My understanding (correct me if wrong) is correct procedure is:
LAM
Hotcoat
Sand to nice finish
Gloss
However I always find myself doing more than one hot coat (sanding much of it off to get a PERFECT finish before gloss coating)
I am trying to keep weight down on the current board and would like to avoid this. I have sanded the hot coat and its pretty damn good, with just a few patches where cloth is visible around the tail. I don’t want to brush over those spots with resin because I always find it turns into a vicious circle when feathering in, and I ended up (last time) hot coating the whole board again anyway after 2 days of sanding and screaming!!!
SO… my question is, do people do gloss coats over a sanded hot coat when a few cloth patches are visible? Or is it a MUST to make sure NO cloth is visible anywhere before glossing?
thanks y’all
Not really sure of your question. I am assuming you are using PE resin. Glossing over exposed weave shouldn’t pose a problem. If in doubt that you might see the weave, just apply some Styrene prior to glossing. If the wave is no longer visible after applying Styrene, you should be fine. If I am applying a gloss coat, 60 or 80 grit should be fine also. In areas where you are applying pin lines, 120 grit should be good to avoid bleed through. 60 or 80 will allow for a better mechanical bond with the gloss resin.
My two cents,
Uncle D
Thanks. My question is not to do with grits or bond, just about whether its ok to gloss over a sanded board with weave showing, or whether no weave should be showing before glossing. Not because of bonding but because Gloss coat is so thin, wondering if its enough thickness over patches where cloth was showing before glossing
It shouldn’t pose a problem if just the weave is showing. You can also apply a thin layer of UV Lam resin over the weave, flash it in the sun and then gloss. I gloss a bunch of boards with the weave showing and got excellent results. For really deep gloss coats, sometimes I do a “double gloss coat”. After sanding the hot coat, I would apply a thin coat of UV LAM and styrene, flash it in the sun, and gloss coat with PE gloss resin. I must do this for wall hanger boards or traditional long boards. This really makes a deep, rich finish.
Thats interesting thanks. Sorry, yes I am using PE resin.
I think I have overdone the resin in the past. All my previous boards were fairly heavy. I don’t like super lightweight boards anyway so I wasn’t too bothered, but the current project does need to be as light as possible as its for my younger son and its got to compete with one of his shop bought boards so I want to try and make a light board. All my previous boards went something like this (when I was gloss coating)…
Lam, hot coat, sand, oh shit, hot coat again, sand, oh shit, hot coat again, hmm, ok, gloss coat. sand polish
Hence - heavy boards
this time I sanded my hot coat more carefully and only a few small areas where a bit of cloth is showing, obviously it can’t go in water like that, but in the past I thought that needed hot coating over BEFORE glossing, as I saw the gloss coat as an EXTRA layer put on a finished (water ready) board to add the shine. i now realise (hence this thread, asking if i am right) that the gloss coat is strong enough to BE that final layer provided the sanded hot coat underneath is 90% sound. Hoping that’s right, as that’s what I am doing with this board!
I don’t have styrene (only wax in styrene). I have tried doing patchwork brushes of resin before (over burn throughs) but I always ended up making more burn throughs when feathering it into the undercoat! Obviously my skills are lacking!
thanks again
Most shop shortboards are just sanded then sprayed with some acrylic “varnish”. Very often, sanding will have been performed by a guy who cares only about how many boards he can sand in one day since he gets paid per board. You can’t expect that these guys will pay much attention to critical areas like nose, tail and rails. You’d better not see those boards before they spray them, it would make you relativize your own small sand-throughs… No wonder performance shortboards are light, but then they are not supposed to last, either. Making a light board is easy, anybody can do it by using ultra-light foam, 1 x 4oz layer top and bottom, sanding down to the cloth and using a spray instead of a real finish coat. That’s fine as long as you can afford ten boards a year or more… We have come to the point where three fins with their boxes installed weigh more than a glassed blank…
yes very good point, it’s actually the single reason I started making boards. With 5 kids all into surfing, I got sick of the constant “i need a new board” due to fashion partly, but more due to the lack of durability of the boards. Of course, like a refrigerator or toaster, the shitter it is, the more people will have to buy when they constantly go wrong. Surfing industry isn’t the leader of this new wave but it can’t help but take part as to compete with the big companies you have to give room somewhere. Its sad, but I got sick of it and thats why I am anal about the boards, if I am making them for my fussy kids, they need to not just be as good as, but BETTER than the boards they can buy in the shops, and I am getting there now which is hugely rewarding. F*ck the ultra lightweight, “use for one season then come see us again!” crap!!
yes it’s instead of gloss if you don’t want to add a new coat and weight. the good way is to sand 80grit and gloss coat end sand fine. it don’t had so much weight and is the best way for quality. at a time all boards were made like this.
Sorry Gene, mind if I ask what your normal sand/polish routine is for gloss coat? Do you start with finer than 400? I have heard some people start at 240, some don’t sand at all and go straight to polish and compounding. Would love to know what you do
Do you guys wet sand by hand or with DA/power sander?
Oh and also wondering how you deal with the tape bump after glossing both sides, i have tried sand paper, file, razor (both cutting and dragging edge against the bump) and always seem to end up sanding too far and putting more resin on! How do you deal with that pesky bump?!
Techniques vary. Mine is:
Do the bead
Then:
320 disk dry
320 half sheet jitterbug dry
400 disk dry
400 jitterbug dry
Dial in rails with 600 wet by hand
Compound
Thanks Gene. how do you do the bead? thats the main area I am struggling to do without causing more resin to be needed. I know you can’t take hours on it, and i can’t seem to find a fast or efficient way to deal with the bead without it ruining the whole gloss coat
Use a 'Vixen'' file, and carefully work from the ''high side'' of the gloss overlap, to the ''low side'' of the gloss layers. When they are even, STOP, and go to wet/dry sanding. Then polish. Did I remember to mention being careful?
