Chambered wooden surfboard final stages.

General Discussion
1

Hi,

I am currently building a 6’ x 20"x 2.5" (roughly) chambered wooden surfboard out of old pallet wood. The idea of the project is the use of recycled timber, and of course a love of woodwork and surfing. The board is being made to be surfed of course, but I am aware, being pine, it will be heavier than other boards. Fortunately I am quite light so I have come to terms with the weight thing. But I still want it to be the best board it can be.

I am in the more final stages of the project after a lot of hours sanding, a tremendous amount of time on the jigsaw and some fairly tense moments with a few temperamental clamps.
Overall, so far it’s all going to plan, as far as I know, It’s my first build, so I don’t know a lot.

With the help of Swaylocks posts, I have successfully got to the stage of thinking about, fins, resin, and finishes. And I am more confused than ever.

I’ll try to keep it simple, Im looking for my best, hopefully not too expensive options for the following:

  1. Bogging up holes and and gaps in the board prior to 2oz fibreglassing.
  • I would like to used something that is going to either match the wood colour, (Pine) or something transparent.

  1. Glassing the board, I am looking at using 2oz fibreglass as a waterproof layer, structural integrity isn’t an issue. I have read that Epoxy Resin is the way to go, is there a good source of a specific type of resin for a transparent finish, (QLD) and should it be used with a slow or fast hardener?

  2. Should the plugs be installed after fibreglass like normal? If installed after, how do you get a good overall finish after sanding down the plugs? And, with the same resin? Do I need to add A thickener?

I have more questions but I think that will do for now,

Any and all advice is appreciated, hopefully I have made my questions clear enough, please suggest any other info if needed. Any others that need advice on the woodworking stage, I have learnt a lot along the way, and made a lot up, so feel free to ask. Thanks, Calum.

These pictures are pre-chambered, I will post an update once I have uploaded a picture of the glued, chambered board.

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Some of the holes that need filled.

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The Stage I am at now, back together after chambering.

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  1. Bogging up holes and and gaps in the board prior to 2oz fibreglassing.
  • I would like to used something that is going to either match the wood colour, (Pine) or something transparent.

if you make up a mix of the foaming PU glue, and the dust from sanding, as in a fairly thick paste. then smear it into the holes, then before it expands tape it down over the hole, as tight as you can, this will reduce the expansion of the glue and seal the hole with the sanding dust, will make a better finish.

  1. Glassing the board, I am looking at using 2oz fibreglass as a waterproof layer, structural integrity isn’t an issue. I have read that Epoxy Resin is the way to go, is there a good source of a specific type of resin for a transparent finish, (QLD) and should it be used with a slow or fast hardener?

perhaps consider painting just epoxy resin. if you do the initial coat a very light with epoxy layer. Also dilute the mix with 10% metho, maybe a little more. this will help it seep into the wood. then sand it all over with a rough grit. then do at least one more layer of epoxy without the metho.

  1. Should the plugs be installed after fibreglass like normal? If installed after, how do you get a good overall finish after sanding down the plugs? And, with the same resin? Do I need to add A thickener?
    All depends on the plugs you are using.

Get a good quality polisher sander. and if you can a soft sanding pad, you may be able to get away with a medium pad. Burfords or Shapers can supply the pads. i have a cheap sander and its got a wobble in it and has caused me a few issues sanding through and making a complete mess…

feel free to ask a few more things. if i cant answer other will.

5

Hey sk8ment and thanks for your reply.

I tried the glue technique on a test piece, unfortunately it comes up kind of pale brown, so I may try to add some dark tint or colouring to make it a darker brown, to match the colour of the knots. I think it may blend in a bit better. do you know which would be better for this, PVA or Polyurethane glue?

I have considered using the epoxy resin without cloth, but I do have some concerns about pinhole leaks and I would rather be safe than sorry. Is the only benefit the weight difference? I’m not sure about the weight glassing with cloth adds, but as my board is going to be roughly 8kg, half a kilo here or there won’t make too much of a difference to performance I wouldn’t think.

