Epoxy Gloss (How I do it)

General Discussion
1

I got asked how I did the polishing on this board and I have gotten so much information out of this forum that its about time I contribute something to it. ( By the way this is how I do it, I am a backyard hack not a proffesional)

After the hotcoat I try to get everything as smooth as possible (without going into the weave) easier said than done… I just leave it at 60 grit no need to go higher, tape the rails and you are ready for glossing, before I used to use Denatured Alcohol to clean the board to remove any oils but after I learned this next step I found that it is totally unnecesary (You can still use the D.N.A. just be sure its a good brand “Klean-Strip” worked for me). I do the gloss in a two step process;

First Glossing Step

For this board i measure about 2 oz of resin and heat it up by putting the cup of resin in boiling water (boil the water and take it off the stove and go outside, dont heat the resin in the kitchen like i use to do…) REMEMBER TO DRY THE CUP OF RESIN OR WATER DROPLETS WILL GET ON THE BOARD. Using a squeegee spread this resin on the board (like really press it in there) move the resin all around the board, it doesnt matter if it gets white or fills up with bubbles you are going to take this resin off after anyway, after you are pretty sure you have abused that resin enough start taking it off, try to remove as much as possible with the spreader (remember that the contaminants are in that batch).

Second Glossing Step

Mix about 6 oz of resin and heat it up just a little bit, just to get it a bit more runny (dont heat it as much as the resin in the first step, heating it up too much will cause the resin to flow a bit too well leaving some spots with thin layers of gloss), let the resin stand so that the majority of the bubbles leave, ( I use a really slow resin about 8 hour cure time, thats becuase i live in Puerto Rico, lots of humidity and rain… with slow resins you dont have to worry about blush and for a hack like me more working time is better),AGAIN REMEMBER TO DRY THE RESIN CUP OR WATER WILL GET ON THE BOARD. I use foam brushes, I know this is blasphemy I know how all you guys love them bristle brushes, I just hate taking the hairs off becuase no matter how much I clean the brushes they always leave hair in the gloss… anyway foam brushes work perfectly for me, now put all that resin in the board and spread it slowly so that you dont cause frothing, I just gloss how I learned here lengthwise, from rail to rail and crossed, then I wait about ten minutes to let the bubbles that are going to form show up and go over with a propane torch (Its fast passes with the torch dont put it up close) and leave it alone, dont look at it, dont think about it just go away, I know the temptation to “fix” some parts just go awaaay! 

Polishing Step

Glossing is done, I usually wait about two or three days before polishing so that the resin gets really hard. If you did it right I assure you wont have any fish eyes or craters and you wont have many bubbles, now fighting of the bugs getting into the resin I still cant figure that one out… Depending on how well the glossing came out its the grit you will use, I usually start at 320 grit if you see slow progress lower the grit (the idea here is to remove most of the sheen) this is the long part, look up every grit known to man, this was my grit schedule for this board Wet or Dry for all of the grits (220, 320, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1500, 2000, 2500), this couple of tips is going to make this easier for you, tape up your finger tips because you are going too bleed, ok maybe im exagerating a bit but the tape on finger tips helps, now put the sandpaper you are going to use in a bucket with water and dishwash, this will soften up the sandpaper, now start sanding your heart away, use straight movements, circular motion is a big NO, just be sure too sand all the board with that grit before moving up and remember always have the board and sandpaper wet and a bit of soap. I im sure a proffesional can do this 2 hour job in about 10 minutes with a polisher, I just dont have the skill to use the polisher so its all elbow grease for me.  When you reach 2500 grit  you are almost there, clean the board remove any soap then dry it, its time for the polishing compound, I swear by “Meguiars Ultimate Compound” trust me if you can use this product it will amaze you, just follow the instructions this is what really gives that beautiful shine to the board, then wax the board up and you are finished! 

I am not a proffesional maybe some of you dont agree with me on some things but this is what works for me for getting a nice shine using epoxy, dont be intimidated by epoxy you can get a beautiful shine with it.

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2

Wow this is an interesting procedure!

Thanks for sharing, the result looks incredible for an epoxy gloss.

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Thanks for that , good clear step by step explanation .

4

you said 2oz first then 6oz

but what’s the ratio

resin per size of board

different quantities if its an 8’0" versus a 6’0"

i would assume so but maybe I’m wrong

nice gloss

there’s some polypropelene blocks you can get for wetsanding or a small block of blue dow  with a sponge will work as well to prevent the finger tip taping. Light linear wet sanding by hand is always the best to prevent swirls. There’s some micro sand pads for wet sanding you can get that’s used for finishing acrylic/resin blank pens that works well too. Pen makers go up to 12,000+ grit for the high end finishes. The dish soap is a great lubricant/paper cleaner I also put a few drops into my water when I wet sand anything. I like to wet sand with the block/paper in on hand followed by a sponge with dish soap water in the other. Kind of like Mr. Miyagi’s technique of right hand(pressure) left hand(clean) in straight versus circular lines.

That’s how my pop taught me how to wet sand our ding patches to make them flawless. We used to take pride in those kind of things back then, such as making your ding fixes invisible.

5

The quantities are for a 5’10"x19ish" board, its a two step glossing the first 2 oz (or more depending on size) its just to wet and “clean” the entire board then take it off and throw it away (dont let it dry), the 6 oz I used was the resin that stayed on the board for the gloss, probably use about 4 oz for a board this size but a rather have a bit more and throw it away, should have also mentioned that I do the first step then a couple of minutes later I do the glossing (second step). 

