Aloha oneula!
Thanks for posting your experience with the bamboo. You can always feel free to contact me if you have questions or trouble.
I’ll try to set the record straight on some of your observations in an effort to help other homeshapers using our bamboo effectively and not have the issues you’ve encountered.
I know you’ve viewed them but the instructional videos I produced for bamboo glassing show you step-by-step exactly how to do it without any issues.
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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.
See post above. Resin Research 2000 with Fast hardner is the way to go.
a couple observations:
- it’s about 50% more effort than glassing with regular glass
Yes, more setup time is required than free lapping with fiberglass. But you’re doing cutlaps. Same setup, just have to peel the double sided tape. Quickest method to peel the tape is shown in video
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
Roll cloth into cylider and chop right through with scissors - see vid.
- attaching the cloth to the tape is time consuming better to do it with two people
3 minutes tops. One person. Do one rail first, center to tail then center to nose. Then move to the other side and do same thing but pull cloth as far as it can go before adhering to the tape. You can go back to the first side to tighten it all up if you feel it is necessary. Lams should be pulled tight as possible for less resin use and stronger lamination.
2. the cloth soaks up alot of resin
The bamboo lam requires approximately 2.5 oz of epoxy per board foot (with a 1 1/2" lap). For a 6’8" fish 21" wide I will mix up 9 oz total (6 R : 3 H) and brush the rails using about 6 maybe 7 oz total. Flip the board and pour the rest on the bottom. Mix another 9 oz. and finish off.
I always heat the resin component of the epoxy in the mircowave (3 sec per oz) before adding hardener and mixing. It reduces viscosity and helps flow out and into the bamboo. I roughly figure it uses about 10% less resin when heated (less viscosity) than unheated. Cure faster too!
3. stretching the cloth correctly over the rail makes some really cleap laps.
Yeah, no fiberglass strings to screw up the free lap. Cutlaps are the same. The double sided tape acts a resin dam to give you a really clean line and scored with a razor, the excess bamboo and tape peel off easily. I push the clean lap down into the foam with a roller or popsicle stick - no sanding or grinding needed.
Note: If applying the double sided tape on a painted surface put a layer of masking tape down first to prevent the double sided from pulling up some paint chips.
4. it helps to have more width than th recommended 20" especially if stretching and fastening it by yourself.
It’ll stretch to 25"-26" inches. I now use a 1" lap from the rail to reduce a bit of resin and weight.
5. the resulting finish after hot coating is very rough almost like 60-80 grit sandpaper.
The natural bamboo fibers are spun into a thread and some random ones will stick out (microscopically). These fibers gather the epoxy like speed bumps. You can quickly sand them down when the lam cures, it’ll make the hotcoat flatter : better finish. Or on the deck you can leave the bumps and it’s a textured deck! The bumps will hold the wax better - use less wax. Best part of a textured deck is you don’t bother sanding it!
6. the thick double stick foam tape makes cutting the laps a little cleaner
7. 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
8. 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.
Grain Surfboards uses our bamboo for custom boards. They look pretty good. Due to the natural tan color of the bamboo I figure it dulls the board by 1 or 2 hue values on a color wheel… Not a big deal for most board builders wanting a natural alternative.
[img_assist|nid=1043147|title=grain-bamboo-glassed|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=640|height=427]
[img_assist|nid=1043148|title=grain_bamboo_2|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=640|height=427]
9. 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…
Yes.
10. 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.
Paint the resin on the rails. No waste. Best results.
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.
RR 2000 or 2020.
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…
www.footprintbamboo.com
Hope these comments help. There are now a whole lot of bamboo glassed boards out there. Mostly by first time shapers who’ve used our kits. They have had great success and are super stoked with the bamboo. Any of you guys or girls reading this post please join in and comment on your experience.
As far as seasoned board builders who’ve always used traditional fiberglass, I’d say there’s a 50/50 split on their perception of how easy bamboo is compared to fiberglass. Half love it and say it’s easier and fun , half hate the double sided tape setup time. I guess it relates to the mindset of epoxy being harder to work with and Polyester.
It’s just different!
~Brian
www.greenlightsurfsupply.com
