I'm a big fan of quality tools. I have no problem paying top dollar for tools. I'm also a cheap bastard. There's no reason to buy the latest greatest tool when I'm only going to use it three times in my lifetime. The black bar clamps in one of the photos are from Harbor Frieght. Drop the clamp one time and they are trash. Total waste of money. Tape is awesome. I bet I could do a skateboard layup using quality 3M tape. Best to do it with two people.........
...and.....Just to prove I could do it...I've shaped and glassed 2 surfboards without power tools.....
I’m having trouble expressing in English what I think in French… Lol. I meant to put a wedge on the side of the blank opposite to the strap’s clamp to balance the tension; otherwise, it tends to bend the blank upwards, resulting in a leak on the opposite side; Hard to explain without a drawing, I know…
Clamping wood and foam are two different tolerances. Edge to edge wood laminating takes way more clamping pressure than foam to stringer, in which case tape is sufficient. Even with joined pieces of wood the need for pressure is far greater than doing a blank lay up. The original question was a wooden skateboard. Can't do a proper lam that will last with simply taping. Sorry S'Ray, but your ideas work for the blanks, not skateboards. All due respect intended to the Lab Techs.
Never more true words have rung through that hall of Swaylocks. And always use quality 3M Eye and Lung protection when using quality 3M products. Don't skimp on quality when your health is at hand.
You can get the 36" light duty clamps for $10-$15 each. You can get leaky inner tubes from the bike shop for free. A combo of the two works greats for glueing up blanks. The pipe clamps are overkill unless you are doing heavy duty work or clamping really long pieces together but as someone pointed out you can get them for $20 and you will have something that should last forever and clamp anything!
Hello Greg, good to hear from you. Hi to your own Cat, too!
The blank was band-sawed first, then all parts were run on the joint planer to get them even and square; Yes, it helps to own a few wood machines, even though they are not “pro” models. Enough for blanks and a few wood projects, still.
A deep-cutting circular saw guided by a long wooden ruler works perfectly, too, if you don’t have access to those. Detailed photos in this thread:
Clamping wood and foam are two different tolerances. Edge to edge wood laminating takes way more clamping pressure than foam to stringer, in which case tape is sufficient. Even with joined pieces of wood the need for pressure is far greater than doing a blank lay up. The original question was a wooden skateboard. Can't do a proper lam that will last with simply taping. Sorry S'Ray, but your ideas work for the blanks, not skateboards. All due respect intended to the Lab Techs.
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I've got 1/2 a bottle of Gorilla Glue and 2 rolls of 3M Scotch 233, 2 inches wide. Origanal poster/post said nothing about skateboards.....Boys will be boys.....
If.....you have no money and no tools ......you can work wonders with tape..........hey all you wood workers.......we're here to have fun......joking and goofing off......I walk the walk...my photos prove it......Ray.....
S'Ray, My only intent was to say wood and foam are different in glue lay-ups. In laminating wood, you want the glue line to disappear as much as possible. Hence the need for clamping pressure. No offense meant.
And yeah, I used the word hence....all in good fun. Cheers to the Low Tech Lab.
First off, thakn you everyone for such an overwhelming response and sorry I havent been around to reply! Just on the way back from a trip up to NY to visit the family, and decided to pop in to see if I had any replies...... wooooowsaaaaaaaaaa! thanks for all the advice and tips!!! you guys rock!!! Im so excited about this whole hobby now :)
I do have ratchet straps (used for surfboard tie-downs on my truck)... Im kind of short on cash right now, so I may do a combo of ratchet clamps and bar/pipe clamps.. i never even thought of pipe clamps as i didnt know they existed prior to this thread, but Im going to try a non-glue mockup to see if I can get them tight enough, if so Ill try maybe 2 bar/pipe clamps and the 3 straps I have and see how it goes til I can save some $$$... another thing Im going to try is going to the habitat for humanty restore as they supposedly have a bunch of used tools and wood and such, could be a good place to browse around and who knows maybe Ill come across a clamp set some carpenter gave to them...
and yes, for clarification I am sorry I didnt mention it in the original post in this thread, i did mean this question for the skateboard blank glue-up test Im going to do (just to get the technique before I spend money on building a chambered wood board)...... so Im going to use cedar and red oak, possible some other woods for the tail block. Im going to start a build thread, I drew up a design and going to see if I can recreate it... one thing is for certain, I am not short on ideas !!!!!
Thank you all for the time writing the replies! you guys rock!!! cant wait to get my next check to go get supplies~!!
(Oh and ps I did buy the tightbond II (or III?)...whichever is the stronger one....wood glue, so we shall see how it goes!
Cheers Ian, Titebond II or III will get you all you want. The wood will fail before the glue does in most cases. They say the "III" fomula is waterproof but don't believe them. It is water resistant and holds up well but so does the "II" formula. Use the least expensive of the two.
The only difference is the the claims of the company. They try to say that #III is waterproof and that is not the case. Type #II is water resistant and good enough for non submersive applications. The bottom line is; they are all aliphatic resin glues.
I m in the process of building a HWS using Tight Bond III and on cedar it seems to work well. I needed to glue some oak for another project and decided to use the TB III as well and the joints failed my drop test (dropping the piece from a 4’ height). I used the proper amount of glue, pressure and clamps but the joint seemed starved. I have my doubts about using TB III again. Anyone have a simular problem?
What type of oak did you use. I can’t remember which one. But one type is very porous with hollow tubes in the structure. The other is not. That may have been a factor.
