Ok guys…and girls…I am going to need your help on this one. I just finished board number two and it came out great. Ill post pics soon. But I recently came across a vintage dusty rhodes V-bottom in major disrepair. The whole deck is delammed and the fin is delammed along with the surrounding glass. I need a classic board to ride in the classic contests, and i am tired of borrowing them. The glass is a deep blue tint and was probably awesome new. I want to save the logo and the fin, and reglass them on after the restoration. Whats the best way to go about stripping the glass without completely destroying the foam. and any special tips you might have for a complete resto would be a great help.
There are tons of previous posts on this subject… heres the best one I found w/ a picture tutorial
http://www.swaylocks.com/forum/gforum.cgi?post=178049;search_string=glass%20stripping;#178049
Try this: sand down to the weave with 60 grit & drill a flat 1/2 in hole with a forensner bit. Take care not to drill into the foam, just drill through the glass. Now epoxy or JB Weld a air compressor fitting to the hole. Hook up a compressor to the fitting and blow compressed air under the glass. If the board is old enough and the glass is delamed enough (it should be if you sanded down to the weave), the whole thing should pop free like a big egg shell. Now take a dremel and cut all the way around the rail edge , once again, don’t cut too deep. You should have two spoon peices, one deck and one bottom with fin. cut the fin out and grind down the fin rope & glass.
Now you have a old shaped blank with dings and brown spots. fill the dings with a granulated sugar and resin mix,and lightly shape. If you must, you can take a screen and lightly sand the brown out of the blank. Now reglass with 6oz, re pigment with the blue, do a cutlap, sand etc. Put the fin on and gloss/polish. The board will look super clean, but it will be light weight and rider restored. did I mention that it’s a lot of work.
One more thing. if the air blows out tons of dings, put duct tape over all the leaks. Make it air tight…it’ll pop
good luck,
Jay