Great timesaving tip rKelly. We’ve been rubbing out using a light de-wax and tapeline removal pass of 220, then 320, 400, 600 all dry with lower rpm’s, then two polishing compounds made for fiberglass. Beautiful results and takes less than 20 minutes. Hope this helps.
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Beautiful results and takes less than 20 minutes
That kills me…20 minutes? Once the gloss coat is dry, I’ll be lucky to get the board done today, let alone get a shine back…
Ummm, that’s 20 minutes for the rubout only, sorry about that. It takes about the same time for polishing; or a little less for the finless. We never polish on the same day of glossing. Your mileage my vary…
I am loving this thread. It’s making me feel nostalgic for the good old days, me, my tiny little shed, my first board (a fish sorta like yours) and no disk sander! I hated the gloss/polish phase too, always worried that the polish would never look like the gloss did. But practice makes perfect, I think that one thing I have learned is to never balk at trying to do new things. Nowadays, I always dive headfirst into new challenges, (like shaping shortboards with a hand grinder) sometimes with poor results, but always learning. Polish that sucker up, the experience is worth it 10 fold in the long run! -Carl P.S. I would skip the 220 grit that was mentioned above. While it will speed things up a bit, it could become major trouble quickly for you, stick to the finer grits and take your time.
Cool, thanks…So, theoretically, I should be able to hand sand with 320, then 500 (wet or dry), then use bonnet on my hand to rub in the compund, right? When should a gloss appear again? I’m assuming I don’t need to let the compound sit for any amount of time before I start rubbing it in, right? Just go at it with a soft cloth or wool bonnet on my hand? Should I have to REALLY scrub it hard before a shine appears and how much rubbing compound do I need to use? I have a gallon of Shurlustre…
Hey Tenover, if you’re going to do it by hand i’d suggest doing it in several steps. Getting a good polish is a lot of work - even with power. By hand… it’s a workout. It’s real easy to say “that looks good enough”… chances are it’s not even close yet. Do a grit, leave, come back and hit some touchup, move to the next grit, take a break, etc.
I was going to start my own thread, but since we’re on the topic. I did a gloss coat on my beautiful, resin tint, pinline with spray fade last night… and sat there watching a couple of tears in the coat form. Then I watched two of those tear lines get bigger and bigger until it was more of a ‘shallow area’, man that’s frustrating. I don’t remember what causes it, too thick a layer? Anyway, I have pleanty of time to search the archives before next time.
In the mean time, how do you fix the low areas? I did a light hand sand, without sanding block to get into the crevices, while the coat was still green. Is it worth trying to work a bit of gloss into the low spots, or should I try to sand it as smooth as possible and polish away?
Well, well, well…whaddya know. I just grabbed my first board that I made, the yellow fish, and went to work on the bottom. Sure enough, I got the shine! A nice one at that. It had already been wetsanded before, so I just went to town with the schurlustre and a rag and am totally stoked on the reults. Just alot of elbow grease for sure.
Ok, so I got a shine almost immediately on my first fish that was built about a month ago and has since been ridden and sitting in the racks. I glossed the new one this morning, and after about 5 hours, the deck was ready to sand, so I sanded it with 320 and 500 no problem. I then did the exact same thing on this one that got me the shine on my first fish, but the same thing happened…It just kind of gives it a “dull” half-shine look. Does it have something to do with letting the gloss coat harden super hard before doing the gloss? Or getting it wet first or what? I bet if I let this one sit for two weeks, the shine would come up pretty quickly then. ???
Yea man, that’s too soon for gloss… except for cleaning up the tape line and rough areas - much easier while still green. Come back after a full 24 hours, you’ll quickly notice how much harder it is…
Scott, what happened to your sander? When you get to the finer grits I like to wet sand. 1) it keeps the toxic dust down 2) it’s more abrasive with water. Just keep sticking higher grit on your power pad. I got this water bottle set up that drips soapy water on to the soft disk. But don’t be afraid to throw water on the board and start wet sanding with the machine, you can only get electrocuted once. Many times you don’t have to polish out, all you need to do is put a little Lemon Pledge on to bring on the shine.
Harbor Freight had the cheapo sanders for $29.00 sander, power pad, wool bonet etc. Get on down to El Cajon and buy one right now. Do your shoulder a favor.
$29.00??? Wow, I’m on it tomorrow…Thanks. Is that a variable speed? Good enough for what I would use it for (Sanding hotcoat, gloss, and polishing)?
Yep, call first to make sure they still have em. I think those go from 1000-5000 rpm or something like that, but they don’t go to 0.
Hey Tenover… don’t know if you already jumped on the Harbor Frieght sander. If not, request the insurance for $5 more. Guaranteed for 18 months. I’m just a hobbiest, but I’ve got 7 or 8 boards logged on that thing, zero problems (except the first experience with it - more power than I was expecting). You’ll need a power pad, but it’ll do it all, from grinding fin boxes (use the supplied rubber backing), to rough sanding, to polishing (supplied bonnet).
Move all your sandpaper up a notch - if you think you need 80 grit, 100 or 120 is probably plenty. You’ll wonder how you ever hand sanded those first couple boards.
Cool, thanks…Haven’t got it yet, been packing up for a 7-day beach camping trip tomorrow…STOKED. Now if we could just get a little swell…