Heavy longboard has numerous cracks on the bottom (nose) plus 5-6 circle dings (rest of the board bottom) that have cracks and some starting to hold water. What do you think? Patch the circle dings then sand the entire bottom and lay down a 4oz fixit, then hot and gloss from there?
Hey 220grit,
sounds like a board restoration is in order. Rough sand the old gloss off, use styrene to soak out any remaining crack (melts them away), then re-gloss. Good luck!
Hi PlusOneShaper, do you mean to use styrene ALONE in the cracks or some resin heavily diluted with styrene?
Shhhh, it’s a secret that is almost unheard of in France. People in our shop (including the other glassers) think that I’m nuts if I mention it, but it’s a grand way to make stress cracks, spider cracks, weave show-throughs prior to glossing , etc. vanish. Brush on non-paraffined styrene, wait a moment for absorbtion, then gloss as usual. The styrene seeps into the cracks, allowing the resin follow (if I understood it right a long time ago) and penetrate deeper, for a cleaner and in all likelihood, stronger repair.
What a shame, with all the old-timers like me retiring, lots of goodies like that will disappear from the local glassing scene. (That’s an insider for Balsa)
…sometimes the cracks are only in the gloss,…due that to the gloss resin…dont happend with h coat resin…
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What a shame, with all the old-timers like me retiring, lots of goodies like that will disappear from the local glassing scene. (That’s an insider for Balsa)
Next time I spend two hours sanding then air-blowing all the stress-cracks and then re-glossing the bottom of my longboard with much more styrene than usual in the gloss only to find out that the cracks are still there, then I’ll ask you first for your dirty little secrets, you glassing wizard!
Howzit balsa, Yeah the styrene trick is an old one for sure but if the glass is cracked it's a cosmetic trick at best and doesn't fix the crack in the glass. If the glass is cracked you need to sand through the gloss, hot coat and into the glass and reglass the bottom for maximum strength.Aloha,Kokua
Thanks for specifying that; I should have gone into more detail in the post. For hairline shatters, etc. in the gloss coat only, it’s a perfect cosmetic fix technique that I use on colored boards and tints. Also as a pre-gloss clean-up measure. On anything heavier, it doesn’t replace a structural repair although it compliments it nicely resulting in a clean job. Don’t know why it never caught on over here.
Howzit Jeff, Are you saying you use styrene to clean the board before glossing. Save yourself some $ and just wash the sanded board with dishwashing soap and rinse really good. Watch the rinse water after rinsing to see any spots that the water doesn’t stick to since those are contaminated areas and just wipe the areas with acetone and rewash and rinse to see if the spot holds water. Being around styrene is not healthy and it is not a cleaner but a thinner for resin.Aloha,Kokua
Styrene thins resin so it can get down into those little cracks and wet everything out so the cracks disappear. Resin has styrene content, but the government keeps reducing the level, making glassing in the winter in california like glassing with molasses. Unless you use a drum heater. If your cracks are into the glass as Kokua mentioned, you’ll need to remove all the hotcoat with fresh 60 grit paper, and actually sand down into the lamination without hitting the foam. Re-laminate, and make sure you squeegee the glass real flat. To get rid of stubborn stress cracks, try painting straight styrene into the cracks just seconds before you do your lamination. Styrene evaporates very quickly and your cracks will re-appear if you wait too long before laminating. And yes, you don’t want to breath it or get it on you so take appropriate measures…gloves…good respirator…
I’m always doing similar repairs on decks with cracks along the stringer the length of the board. Like Kokua mentioned, most of the cracks go right down to the weave, and you probably have a lot of small dents as well. If you do do a major overhaul, I’ll warn you that those dents will make sanding hell, since you’ll need to use a small pad and keep angling it to get in them. Use 60 or 80 grit to speed up the cutting, and try to get it as flat as possible with a 6" pad. Styrene all of the cracks left after sanding right before you relam. You’ll still see some of them unless you’ve gone all the way to the weave. Relam with 4-6 oz, and put on a heavy hotcoat to try and fill the remaining dents. Don’t rely on glosscoats to do any deep filling. This is a lot more work that sanding a nice new flat board.
Howdy Kokua,
No worries, I’m not washing my boards (or my hands) in styrene. I was using the term ‘clean-up’ loosely and non-literally; my English may be getting a bit strange as I’ve been out of country for a while now! After washing the board as you suggest, and once it’s taped for gloss, I just lightly brush areas that have significant amounts of weave showing (around fin bases for glass-ons for example, or as needed in repair applications) to ensure a more attractive finish. Thanks for the concern though, health issues are high on my priority list.
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I’m always doing similar repairs on decks with cracks along the stringer the length of the board. Like Kokua mentioned, most of the cracks go right down to the weave, and you probably have a lot of small dents as well. If you do do a major overhaul, I’ll warn you that those dents will make sanding hell, since you’ll need to use a small pad and keep angling it to get in them. Use 60 or 80 grit to speed up the cutting, and try to get it as flat as possible with a 6" pad. Styrene all of the cracks left after sanding right before you relam. You’ll still see some of them unless you’ve gone all the way to the weave. Relam with 4-6 oz, and put on a heavy hotcoat to try and fill the remaining dents. Don’t rely on glosscoats to do any deep filling. This is a lot more work that sanding a nice new flat board.
No probolems with sanding small areas- I have a nifty die grinder, air driven, and a million of those little circle sanding things. I’m going to sand down each dent and patch with glass, then sand entire bottom and re-glass with 4oz. Hot then gloss.
Howzit Jeff, It's not neccessary to use styrene over the weave areas since it doesn't change any thing when glossing. What you need to do is be careful when rubbing out those areas since there's no hot coat buffer between the gloss and the weave. I just gloss normally and keep an eye on those areas while doing the rub out. Aloha,Kokua
great info here !!
thanks heaps guys !
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longboard with crack
used without persimmon
