So I’m just finishing up board three and I thought I was starting to get it and although this one is the best job I’ve made of it, I made a whole bunch of new mistakes. Bearing in mind I’ve never been shown 1:1 how to glass, so I guess this is making things harder. I’ve attached a shot of my current project.
Practice makes perfect, but how many boards did it take you guys until you nailed a good one?
Everybody is different, but if you use UV cure resin you’ll be able to work through those hick ups and fix the problems before you cure the lamination. One tip that might help to avoid those creases in your lap is to start wrapping your lap from the center of the board and work towards the nose or tail. Also, there’s about a thousand ways to cut your nose and tail to allow for a better wrap in those tighter compound curve areas so try out different ways. Either way, bust out the grinder and lam the deck!
I was just wondering a similar thing, but fiberglasshi is right, a good grinder and some wet sanding will make it look better at least it made mine. I have done a couple and still not feeling that confident. Which is some of my own in-experience with the glassing, and because northeast weather conditions are keeping me on my toes.
confident? about 5
that said, my glass jobs are far from where I want them to be.
getting better with every one
thanks all. I’ve just hotcoated the bottom which I’ve found with the others I’ve glassed, helps to even out/hide some of the kinks.
All the boards I’ve done so far I’ve cut lap the lams. This one I went a little off piste. I cut lap the bottom glass on the deck as I figured it’s the bit you look at most when you surf (see attached) and thought I’d have a go at freelapping the deck glass (which is why the nose in my pic above looks rough) I don’t think I cut the lap short enough, as there was a bit too much cloth up there to get a smooth finish with the squeegee.
Biggest thing to learn is to lay down the right amount of resin, not being too stingy, then cascading it evenly off the rails. Makes life so much easier once you figure this out. Probably took me 10 boards to figure this aspect out. When I was starting out I didn’t have the benefit of the great video resources available from guys like Fiberglass Hawaii. Watch their glassing videos closely…very closely. Pay extra close attention to the spreading of the resin and the squeegee work. Laminating a board is so much faster and easier when you figure this out. I think back to the first few boards I did back in the late 80s and early 90s and I remember just fighting and fighting to get the laps wet out before everything kicked. Between the UV Cure resin and the videos available the learning curve is much much quicker.
How many boards before I felt confident? 300? 500? I really don’t know. I started making my own boards at a time when people wouldn’t very easily share their building “secrets” and I had to learn pretty much everything by myself. Would you believe that it took me at least two years before I knew that something called wax in styrene (or “surfacing agent”) even existed? We are talking 1970 in France, here. The day I had a chance to actually watch someone glass a board, everything suddenly looked so simple… And I improved hugely from then on. Still learning new tricks, anyway… My advice would be to try and have someone show you once how it’s done. It should not be very difficult, nowadays.
I watch these fibreglass Hawaii videos a lot. That guy Otis really knows his craft!
thanks everyone for your replies kinda good to hear your experiences and the tips you’ve been sharing. I guess the best thing is to keep on trying.
I saw a vid recently of an ozzy glasses and he just dumped the resin on pretty much all in one go with little squeegee work. He then let it sit for 20 seconds or so, said it helped to make sure the glass was fully saturated and that some of the pores in the foam were filled. He then hand lapped the rails, before pulling the lam tight and removing the excess resin with the squeegee, interesting and unorthodox technique?! Think I might stick to what I’ve been doing before I try that!
Hey Dave send us an email if you ever have questions again. I can send a steps list again if your keen.
For Poly; the Otis video and the Harbour videos. JC’s video for a shortboard freelap. For Epoxy; Everybody should watch the Greg Loehr video. He does two blanks one Opaque and one clear. Study these videos and you will eventually get it. But once you’ve seen someone do it in person it all clicks. A right-angle die grinder is as an important tool for glassing as razor blades and a good squeege.
Hey zac!
good to see you on here too buddy 
a print out of that email you did for me originally is an essential part of my laminating kit!
Cheers for the pointers mcding! I’ll check those out for sure.
Oh cool dave glad it helped.
Do you wanna email it back to me ill see if theres some things ive left out. I think i only sent one for clear laminations ??
Confident? Still not there yet.
But I can tell you exactly how many boards it took before I got overconfident - 6.
Ended up with a big sticky mess, had to strip the glass off the board before the whole bloody f#ck up kicked. Added an extra 500g and two hours to the lam job and probably took at least two years off my life.
Needless to say, I’m back on the ‘slow and steady with UV’ wagon now.
Confidence can come at any time
while you gain competence.
The moment your confidence
creeps ahead of competence
the cosmic hand is winding up
for a love tap to the back of your head.
Go over your check list before you catalizeresin,
lay out all tools to the ready
check the board and racks one last time
above all be calm and avoid the distraction
of chatty visitors after catalyst … teach all that
hot batch means 'maybe in twenty minutes
don’t distract my attention from the job.’
The greatest tank-full of confidence
can be drained dry by one bad batch/application.
Don’t worry everything can be fixed.
Even the best occasionally screw the job up.
ST. Murphy is the
patron saint of all goof - ups
murphy’s law is the base line
…ambrose…
I will be confident
after I’m done
flexing my competence.
Took a couple of boards, but the funny thing, before UV catalyzed resin, if I wasn’t glassing many boards, that first one in the batch could be scary. Trying to remember proper catalyst amount and getting the resin out there quick enough and laps tucked before it kicks, that sort of thing. Much easier now with epoxy and / or UV resin. Follow the lead of that guy in the vid Mako posted up, so really good basics in it to follow.
So true about confidence and competence. One can be truly over confident about something and make a total hash of things!
It’s kind of like fighting, you’ve got to lose a few to really learn. You get beat up enough and you become a better fighter.
A craftsman is one that can still turn out pro quality even with hiccups along the way. He learns to cope with and fix mistakes. It’s not as if you ever stop making them.
Everybody’s had to grab one end of the cloth at one time or another and pull it of the blank. Or– Grind and cut out nasty bubbles and sloppy laps. Even the best of 'em. Once is usually enough to make damned sure you get it right next time.
