I’ve posted this a hunderd times at least , so has Bert and some others. It’s been coming up a lot lately and I know the archives can be a big pain so I want to do a fresh posting.
For glossing I first sand to 100 grit. This gives me a nice surface to gloss. I don’t wipe with anything accept a dry rag and then dust it finished with my hands until I can feel it’s clean. I use my bare hands for this but I’m careful not to leave any fingerprints which can cause a seperation. This might sound weird but once you get some dust on your hands you no longer run the risk of getting any human oil on the board. Btw, wash your hands before doing this , preferably with GoJo.
Now tape off around the perimeter of the board and curl the tape with your fingers to allow the resin to drip off without dripping to the other side… I like 3/4 inch 3M tape … the regular masking tape, tan colored stuff. When I gloss I double the amount of Additve F (2ml per ounce of hardener or 2% of mixed total for the metric guys) which gives me better flow and a cleaner surface to polish. I use a new 3 inch chip brush every time I gloss. A used, cleaned brush is an almost sure fk up. Before I gloss I wrap tape around my hand, sticky side out and force the brush bristles into the tape. This pulls out loose hairs so you don’t have to pick them out of the gloss.
Mix the resin/hardener/add F and pour half the resin down the middle of the board. I like glossing with 2040 resin, it flows better and is easier to polish. “Snowplow” the resin running lengthwise from end to end to the edge trying not to run the resin off the edge and onto the floor. Using the right amount, which is 1 ounce (30ml) per foot of board, will give you the right mil thickness for a gloss. Plowing a bunch on the floor will force you to work harder when it comes time to polish. Make sure at this point that the resin goes all the way to the tape line. Now pour the second half and plow the second side of your gloss. I like to do a quick cross stroke with the brush and then lightly go from end to end again. If you do have any seperations happening because of fingerprints, rub them with your finger and then brush back over the area. This will dilute the oil the board picked up from your hand into the resin and the resin should then lay out. After that LEAVE IT ALONE and let it flow.
After shooting the second side, let the board cure at least overnight and then polish. You begin with 400 grit and then 600, 1000 and finally 1500. Then use polishing compound to buff out the scratches and some Maquires paste wax for the final buff.
The tape GL’s talking about is 3M 233, standard of marine and automotive industry.
Greg, if you sand to 1500 are you still using Sur-Lustre for the first compound? Or something finer? Do you recommend Liquid Ebony as final compound like on poly or just the wax?
Mike’s got it on the tape … good one. I always have liked sur-lusture best. The 3M stuff is decent too. And liquid ebony was always my favorite too but I thought they quit making that. Is it still out there?
I could well be dating myself on the Liquid Ebony. Maybe the point to make is that there are different grades of compound, much like sandpaper. The finest compound is used last and takes out wheel marks from the Sur-Lustre work. Only needed for the really perfect shine (same for the wax). I really don’t see the point cuz you’re just going to put surfwax on one side and drag the other through the sand, but it IS pretty for about ten minutes after you finish. And of course to each his own…
The tan 3M tape I get around here isn’t 233… the green is, and I was told recently that the green is now purple, and you can’t get it at HD or Lowes either. You have to go to an automotive shop.
The tan tape I get has a very strong adhesive on it, and tears easily when you try to pull it off. The green was stronger, and the adhesive not so… sticky.
3M has been messing with their product and distribution a lot, apparently. The good tape isn’t sold through Home Depot or Lowe’s. If you don’t go through a surf industry supplier go to a supplier for auto body shops or marine manufacturing/repair and you can get the real thing. There’s no comparison to other tapes.
I’m always learning…I learned the bare hands trick on Swaylock’s a few years back from PlusOneShaper. People freak out over touching boards so I just don’t talk about it.
Learned this tip last month while working on a good paying non-surf related side job…
3M 233 tape…the Green is metric…theTan is in inches…(it made a difference on that project)
Yea Josh, I’ve done a tooled hot coat and it comes out just about as nice and you get to skip a couple steps. I just lean on the laminate sand a bit more, make sure I get that pretty flat and then do a thick hot coat. Slow buffer … I forgot that one. I use a 2500 - 3500. The 5000 creates too much heat.
The term tooling, in composites, means generally using tools to create a desired finish. So polishing a gloss is tooling the gloss to get the desired finish. Tooling a hot coat would be polishing a hot coat. When I worked at Morgan Yacht I worked in the tooling department which is where molds are made. All molds have tooled finishes which have to be PERFECT!!! Anyone who looks at a molded part, like a boat hull, will notice how absolutely flawless a reflection is in the part. I sat in the hull of the Disney Jungle Cruise plug for months wetsanding every friggin inch until the thing was flawless. Tooling a hot coat , no biggie.
Thanks for write up! Sounds like I follow the same process, but that’s probably because I watched your video back in the day. I’ve been using RR for a while and now use the CE. When I add the 2cc per oz of hardener I almost always get some cloudiness in my gloss or hotcoat. If I leave it out get next to nothing. I really prefer using the F, but can only use it sparingly unless the board is white. Any tips on using the F and preventing the cloudiness? I’ve read that you add bubbles from stiring, but honestly I stir the same with and without F and only get the cloudiness with the F. I will add my resin, add my hardener, no cloudiness. Dump in the F and I immediately see the cloudiness. Stir and it’s bright white foamy looking bubbles. If I don’t use the F when I stir I can see a few bubbles, but they are clear bubbles, not white, and dissappate on the board. I love using the product, but really like to play more with color. Any tips are greatly appreciated. Thanks!
An ounce is 30 ml so one ml per ounce of hardener is 1/90th. That’s close to 1% and when we first marketed Add F to surfboard builders it was something very similar to what they were used to so … 2ml would be just over 2% which is what we use for glossing. BTW, if your buying in the tin cans we generally sell it in, those caps are 10 ml. Add F doesn’t require a great deal of accuracy … at all. I just eye it using the cap.
Reducing the Additive F can be done by heating the resin for your glosses. You can reduce then to 1% or even less and get better results over dark colors. Add F is simply the easiest way to get great results and since 90% of all boards are clear it works fine. Home builders tend to do more with color than the factories. Color is fun but not when you have to do 20+ sides a day.
the key to this post is that all the stuff in building boards are simple (if you know the trade)
I dunno why rookies, etc complicate the things enormously
sometimes, reading several threads, I feel somewhat “lost” or something
and questioning myself if Im doing wrong; however the final product is right
then I see that some fantastic board is not so incredible (in finish, etc)
now I understand that lot of people need to complicate things because feel that they re onto something special or kind of rocket science or have too many time on their hands
happened for me with all the mumbo jumbo with how to do a vac bag glassing, how to glass a wood lam.
so I desisted to have more complications in my life…I need more time for surfing, music, life not for even more complications
–in the industry there s one way to do the building process, the right way
and do not involve any of the numerous tips found here
only needs to know how to work properly and have all the tools
and Im worked in not so properly good shop environment and I had to put the right finish until hit the streets
Yeah, yeah I know I’m making things over complicated. I’m no mathematical genius. I’m probably being pedantic and it doesn’t really matter,ect. But 1ml per 100ml is 1%. 2ml per 100ml is 2%. Isn’t that right? If there are 30 ml per ounce then 2ml per 30 ml is just under 7%.
I usually use medical syriges to measure. Putting in 2ml per 100ml is quite different than putting in 7ml per 100ml. Might as well just put in a whole heap of the stuff if it all comes out the same.