fiberglass, bamboo .... cork ?

General Discussion
1

Hello there !

I am quite new in this land of dreams … learning things along the way !

I am currently an expat living in Taiwan … brought up to this wonderful world of surfing … I was stocked on my very first ride ! So I kept on !

Some surf around here, not great but ok … quiet in the summer, stormy in typhoons season !

I have currently a 7’2" funboard which got me going … now ready for more ! I have been trying other boards, longs, shorts, etc … was looking into buying a new board, but the Taiwan made ones are not too good. And shipping here is quite prohibitive !

So, as a hobby, I started looking for foam (cheap) to practice some shaping skills. Now, I am at the point where I finished shaping an 8-footer and veneer, and was looking to get fiberglass.

Little did I know that it was going to be very difficult. I found something that looks like 16oz ! mostly used for car repairs around here. And that’s about it in the woven department ! So, looked up on the interent for suppliers, not bad but again, the shipping is killing me !

So, since I like to experiment, I am looking into alternatives to fiberglass. Saw this company in Australia using paper thin bamboo sheets … looked interesting ! Althought we have lots of bamboo in Taiwan, there’s no technology to bring it down to a very thin sheet.

Then, going around the hardware and materials stores here, I stumbled on a sheet of 2mm cork.

Seeking infos from you, experienced ones, about the possibility of using 2mm cork sheet instead of fiberglass. I will be using epoxy.

In the mean time, I am working on a second one, 6’4" and no veneer. Got bored just trying to shop for stuff !

Thank you very much if you can spare some infos and have a nice day !

2

Hey man, I wouldn’t go for the cork. It has no tear strength, and even tough it will get a little more stiff with resin, it still will not have much strength. when the board flexees, it will pull apart. I just saw the limitations of cork there 2 weeks ago. I pearl in some shallow water, and where the nose of my board smoked the bottom, it cracked all along the cork.(I have one of those hollow wood boards with cork rails.) Ducttaped it all up for the rest of the trip, and chopped the nose off when I got home. I just finished cutting a solid noseblock out of pauduk and walnut, and will glass that on soon… but that’s besides the point. I wouldn’t go for the cork. you need something that won’t crumble apart from hard usage. You don’t need fiberglass cloth. other cloths work to, cotton, burlap, rayon I think and some others. not quite as strong, but it’ll do…

3

Cork no good for glass.

I’m a monkey’s uncle if there is no glass in Taiwan, being a mega manufacturing center like it is. I’d keep looking.

4

yeah ! I know ! Taiwan is production hell !

Unfortunately, most of the stuff produced is not for local businesses … everything is shipped out before it hits the shelves here …

If I want it, I have to ask the distributor abroad to ship it back ! Tried the manufactures … they don’t want to hear about anything …

Oh well, I will keep looking …

I didn’t think about regular fibers … I could find something like that … now that’s something there is plenty around here !

Thank you both !

5

Do a search of the archives under ‘Burlap’ ‘cotton’ ‘rayon’ etc… I think there was a rather substantial argument started on this months back. Search also for organic boardmaking. i think it was under something strange like that.