I polish my boards because the industry demands it, they shine in the show room. A lot of my customs for friends go out unpolished except for the rails. I use reichold resin and dont have too many zits. In the long run they seem to be more durable. Jim Phillips and I have been bitching about this for years! What do you guys think? R Brucker
Roger: For myself and friends I’ll polish the rails and bottom but just leave the deck a sanded gloss. I’m all for the gloss coat to fill the pinholes, sand throughs and other possible leaks from the glassing process. The extra work and weight are worth a longer lasting board in my book. My son and his friends on the other hand wouldn’t agree with me. …something to be said for a really finely polished and glossed longboard standing up in a showroom rack though! TS>>> I polish my boards because the industry demands it, they shine in the > show room. A lot of my customs for friends go out unpolished except for > the rails. I use reichold resin and dont have too many zits. In the long > run they seem to be more durable. Jim Phillips and I have been bitching > about this for years! What do you guys think? R Brucker
if you can gloss, go for it. a fine gloss coat shows true craftsmanship. the younger crowd might not appreciate it, but someday they will. good luck
I’ve had both and I guess partly because I’m an old guy and it’s what I grew up with, but I greatly prefer the gloss. Nothing like picking up that shiny new stick the first time, ranks right up there with the new car smell.
I polish my boards because the industry demands it, they shine in the > show room. A lot of my customs for friends go out unpolished except for > the rails. I use reichold resin and dont have too many zits. In the long > run they seem to be more durable. Jim Phillips and I have been bitching > about this for years! What do you guys think? R Brucker I usually just do the rails on my personal boards also. It’s sort of weird though because when people look at my work out at the beach I always feel like I have to tell them that “zits” (of which there are not a lot and most people probably don’t even notice them until I say something) are because the board wasn’t rubbed out and polished. They still surf great and are bright and shiny it is just that show room glossed boards need that extra hour or so of attention to look their best so that when the potential customer is fondling the board on the rack they don’t get turned off by the odd little surface blem here and there. But with personal stuff and “bro deals” I usually do the minimum when it comes to that, partly because those are usually the last boards to get done and I just want to surf it instead of working on it. Matthew
I polish my boards because the industry demands it, they shine in the > show room. A lot of my customs for friends go out unpolished except for > the rails. I use reichold resin and dont have too many zits. In the long > run they seem to be more durable. Jim Phillips and I have been bitching > about this for years! What do you guys think? R Brucker What would Greg Liddle say ???
I’ll vote for a sanded gloss.
I think I know what Greg would say but I notice that polished bottom/rails seem to stay cleaner. Wax and goo from rubber rack straps, etc. seem to stick to sanded finishes more and don’t just wipe clean like a polished finish does.
Someone stated that glossed boards seem to last longer. Is this because the board is sealed more efficiently? I know it is not because the gloss adds any strength to the board. For the most part isn’t it just a cosmetic thing? I know on a longboard it’s nice to have the extra weight (in my opinion) but you could get your desired weight with cloth and get the added strength too. For those who do gloss on a production level, it seems like the additional money charged for gloss, pales in comparison to the hassle of a gloss coat. I vote a big no to gloss. I’m going for mop n glo.
I personnally like the gloss look. I have found that more oil from finger prints and dirty hands along with other gunk dirtys up a sanded finish board much quicker and it is harder to clean than a polished one. Just my opinion Andy
I polish my boards because the industry demands it, they shine in the > show room. A lot of my customs for friends go out unpolished except for > the rails. I use reichold resin and dont have too many zits. In the long > run they seem to be more durable. Jim Phillips and I have been bitching > about this for years! What do you guys think? R Brucker Thanks for your input!!! I guess I didn’t make my question clear enough.( I flunked english but got A’s in woodshop). The question is not about glossing, (I (GLOSS) all of my boards), but more about machine polishing i.e. sanding through the grades and buffing with rubbing compound. It seems as if unpolished boards seem more scratch resistant. Jim Phillips where are you? I know you have an opinion on this. By the way , the editing of the shaping video is going well, 3 to 4 more weeks hopefully. Thanks R Brucker. PS. Big thanks to Tom Sterne for the Parmenter pages.
Thanks for your input!!!>>> I guess I didn’t make my question clear enough.( I flunked english but got > A’s in woodshop). The question is not about glossing, (I (GLOSS) all of my > boards), but more about machine polishing i.e. sanding through the grades > and buffing with rubbing compound. It seems as if unpolished boards seem > more scratch resistant. My personals? glossed only, with the bead taken off the rails. I, with little effort managed to convert my dealers to accept a polished bottom and rails with just wet sanded deck (takes wax easier) Jim>>> Jim Phillips where are you? I know you have an opinion on this. By the way > , the editing of the shaping video is going well, 3 to 4 more weeks > hopefully. Thanks R Brucker. PS. Big thanks to Tom Sterne for the > Parmenter pages.
What would Greg Liddle say ??? For durability don’t machine polish the board. If you look closely at a highly polished surfboard you can see the weave of the fabric. Enough finish resin has been removed to allow the weave to show or the board has been heated in the polishing process to shrink the resin…not sure which. Anybody know for sure? A light wetsanding of the finished board is the best combo in my opinion for strength and performance. Use #320 wet/dry sandpaper with water and sand parallet to the stringer. http://liddlesurfboards.com/
I think I know what Greg would say but I notice that polished bottom/rails > seem to stay cleaner. Wax and goo from rubber rack straps, etc. seem to > stick to sanded finishes more and don’t just wipe clean like a polished > finish does. This is true. The wetsanded bottom must be cleaned up periodically to refresh the board. Over a period of time the finish coat will become thinner but to me worth the feel of the wetsanded finish. http://liddlesurfboards.com/
For durability don’t machine polish the board. If you look closely at a > highly polished surfboard you can see the weave of the fabric. Enough > finish resin has been removed to allow the weave to show or the board has > been heated in the polishing process to shrink the resin…not sure > which. Anybody know for sure?>>> A light wetsanding of the finished board is the best combo in my opinion > for strength and performance. Use #320 wet/dry sandpaper with water and > sand parallet to the stringer. Greg, In all my boards that involved a hard resin or epoxy finish on the bottom, rails and fin(s), that #320 wet/dry, parallel to the centerline was the exact combo for performance and FEEL. When wet, it wasn`t as much slippery, as it was sort of “directionally slimey”… that water would just sheet out cleanly. Dale
I have to agree with Greg on this one.If a board is overly heated up with a polisher it will make it weaker and soft.Herb.