I was wondering if anyone has any experience using greenlight’s bamboo glassing fabric posted recently on the shop listings? It looks really interesting and the prices are not bad either. Any feedback on the strength, weight, and flex/stiffness would be much appreciated. Also their site lists a laminating roller, but didn’t mention if it was optional compared to using a squeegee.
thanks! -tony
havent tried it
but very interested
It looks pretty tempting so far from their site, plus the cost isn’t bad at all. My main concern is how stiff the bamboo lam would be.
my brother and I will be glassiing an 8’ mal with some of this stuff this weekend.
it’s a woven bamboo skinned blue dow XPS foam core with blue dow XPS foam rails
we’re using the cloth, the double sided tape and the roller we got from from Greenlight several months ago.
we’re also foiling probox fins for the project using the solid bamboo panels and inserting the corn-oil based string plugs we got from Greenlight as well. Should be an interesting result
the cloth is very stretchy like jersey material so this first attempt will be a challenge as you basically cut your glass narrower than the width you want and stretch it across the rail and surface using the tape. A little opposite than what we’re used to with fiberglass but it should make rail wraps a breeze…
Based on how stretchy the material is I can’t see how it’ll end up stiffer than regular 4oz s cloth or 6oz volan we’ve been using but you never know. Also how much resinn it’ll soak up is another question.
the bamboo jersey cloth can be obtained from a couple of sources so we’ll be testing a couple versions of the cloth as well.
I think it’ll be lighter and less thirsty than hemp cloth and easier to work with than texalium, carbon fiber or kevlar.
we’ll keep you posted…
sounds great, I’m eager to hear from your results
me too bernie!
Another question I just thought of:
When glassing the deck with 2 layers of cloth, how would you stretch and tape off the one layer of cloth that you don’t want fully lapping over the rails? With fiberglass it obviously isn’t a problem without the need to stretch it.
thx! -tony
first of all I don’t think you want to do this from what we saw cause the fabric sucks up resin to no end.
Probably a good idea to use real slow cure so you can work it in with the roller cause we did end up squeegee-ing quite a bit off in the end.
a couple observations:
it’s about 50% more effort than glassing with regular glass
why?
placing and setting the double stick tapes takes time
cutting the 60" wide cloth into 20" wide panels is a challenge cause the cloth is so stretchy
attaching the cloth to the tape is time consuming better to do it with two people
the cloth soaks up alot of resin
stretching the cloth correctly over the rail makes some really cleap laps.
it helps to have more width than th recommended 20" especially if stretching and fastening it by yourself.
the resulting finish after hot coating is very rough almost like 60-80 grit sandpaper.
the thick double stick foam tape makes cutting the laps a little cleaner
sanding the hot coat was pretty easy without hitting any of the weave eventhough the surface was so rough. So it wasn’t the glass but the resin rising to the surface
the end result is extremely opaque since we were glassing a wood lammed board it really dulls the look. The cloth would work great over a white EPS or blue XPS foam shape though.
After glassing the end result appears very strong and very stiff even with one layer of cloth and after sanding the hot coat you can’t squeeze it no matter how hard you press. Very impressive this bamboo fiber…
We anticipated that the end result would be heavy with all the resin we used i,e, 20+ozs versus 12ozs for an 8’0. You also have to do your resin in two batches. The first smaller batch is for painting and saturating the rail lap before flipping the board and doing the surface with the second batch. But after sanding off the excess resin that rises to the top the weight drops back down. So there’s somne waste if you don’t use a slow set and take the time to roll in the resin to the cloth. Probably better to paint it on with a brush like you do with on the laps versus using the standard squeegee technique.
It’s a bit more effort and the opaque result isn’t for a wood compsand, but it looks like its very strong if not also very stiff. Probably using RR flex which they recommend versus FBH 2-1 would be better… We can see putting this on a EPS shape no problem.
Finally…
the stuff is so soft, stretchy and cool that it would make make great underwear, sleepwear, or t-shirts.
