Ive got this old board in my garage that i’m probably going to have to toss. I was thinking about stripping the glass and re-shaping the blank. I didn’t skin very much off of the blank when I shaped it the first time around, so I think if I could get the glass off, there would be enough foam left to practice with my planer.
Im wondering if there’s a good way of getting the glass off… not sure what it will do to my planer blades… Also thought of putting 50 grit paper on my sander and going to town on it… Wondering if you guys had any ideas…
Thanks
-John
Talk about an itchy situation, I would never sand the glass completely off a board…itchy laborious mess. I have done it on one board I found snapped, I simply worked a putty knife in and peeled it slowly in strips, it worked but I would never go through that again. I made small slits with a dremel cutting wheel about 4 or 5" apart and peeled lengthwise…peace and waves…
*I should have added after 4or 5" apart…only an inch long…then strip…not cutting the entire length of the board…
I think the knife would probably be the way to go… It would just take a lot of patience…
Thanks,
-John
John, You can peel a board without too many problems. I’ve done it on three boards so far. I used a 4" grinder with a diamond cutting blade (no teeth, just tiny diamond pieces imbedded in the metal). I cut through the glass and fabric, trying not to cut the foam, at the point where the flat of the bottom starts to turn into the rail. After it’s cut, peel off the glass. Watch the stringers, they tend to splinter sometimes. Slice and separate with a sharp chisel as you go.
The rails are another thing altogether. You’ll probably have to sand them out with a grinder or a random orbit sander until you’re just about to sand through, then peel.
The glass usually grabs and pulls about 1/16 inch of foam up. That’s a hair less than 2mm for you guys who use the Logical Measuring System.
Once all the glass is off you’ll have a rough looking, but usable surfboard blank. When you sand it down, it will look like a new blank if it’s not water-damaged. Doug
Whoa, there, big boy, there is a simple way, and I just stripped an old windsurfer hull a month back.
Get out the circular saw and set the blade to near-zero depth. Run it all the way around the rail line (wear your respirator). Then peel the glass off with your fingers.
CAUTIONS: as the glass peels it’ll produce a lot of fine/tiny shards of resin. If your forearms are bare, and these little needles get into your skin, you’ll want to skin yourself, it’ll itch so bad. Actually, when I skinned that windsurfer hull, I stood on the opposite side, and kept my arms behind and above the glass I was tearing off. No itch for me. Try to take off the whole top in a single piece.
If done fairly cleanly, you’ll have a blank that needs not more than 1/8 inch further reduction to get to clean foam, except where there were dings.
This sometimes works on old 60 boards. Cut around the rail line like Mr. Honolulu says, or take a dremel tool to do the same thing. Now run duct tape over that cut line sealing it up air tight. Now drill a 1/2 inch pilot hole onto the deck through the glass, but not into the foam. epoxy or resin glass a 1/2 in piece of threaded pipe over the hole. Attach your air compressor to the pipe and blast the air inbetween the glass and foam…BOING the whole deck pops off, flip it over…BOING the bottom pops off.
-Jay