Balsa glassing, revisited

General Discussion
1

Hello everyone.

To make a long story short, after taking a couple of years virtually off from board building while working on my Masters, I have a short stack of balsa blanks and lumber to get to work on in the coming weeks.  Started tracing outlines today, and the wood-stoke is definitely still there!

I have traditionally run one of two glassing schedules:

-epoxy filler, lamination and hotcoat, sanded to about 220 to get it very clean, and then hand scuffed with 80g before a polyester gloss.  I know that there are nay-sayers to the epoxy/polyester combination but after 8 years of frequent surf, my early balsa shapes are still looking good with no delamination/chipping of the gloss.

-same as above, but all poly.  I have had less personal feedback on the boards that went out polyester, but do not have seem to have had any issues (I’m assuming that a customer whose balsa 9’6" starts delaminating is going to get in touch!)  In either case, the sealer coat and lamination were done late afternoon to ensure a dropping temperature and a better theoretical bond.

So the question is… is there anything new and exciting going on in the world of balsa glassing?  MIracle blank sealants or finishes?  I’m always interested in what others are doing with their wood - and am open to suggestions/comments.

Many thanks.

2

Hi Jeffrey, have you tried acrylic as a sealer? This is very commonly used on woods before varnishing and it’s called “bouche-pores” here. H&M Diffusion could be your friend there. Never used it personally but was planning to.

3

Go to the thread UV clear spray on gloss coat by TJM or something like that . His name is Tom and from New Jersey and a nice guy. He’ll share info.

4

Hello Balsa.  I haven’t tried acrylic, though I have pondered it, mostly for the weight savings as opposed to a resin fill-coat.  I’ll do a test or two and let you know how it goes.

While you’re on the thread (and only very slightly off topic) - do you know a good source for very stiff jig-saw blades?  The last batch of supposedly stiff ones I bought left way to many warbles in the outline for my taste.  Lots of clean-up work.

 

5

And thanks tblank, I’ll be doing a search.

6

Jeffrey, I have yet to see a jigsaw blade that would not wobble when cutting really deep, even in soft materials such as foam or balsa. I suggest either band-saw, router with a long spiral cutting bit or hand-saw.