Better than hemp clothes for sure…
Another Hack Attack Fable:
my brother and I did the bottom Saturday and although it was a challenge we got it done with no major crisis other than having to make up more resin…
Yesterday after sanding the laps and the bottom I attempted the deck on my own. We used masking tap to hold the cloth while we flip it upside down. First of all I put it on the flat bottom so I could cut it to length and center it. It wasn’t until I taped it and flipped it did I realize I tacked the glass onto the wrong side. I then had to remove all the tape to flip the board over only to have the tape cause all kind of havoc. Finally I got pissed and removed all the tape off the cloth. I flipped the board and reattached the cloth to the deck this time using tape. Then it was a bitch stretching the cloth which just barely fit at the wide spots all the way around the board to the double stick having to go back and forth adjusting and centering the cloth so it would cover the lap on both sides.
Once everything was finally set I mixed my first small batch and painted the rails. I then flipped the board mixed up my second larger batch of resin poured it on the board and started moving the resin around. All of a sudden I hit a spot right in the middle of the board and what do I see… But a 6" strip of 2" wide masking tape that must have attached itself to the cloth as I was taking off the first set of tape strips… Needless to say I was pissed but there really wasn’t anything i could do at this point other than finish glassing the board. I’ll have to hide it with some graphics on the sanded hot coat before I gloss the board…
Life of an amateur hacker.
There’s always something or another…
Feel free to laugh all you want
I’ll try and post some pics this weekend…
Thanks for screwing up my board!!! I told you to wait for me to help.
My observations…
Not sure how it will work on foam since you need to use tape to stretch it out. I guess you could use the green masking tape instead of double stick tape.
Best to have two sets of hande to pull the cloth around the blank. It could be done if you plan it out carefully. Maybe tape the middle of one side then stretch it over to the other side and slowly work your way around the board.
Not sure how well it will work with graphics since it is not very transparent when it’s wet out.
I think you can wait longer between the lamination and the fill coat. We usually do it pretty soon after the lamination gels, but I think it would be better to wait a little longer. This stuff sucks resin in like a sponge.
One layer of cloth seemed very strong. Stronger than 6 oz cloth. I think it’s because the fabric was pulled tightly around the board from the start. Maybe you could do the same with glass cloth and get a stronger lamination, I don’t know.
Not sure, but this might be a good cloth for the woven bamboo veneers we use. It seemed to swell up a little, like a shirt does when it’s wet. The uneven surface of the woven bamboo didn’t show up as much as with fiberglass. I’ll have to see what it looks like after being sanded down.
With a little more experimenting, this cloth may end up being a better choice than fiberglass. But it is definitely a different process with different results. Not for those who want to get things done quicker and easier.
In contrast, I glassed another compsand last week with UV resin and did both sides in about 4 hours.
wow, thanks for all that feedback. I was pretty egar to try it, but sounds pretty complicated and probably out of my college budget range with all the mistakes I’ll probably make. On the other hand, Im in china for a few weeks and I’m stoked they have bamboo cutting boards(for food) that look great for making fins that roughly translate to $1.50 US dollars for a slab.
Hi and thanks for the review. Any thoughts about using it instead of glass under wood for a compsand (since you have some experience with compsands as well)? I would think the problems with it soaking resin might be a problem, but then again if you use weighted ratio, etc. it might behave well under vacuum.
Not sure how much resin is enough for this cloth, so I’d be concerned about using it under wood on a compsand. I’d use 2oz glass for the inside of a compsand, then 4 or 6 oz over the wood.
I’ve only seen the board after we laminated the bottom and added a fill coat. I didn’t see it after it was sanded and ready for the top glassing.
I think this stuff has a place in the EPS foam with glass construction method. It’s just a matter of using it enough times to get a better handle on its properties.
It seems very strong, so single layers of this or maybe a layer of 4oz glass under this for a double layer board might work. Be interesting to see how colored resin works with it too.
We’re supposed to score a couple of Marko EPS blanks, so we may try going straight to glassing with the bamboo cloth on one and balsa/fiberglass cloth the other, and see if the strength is the same.
