Hi Bernie. Otis and me in the same sentence is an embarrassment to me. I am a hack at glassing but epoxy is very forgiving. Though having glassed lots of boards, I really appreciate those who do it for a living and understand their skill set at their craft. In Jan 2006 I had 2 pro glasses come to my back yard shop to check out epoxy after the clark foam closure fiasco. I showed them with an actual glass job on a long board and they both had never used epoxy resin ever. I begged them to glass the board themselves to try epoxy resin out(resin research in those days). They both wanted me to glass and they would observe. They lovingly explained to me how I was doing it all wrong. Very humbling moment and I was never able to apply their advice to how I glassed. Still a hack at glassing, but being a board builder, doing start to finish as you well know, is a different animal. Cutting a blank, gluing a stringer, shaping a board, vac bagging a skin on the foam, cutting boxes, final glassing and riding your creation is a whole different animal. I am not Jack Reeves ,but I am a jack of all aspects of board building just like you and your brother. Not many can claim this in our surfboard world in Hawaii.
Bottom of yesterdays board. Last coat to bottom. Last verse, same as the first. No smell, no noise, all cool. Took 5 minutes or less to apply. The same exact resin and mixture I used in the lamination and filler coat process. IDIOT PROOF. Warmest aloha Bernie!!!
Yup! Put it on. Lay it off and walk away from it until you can pull the tape. If you start over scrutinizing something you see in the Gloss and decide to try to fix it with the brushe you will just screw it up. You got to give the resin time to drain , level and let the wax rise. It won’t do that properly if you are going back every few seconds and trying to brush out a brush mark or speck of dust. I agree with Gene’s method of sanding; if you are like me and don’t do Gloss n Polish very often or are a novice; run over the board with an Orcital at the end of each grit. Helps get rid of scratches and swirl marks. You will at some point and time do a nice Gloss and Polishe only to find a bunch of ugly swirl marks underneath. Also a good reason to use an Orbital on the last pass when sanding your hotcoats. Meguiars makes a product called Perfect-it that can be used before Polish to get rid of stubborn swirls. The White rubbing compound works also. NO Red Compound ever. If a board can be sanded properl with a disk sander and by hand on the rails; you should be able to go straight to #2 polish. Slow RPMs not fast. Took me awhile to learn that. Got to watch a Pro Polish a few times at Gotts before I figured that one out. Lowel
Charlie— you may be in a cramped little backyard space, but You are “No backyard hack” brother. The stuff that comes out of your backyard is of the very highest qualitity. You are the greatest example of “learn by doing” on this site. What’s more; you are unbelievably generous in sharing your knowledge and resources. Mahalos for your contributions. Hope to be on Oahu in 2018 to see cousins. Sure would like tomeet you and talk a little story? Lowel
Hey Lowel,
I will pm you my number. Hoping we can catch a surf together behind the house.
aloha,
Charlie
Looking forward to it. L.