I recently picked up an old 70s board with a full airbrush job on the bottom. There are a couple of small dings on the bottom and one larger pressure dent with a lot of spider cracks and some broken glass along the stringer. I’ve read through the earlier posts that recommend repairing spider cracks using styrene or super glue, but have a question I haven’t seen answered. Given the airbrush work, I’m concerned that the styrene or super glue might penetrate all the way to the paint and discolor it. Has anyone had any experience with this? I’ve attached a couple of pictures so you can better understand my concern. I know I’ll get hate mail for this, but this board will probably never feel the ocean again, so I’m not terrible concerned about a terribly strong repair, but I plan to hang the board so I want it to look as good as possible. Of course a nearly invisible and strong repair would be the ultimate. Thanks for any input.
A suggestion on a method that has worked for me in making dings like that invisible or practically so…
Take a piece of coarse sandpaper and using one finger just scrub away at the cracked resin. The closer you can stay to the outer crack rings the less of a fill job you’ll have. Keep scrubbing until you barely expose the weave but have eliminated the cracked resin. Mask around the sanded area. A dab of styrene (not wax surfacing agent) followed quickly by some cloth and catalyzed (or UV cure) sanding resin will cover it. You’ll be able to tell almost immediately if the cracks have been sufficiently prepped. With luck, they will be invisible at this point. Peel the tape before the resin sets too hard.
When resin has cured, block sand the ding repair to just below flush. Mask around the sanded areas and gloss. Once the gloss resin has cured, wet/dry (in stages to 600 grit) sand the edges until everything is flush. Hit it with a little buffing compound and you’ll be stoked. Assuming you use the same weight cloth, the repair will be as strong as before the ding and hard to detect.
To fill any pressure dents that aren’t showing cracks… get the board positioned so the dent in question is level. Scuff the depth of the dent with sandpaper, mask and fill with catalyzed (or UV cure) sanding or gloss resin. Wet/dry to 600 and buff. You sometimes have to fill various dents individually as one will be level and the others won’t be. Level each and fill individually if you have to. It’s a pain but it works. If prepped correctly and wet/dry sanded carefully, the filler resin will blend in nicely.
