If I use 30cc’s of wax additive in my 1.5 pint hot coat, how much wax do I use to make it gloss resin? Do I have to do anything to the sanded hot coat to allow the gloss resin to bond to it? Should i not sand hot coat higher than 320 to leave some scratches for gloss to grab? Is just polishing the hot coat to 600 and tossing it in the water a bad thing for the longevity of the board? Does it not seal the board well enough? Should the hot coat be sanded down til the weave is slightly exposed?\ Any answers will help greatly. Thanks,TS.
gloss is not made by adding more wax to sanding resin, it has more styrene maybe other stuff too I’m not sure, I use premixed gloss. easier that way. I only sand hotcoat to 120 before glossing. if the board sits for a couple of days before glossing you may want to do a light sand before, but definitely blow the board off and wipe down with a rag soaked in acetone. sanding the hotcoat to 600 is fine and will be sealed provided there is no pinholes or sand throughs. gloss is just an extra seal that’s extra pretty. no weave should be exposed. archive the “bad sand” thread, really good info in that one.
Ohhhh!Thanks JR! TS
Wait a minute. You DO need wax in a gloss! I would use the same amount of wax as the hot coat and just a bit of styrene to thin the mix. The premixed stuff has some other promoters and flow agents to improve the kick and the flow but they also contain a fair amount of wax. No wax and you’ll have a big mess. Actually hot coat resin works fine for most glossing. The key is smooth brush work and a good polisher.
how much styrene do you usually ad to make a gloss coat out of a hot coat? thanks Z.
Greg: what polisher do you recommend? Where does Herb’s “Painter’s Choice” clear gloss coat come into play?
…I use acrylic sprays when I’m to lazy to gloss a personal board(s).Done correctly, you can’t tell the difference by eye.(kind of messy when you do a ding job with it on,unless you’ve been down the road I’ve been down) …hotcoat resin for glossing say 12oz.s of sanding resin + 10-20ml. of styrene,and a touch more surfacing agent say 5-7mls.This thins the s.resin out nicely,and allows for a flatter/even flow.The extra S.A. is to cover the thinning.Herb
Thanks Herb. It’s been a long time since I glossed and even longer since I glossed without gloss resin. I was thinking back to the fuel embargo days during the Carter administation when no one had resin of any kind and we were putting anything on a board that would stick. Being a glosser then was like being a chemist.
sorry, I meant you add no EXTRA wax to gloss than hot coat.
…Yes Greg,Back then we tried everything to get around short falls.I believe that’s when the sand finish only boards really started to evolve. …Your epoxy sounds great,I’ve talked to a few pro builders out here that have or use your product and they claim it’s the best on the market.Can’t wait to try it.I could actually glass a board w/o folks complaining of odors/fumes.Herb
Speaking of glossing, a couple weeks ago I did an epoxy gloss on a 4 oz lamination. Came out great. I doubled the Additive F to get the flow. Easy way to skip the hot coat and sand. I’m trying it next by adding more glass to the bottom of the board and eliminating the bottom lap. I’ll be able to fair the top lam into the rail curve and then get a really flawless finish… I hope.
…You know that actually works,I’ve never done that on a surfboard,but I have done that on a few racing skateboards,some with flawless results(no additive F ,so you can see why I don’t do it regularly).Herb
I’ve only done a few so things aren’t worked out completely but we are making progress that way. The faster hardener helped a lot on our recent attempts. The old fast would take so long to kick it would wrinkle a bit. I’m doing two more next week.