Having fooled around with boats and boards for about four decades trying many finished
along the way, my call isn’t a single choice. If you want it real shinny and seal all of you glue
seams, which seems important, to me at least, I’d us Super Sap epoxy. The stuff polished out very nicely as long as your willing to take it to 800 grit or finer before you polish it out. If I were doing it this way I put a sanding coat on it first, take that to 120 grit and get it the contours and edge perfect. Then put a second polish coat on with a little additive F and finish it out. The beauty of this finish is it won’t chip and will be quite flexible and durable.
If however you want a more natural look an in-wood finish would be my second choice. This would have to be renewed regularly depending on how much light and water exposure the board gets. It would take several coats of a good teak oil type finish to seal things up well. This type of finish won’t crack or chip and can be renewed at will. The board will have a very classical look done this way.
I’ll not one to put down other suggestions. In the end it’s a personal decision that can be best made through a little experimentation.
Worried that I will regret using Gorilla Glue, I did a little test today. While waiting for TopHat to maybe give me some details about his board's tail and flex, I sawed out the rough board outline. That left four pieces of scrap that included glue lines. I broke the boards near the glue lines and that is just what happened: the wood broke near the glue line but the glue lines themselves never broke. So, what bad thing is going to happen because I Gorilla glued?
I couldn't wait any longer for Top Hat to reply about his board's specifics, so I went ahead on my own. It is 4.5' X 17" and shaped as you see. It is Alaia thin at 1/2", with only the rocker that I could carve into the 7/8" thick starting blank. To get even that rocker I really thinned out the nose and tail and, with the fact that I am at 5,000 dry feet in Colorado, heading for the humid Texas coast and back, plus ogre's comment about Gorilla Glue, I decided to armor the board with a layer of 4oz glass rather than an epoxy or oil finish. I appologize that this does not contribute directly to this thread.
Yes, Hans, I think that is a good thing. Maybe ogre has had some bad experiences with Gorilla Glue on some materials, under some conditions, that have nothing to do with my use of it here. Still, that there was a chance he was referring to something bad happening if my glue joints got worked or wet later, I considered it in my decision to glass rather than do some other finish.
Wow, glad I checked back in, it’s been awhile, thanks for the positive feedback and further discussion. I like Schmidts finishing schedule, I’ll keep that in mind for the next one. Paul there is no way I would not finish wood, except maybe cedar shingles and siding, especially something going into the water. Nice board John L, it came out great, please report back on the ride. Ditto on the wood selection, every time I’m in HD/L’s I check the cedar rack, somedays it looks ok, othertimes not so much. To begin with, that 1x cedar is not a great cut of wood, so it’s like trying to find a clear 2x4…But if your patient and don’t mind ripping some stock you can get somewhere, but then again I haven’t seen alot of parallel grain, so next time I may have to pony up some $ and buy something cleaner. West system epoxy is the way to go on glueing it up, but only time will tell how the GG holds up.
Well, I didn’t have my alaia long enough to evaluate the finish. The board was very fast under a kite, very efficient going up wind, and the large swallow tail let it hold in, and maneuver on, wave faces very well. BUT its low volume in relation to weight made it almost impossible to get up on from a deep water start whether surfing or kiting. It would tend to sink and move away with the slightest touch of foot or whatever.
I happened to have it with me when I went to a kitesurfing equipment swap (at South Padre Island, Texas) and, in the course of talking about boards, I showed it to a friend, who wanted it, so I sold it. I think he tried it and then put it on the wall or in a corner of his office. I put the money towards a factory kiteboard I was lusting after: a Mako 150, which proved to be what I wanted after all.
