Hello, I found this forum while researching repairing surfboards with pigments. I have this beautiful Jim Philips longboard with an red/orange acid look. You can see the cloth through the pigments, specially on the lighter areas. Hands were wet and board slipped as I was “carefully” putting on the ground. They are mostly small dings on the end and side of the tail, but a couple of bigger ones towards the front. It seems that most of these can easily be fixed with resin/qcell. Little ones might just need resin. The couple of wider ones do you think I need to clear up completely and apply cloth?
Considering this board has a tricky/tripy paint job, should I not even attempt to add pigment? I was wondering if I at least tried to add a red/orange pigment could make the repairs blend a little better.
Got it. It looks to me like a thinned ‘‘wash’’ of catylized resin, will clean up most of those dings, and scratches. Get the resin thin enough to wick into all the cracks. May take more than one coat.
It looks to me like it’s an abstract lamination - color in the glass. It also looks like there is a good chance you can make those dings invisible.
Rather than chasing each little scratch and snackle, I’d figure out a ‘panel’ that encompasses as many of them as possible at the same time. Some of the scratches do not appear to have affected the fiberglass underneath. Those can be sanded with coarse sandpaper and left alone for now. Any of the deeper ones that have bruised the cloth can be opened up by carefully sanding down to the weave. Apply dabs of styrene with a Q-Tip or applicatior stick and you’ll be able to see the bruise disappear before your eyes- If it doesn’t, sand a little deeper but don’t go through the cloth - just expose the weave. OK - you’ve got all the bruises sanded down to the weave and all those little scratches opened up a bit? Your panel is masked off and sanded to the tape line? Mix up a fairly hot batch of sanding resin with catalyst, and have your styrene ready. Quickly apply dabs of styrene to the bruised cloth areas and then immediately apply your clear catalyzed sanding resin within the masked off panel.
With a bit of luck on your side, the scratches will fill in and the resin will cover the styrene dabbed bruises leaving you with a fairly invisible patch. If you have some dips, maybe sand and reapply sanding resin without the styrene dabbing… the styrene trick only works when the weave is exposed. Feather out the edges of your panel and consider remasking and glossing the panel in question. That is a nice looking board - worth the time to wet sand and buff the repair in my opinion.
It is often easier to feather out the edges of a large panel than to chase each little patch if you do all the dings separately. If the bruises don’t disappear, you likely didn’t expose the weave enough… that’s why you should ‘test’ with styrene before applying resin over the panel.
It’s all resin tint. Resin swirl bottom with the deck tinted and lapped onto the bottom. No paint. Wetting those fractures with resin after a light sand may make them less noticeable . Do as John suggested. Should be fine.
Yes… call it “hot coat.” A bit extra catalyst in the repair panel of clear sanding resin over the sanded nicks and styrene dabbed weave. And yes, just styrene - no surfacing agent unless you’re mixing your own sanding resin for the clear coat over the top.
The styrene will thin the resin and ‘wick’ it down in to the weave. I’ve had some success making bruised glass invisible again. The color is in the glass from the originaal glass job.
By the way… I got all that from George Orbelian who wrote a book on the subject. I met him on a surf trip to an island surf spot and he told me about it. I got a copy of the book and read about it - exactly as he described. It’s a very nice book with plenty of design data and other cool stuff.
I’ve got a gallon of Styrene Wax. Since the wax floats and is always at the top of the can after sitting awhile; when I tip the can to pour I get straight Styrene as the wax floats backwards in the can. Of course this is dependent on not shaking the can before pouring. I have used this Styrene to wipe exposed cloth, weaves etc. it works. When applying the resin, sometimes it is necessary to dob the resin and press it, rub it down into the cloth to get it to saturate.
putting on the ground. They are mostly small dings on the end and side of the tail, but a couple of bigger ones towards the front. It seems that most of these can easily be fixed with resin/qcell. Little ones might just need resin. The couple of wider ones do you think I need to clear up completely and apply cloth?