About the resin, do you have any recommendations of brands? I see shapers sell Kinetix 110, have you tried this one?

I’ll attach some pics of the plugs.

Thanks a lot for the solid answers!

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The foaming PU will be different in colour but with heaps of sanding dust it will be close, but it works…
with wood i would recommend a the metho mix as a initial sealer coat before you do the cloth. maybe laminate before the sealer coat fully goes off. create a chemical bond,

BIG ISSUE the oil from your fingers between coats, use gloves to handle the board between coats.

I havent used that brand. I have used CET and its awesome, from a guy called John Gillis on the sunshine coast.
i have also used entropy and both were very good.
those fin boxes will be fine

here is a pic of my veneer over foam number. two coats of epoxy painted over it. then a coat of rattle can clear gloss. I don’t recommend the rattle can. and it was done with a cheaper general purpose none surfboard specific resin.

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The idea of the metho watered down coat is to remove the pin hole issues as the resin will impregnate a few mm into the wood.

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I reckon ill do the metho mix then 2oz cloth just to be sure. Do you see any issues with artwork on the wood, if using a metho mix as a sealer? I was thinking of doing some art with Poska Paint Pens.

I found the website for the CET Resin, Dion Chemicals, I’m going to give them a phone as I am also on the Sunshine Coast.

Thats a great looking board! Nice finish as well, you haven’t had any waterproof issues with your resin method I take it?

Cheers.

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0410 541 896
This is JOHN gillis’s number. He is in Kawana
Not sure if he still has the resin but he can point you in the right direction. Tell him sqeeky sent you.

Adam.

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I like initially sealing wood with a very thin epoxy resin. Not sure what is available in your neck of the woods but my favorite resin for this in North America is System3 clearcoat resin. It really penetrates wood deeply but is not cheap, cures very slowly, and is significantly stinkier than most epoxy.

I worry metho/ Denatured alcohol mixed into epoxy will cause it to not cure to its full properties and perhaps inhibit secondary bonding too.

Not sure ‘Metho’ and De Natured Alcohol are the same thing.

I find that DNA removes permanent marker( sharpie) that was applied on cured epoxy.

I have experimented in the past with wood dust from different woods to try and match the wood color when filling gaps. Now I really try and Aim for no gaps, or using any wood ‘flour’ on gaps that will be visible on exterior. In these areas that need thickened epoxy, I will let epoxy thicken in the mixing cup to peanut butter consistency and apply it when it can no longer drip, onto the area, taping off the areas next to gap and using the back side of a razor blade to remove excess. This gap will be darker, usually but in strong light can take on the color of the rest of the wood and not be as obvious.

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Thanks for that number man, I’ll give him a ring and try and get something sorted out, would be handy being able to pick some up from Kawana, its a ten minute drive for me.

wrcsixeight, I haven’t looked at what you can mix with epoxy resins, but I am aware that it tends to weaken the epoxy thinning it like this and that it take longer to cure. As far as I’ve read if it is applied thinly enough, the spirits will evaporate before the resin goes off. So in essence that would mean you are left with 100% epoxy to bond with for the next application. I’ll have to do a few test pieces.

With using the epoxy as a filler like you mentioned, you are left with a transparent finish then? Have you noticed any problems with adhesion using the epoxy in a half cured state?

Cheers people!

12

When i apply thickened partiall cured gooey epoxy to cracks/gaps, there have been no adhesion issues, even when my timing was a little off and it was thicker than desirable/required. If the wood is dry, I wet it out first thing then wait for epoxy to thicken. If the sides of the wood gap are covered in epoxy I scratch them up however I can first.

The epoxy is clear, Makes my cedar appear darker unless there is a strong light. Not sure about pine. I prefer that look to the wood flour look.

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I like what you have done. Seems to be trurning out great. Coffee grinds make for a nice stain. Haven’t tried filling holes with it, but it might work for staining a mix of glue and flour. Stateside we have some stainable fillers here that can be sanded.