Heaps of stuff in the archives about this but I think the board is lacking in the tech department nowadays. I am going to do my first cloth inlay this week. I have got my 100% cotton cloth, washed it in a vinegar solution to set dye. It has been dried and ironed…Heck it has gotten more attention than the kids this week. Now Im ready to put it down… It is going to be a split deck inlay leaving the stringer and 3/4 inch of foam exposed on each side of the stringer. Regular rail band width. My question is: How do I apply the resin to get a good bond and as thin as possible. My thoughts are to put down the tape and use the squeegee to apply resin. I was going to leave the cloth as one piece then cut in two as I pull the tape from underneath ie: cut lap procedure. Any reson NOT to use the squeegee? Thanks Krokus http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Category.taf?f=bylogo&logourl=ChicagoE%2Dwtag%2Egif&brand=Chicago%20Electric
You squeegee the cloth down like a decal. You roll the cloth back, cover the entire area with resin, squeegee off excess, roll cloth back over, pour resin on cloth, squeegee cloth out flat with no wrinkles and fully saturated with resin. You are doing way too much prep work on the cloth, no need to iron, no need to soak in vinegar. I have been doing 100% cotton and cotton poly blend cloth inlays for years and have never had one bleed the colors and if there are any wrinkles in the cloth they flaten out when the resin is applied.
Yah, MKIA pretty much covered it, although I still like to wash and iron the cloth. The wash prevents the fabric weave from warping when wetted down(Some cloths will, others won’t. Either way, the shrink/fabric warp won’t be too noticeable. Often times the resin will be holding it so tight anyways that nothing happens.), and the only reason that I iron the cloth is because I had a piece that was folded, and the crease lifted up again at the edge of the inlay while drying. Nothing, major, just annoying to have to wet it down again. I try to use as little resin as possible, and like MKIA does, I squeegee out what I can. The resin layer under the cloth shouldn’t be thick, just more like a wipe. Just enough to reflect light and stick the cloth down, but not enough to leave the cloth floating on top instead of sticking to the board. Anyways, pretty much go at it like fiberglass. Good luck man. I guess it’s pretty much redundant to what MKIA said, but if it works for both of us, you’ll pull it off no problem too. - Red ps. You see that awesome inlay in the recent new boards there? That was a real looker.
Thanks for the compliment, It took a while for the tape off. I don’t iron unless the fabric is wrinkled. After the resin set-up I put a spot light under the blank so I could get a good clean cut line. I used the resin pinline to sharpen the edge up. The finishing touch is to gloss and polish. The only trouble is, it comes out so pretty you hate to see wax on it. http://levysurfdesigns@earthlink.net
Hi Dave. How you doing? Haven’t seen you here before.
Dave, I remembered seeing that longboard and drooling over it, I just couldn’t remember who shaped it while I was writing the post. I have a hard time finding tropical cloth up here in Canada, and I was wondering where you get yours from. Likely just the local fabric store, but oh well. Great Job. I’d have a really hard time coverign the art with a layer of wax too, but oh well, we build 'em to ride ‘em. And that’s the way it should be. Rock on old school. Hope to see more wave princess’ like that. Regards, Red
Thanks again everyone, I built the board for a close friend that works with me. I think I’m going to have to wax it, because he just likes it the way it is. We wanted to try something fancy, he found the fabric at a store in Warwick and we used the reverse side to tone down the brightness. After we closed the Watershed, this has been my full time job, I figured out I’ve done about 85 boards this past year, so I quess I’m a full time New England shaper. Great site, it’s answed a lot of questions. http://levysurfdesigns@earthlink.net