That looks awesome, thanks for posting up the build!
Also, when I have problem with my tape coming off the roll, I put it in the microwave for a quick zap, and it softens it right up to peel easily.
Thanks Phebus. I’ve heard about putting the tape in a microwave, but I haven’t tried it yet. I’ve never had this problem with the green tape, but the green tape costs more. I’ll have to try it, but I only have one more roll of the regular tape.
I have the fin attached now and I’ll be able to sand the board and finish it soon. I shaped the fin then added 5 layers of 4oz glass on each side plus some roving around the edge, then cleaned it up, and attached it.
Looking good Harry! Is the heavy glassing due to lightweight wood?
Yes, that wood is very light like balsa, but more brittle because the trees were attacked by a tiny wasp. I like the colors in the wood. I’ll probably use some of it on the deck of the wood board I’m starting now.
I have more from a tree that was still very green when it was cut and it’s heavier but much stronger. The super light wiliwili I have was milled from dead trees and there’s a lot of tiny holes from the bugs. It’s super light, but still fairly stiff, doesn’t like to bend much. In comparison, Balsa of the same thickness will bend quite a bit. I haven’t tried steaming or wetting the wood to bend it, but it might be worth testing. I like the way Balsa can be bent to the outline curves of a surfboard.
This board is finished but not yet delivered. The second board I started along with this is an all balsa build, but going slowly, so I took out another board I made a while ago, but wasn’t happy with and started hacking away.
This was an 8’ x 22" egg I made for my daughter, but she didn’t like it as much as other boards I have. The few times I rode it, I wasn’t impressed either. She has since stopped surfing and this one was up in the rafters. I took out my rocker jig and it had all the right measurements for something I’ve been wanting to make for a while, a 7’ 2" egg. The only thing I thought might be an issue was a heavily concaved nose. I think the transition from the concave to the midsection wasn’t smooth enough, and it had a good vee in the tail. I also noticed that there was a flat spot in the tail rocker right where the fin was. I think these 2 components are why the board wasn’t as much fun as I wanted.
I drew out a couple of outlines up to 7’ 6", then cut off the rails and stripped the glass off. After cleaning up the foam, I shaped up a 7’ 2" and glassed it. I used my shitty glass for the bottom, and as anticipated had issues with the saturation. Even though I knew I was going to be fighting it, I did another multi-color throw resin all over lam on the bottom. The amount of work needed to get the glass fully saturated makes the clear resin muddy. But, it’s OK, it’s all for fun. For the deck I did something crazy too. I did a fabric inlay with 2 layers of 4oz over it all at one time. I was too lazy to do it in stages, so I made a pattern for the fabric, then cut it out. When I did the lam, I rolled back the glass like when you do logos, then wet the foam, positioned the fabric and squeegeed it and laid down the 2 layers of glass. Finished the lam normally trying to keep it all straight. This one will need pinstripes to hide the ugly inlay, but I think I can make it look good. Added a single fin box today.
Wicked brother!
Still gott’a try fabric inlay.
Thanks for the heads up!