Haavard
one idea instead would be to attached the external skin and outer glass at the same time in a vacuum with some perf release and cotton absorber. Since your stretching the cloth smooth against the surface beofre glassing you shouldn’t get the normal wrinkles you have to worry about when glassing in a bag and the perf release and absorber will pull off all the excess resin out keeping weight down while getting maximum saturation… The cloth is so smooth you may not need a heck of alot of sanding and go straight to a gloss coat…
Just an idea…
I think putting it under the lam would be an interesting challenge since you have to stretch it all around the rails first…
using HD foam with this and it’s resin aborbtion would be a mistake though…
Like I told Brian at Greenlight awhile back…
This bamboo stuff is nature’s version of carbonfiber and Kevlar all in one material
Just caught up with this thread and was wondering about doing concaves with the cloth under tension. Like you observe, this sounds great for rails (and other convex features), but seems like it could be problematic on concaves. Did you see this or have any thoughts on the risks having used the stuff? My imagination conjures up concaves becoming drum like hollows as the tension pulls the cloth off of the foam.
Thanks,
Matt
that’s a good one
I’ll have to check tonight
as the 8’ mini mal we just built
had a spoon shaped into the nose area
I’ll have to see
to see if its still there
let you know soon
But I would think the weight of the resin
would cause the cloth to bend into the shape of the concave
but I’ll have to check now that you brought it up.
the cloth is very flimsy
almost like fine silk
just thicker and stretchier(?)
the only thing that’s puzzling
is this extreme burlap rough texture
of the hot coat when the fabric is so smooth and soft
wondering if the fibers of the cloth
are somehow soaking up resin and pointing skyward somehow
to cause this roughness
eventhough the material is babyskin soft
and when I sand it I don’t see any of the weave
like I do with fiberglass
The only issue I have so far
other thansome of the application issues
is the opaqueness of the resined result
but it could be just the thing
for an unspackled EPS shape
we’ll see
after it’s all done
and ridden
update
nose concave is still there
can’t tell if it’s less
cause I can’t remember that far back
good sign
not looking forward to the coming day
sweating myself into heat exhaustion
in a hooded tyvek
going at it with the sander
to take most of this layer off
for the paint and gloss phase
wish one day I could make my own
airconditioned bumblebee suit
to make sanding more comfortable
Like I told Brian at Greenlight awhile back…
This bamboo stuff is nature’s version of carbonfiber and Kevlar all in one material
I was thinking along the same lines about something you wrote. The final lam was stiff, yet the cloth is really flexible. Maybe it’s similar to carbon in the sense that the fiber is lighter so you get a thicker lam for the same weight. Also since it’s knitted instead of woven, I guess the lam ends up a little thicker as well. Glassfiber cloth is available as a knitted fabric as well, probably used for extremely curved shapes.
For bagging I was thinking just wet it out, lay it on the wood skin, flip onto core, put it in the bag and apply vacuum. Glass on the outside like normal for looks. While it may soak a lot of resin, maybe you squeeze out enough under the vacuum pressure to bind it to both core and skin. Kind of like a sponge.
when using the vacuum.
Maybe you can just wet out the board, lay up the fabric and peelply and put it in the bag.
it will be little difficult with the stretchy thing but maybe it can be done. It will save resin cost at last.
I think it is like kevlar: if you want a reasonable fibre/resin ratio you need to vacuumbag because it sucks up a lot.
And if there are dry spots, you can always wet them out afterwards because you are wetting out from the inside.
So I think it is worth trying.
It is interesting me. Maybe I’ll try it some day 
Bernie, any update? pics? thx
as for bagging over hd foam, try bogging hd foam and letting it go off, sanding, then lamming. that way you at least have control of how much res your letting the foam soak up. then if you bag the lam, try using just pel ply, no breather. i found that adding breather creates an uneven surface and leaves cloth dry. 2 layers peel ply will take out plenty res yet leave no spaces between weave. please let us know how it goes it you try bagging this stuff!
tyler