of help from your own muscles and some good prep work.

Surfers can take some time and wax their board ahead of time instead of begging for wax at the beach (see Matuna’s Wax article) , get a decent wax job from a clean board, and even help maintain the environment by using a “green” product.