I have tried the sponge method to avoid the tape but the sandpaper always just slides of the pad. Oneula have you ever tried to go up too 12000 grit?? Now you gave me the itch, I think next board im going to try them sand pads just too see how it looks at 12000 grit.

6

The 2 oz of prep resin, to remove contaminates is GOLD!  I’ve been doing the drag masking tape routine, until no more white, but this idea is brilliant!  And the presoak of samdpaper.  Not sure about this if using a  circular machine, but for my 1/2 sheet vibrating sander, another great idea.  Many thanks!

7

Thanks very much for that! Don’t know if anyone else asked but I appreciate the time you took to answer my question.  That’s a sweet little trick and one I’ve not seen posted here (or anywhere else.)  Again, very nice board. 

8

sorry about all this weird stuff but its what I do when i’m not doing surfboards…

 

small pads

http://www.amazon.com/Micro-Mesh-Micro-Mesh-Pen-Sanding/dp/B0037MEIT2

bigger pads

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003ELH7AI/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_3?pf_rd_p=1944687682&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B0037MEIT2&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=173PK9CM51J8BND7RTRS

 

Zen and the art of polishing pens

http://blog.andersonpens.com/zen-and-the-art-of-pen-polishing-micro-mesh/

 

this is going to sound weird but this is how most of the glass-like finishes on pens are done…

with many layers of CA Acrylic super glue probably 2-3 dozen sanding with 320-400 between each coat before finishing.

Its supposed to be the hardest and strongest finsh to protect against the acid/oil from human hands for decades.

too bad CA gives off low levels pf cyanide gas as it dries and if not done right will get everything including your fingers stuck togethor.

there’s a whole science and active debate on how to apply this stuff

http://www.ocwoodworkers.com/scripts/plans/upload/Finishing%20Wood%20Pens%20with%20Cyanoacrylate.pdf

9

Really nice, I’ve been asked this a million times and have always told people to go to 2500 before the compound and I’m betting your one of the few who did.  The double shot on the gloss is pure genius. I double shoot on table s and other projects but I’ve never thought to do that with a squeegee.  Nice info, thanks for the thorough explanation.  Pretty results too.

10

Anybody have issues with the polishing compound reacting with the epoxy and getting cloudy?

My second HWS in 2003, was only my second epoxy board and first polished gloss.

System3 Sb112 epoxy.  I wetsanded to 2000, then used meguire’s mirror glaze and was damn proud of the result even if it was subpar compared to a professional polished poly.  3 days later I noticed it turning a bit white.  By day 7 it was cloudy.  I started back at 320 grit, back upto 2000, then I just applied a super thin coat, I call it a smear coat, of epoxy with a fine pore sponge, very little epoxy, and a lot of finger pressure.  No bonding/flaking issues.

Acceptable, I guess, but not that perfect mirror gloss I had achieved with the Meguires.

Waiting for the epoxy to cure two weeks allowed a good polishing of System3 sb112 on another board upto 2000 and then the meguires, but not as quite as glossy as unsanded  thicker applied sb112, and not as good as polished poly.

Thanks for the tips.  I hope to make myself another HWS this year. Never had fisheye problems till I tried Apex epoxy, was completely unaware of the issue unless the contamination was horrid, like on a repair.  Have not tried other brands yet.

11

thought i would throw in a few other tricks as well …

firstly . you cant go past adding surfacing agent to the epoxy , makes glosses settle so nicely …

but somehow i get the feeling its not included , coz the method described up top was similar to what i did before discovering surfacing agents…

squeegee on a fine coat , let it gel , so it was still tacky then brush on the next coat …

i can understand heating resin if you have 8 hours up your sleeve , 

but it soon stiffens up quickly as soon as it hits a cold board if your using a more standard gel time …

i would heat the board , as soon as the resin hits the warm board it becomes highly viscous and workable without the resin left in the container overheating , plus it keeps the heat while your working the resin… an added bonus , if you have any unseen potential leaking  pinholes , as the board cools down it will draw resin into the pinholes and seal them, if you do have pinholes , then it will require some babysitting to top them back up as the resin gels …

 

regards

BERT

12

johnmellor, no problem, with all the things I have learned here its the least i can do. 

oneula, started doing some reading on penmaking looks pretty interesting and some of the glosses some guys are getting look unreal, I am definetly looking at that Micro-Mesh sanding pads for my next board too see if all the extra grits make a difference, maybe use it with a harder epoxy might make it look nicer.

wrcsixeight, how much did you wait to start polishing the board that turned white? I usually do a little scratch test before polishing I use a dry paper and sand a little area to see if it makes fine dust or comes out a little gummy, if it comes out gummy just leave it a couple more days (if you are a backyard guy like me just be patient and wait a couple more days) ive learned the hard way rattlecan clearcoat while raining… big cloudy mess maybe epoxy reacts simiarly.

Bert_Burger, I have heard wonders on using surfacing agents, the only additive I have used is Denatured Alcohol to about 5%, made the resin flow real nice and bubbles dont show as much but stopped using it as it drastically increased the drying time. I let the squeegued resin gel once but when I went on to do the gloss I had a couple of bugs stuck in the resin, so I try to throw the gloss as soon as possible. On heating the board ive been wanting to make a hot/postcure box for a long time but have a bit of space limitations.

13

Chumboman: Beautiful work, thanks for the hints!  As a PE glosser myself, I just about gave up on epoxy gloss finishes.  I just settled for acrylic finishes. You gave me new hope!

Mahalo!

D

14

Do you lay tape along the rails when doing each gloss coat side like you would with a normal hot coat?