I’m currently doing my first glass job and just finished up with the bottom of the board (6oz + 6oz tail patch). All things considered it went well; however, I noticed that the tail was particularly hard to fully wet out. I had to work the resin into the tail (i.e., press down with the squeegee) more than I imagined I would have had to. I was using UV cure resin so the extra time didn’t spell disaster but now I’m imagining doing the deck with 2 layers of cloth along a 9’+ longboard and I’m a little concerned about the time it is going to take.
So the question is: what am I missing here? Is it a matter of being more patient in letting the resin soak through before I squeegee it out? Is it better to put some amount of resin between layers to make sure it fully saturates? Do most people thin the resin with something?
Lay down quite a bit of resin at first with a light touch with the squeegie. You want a bead of resin flowing ahead of the squeegie. Then work it back and forth to work in in. The Jack Reeves videos posted by Fiberglass Hawaii completely changed my glassing results. This video was a real eye opener and pretty much what I copy. I slop a lot less resin on the floor this way too.
When doing multiple layers I pour down the center and lightly spread out across the deck/bottom so it soaks in, then wet the rail laps.
I’ll then work my center to get out excess resin and get any dry spots, then I’ll work my rails and flips the laps.
You want to let it sit a bit,work it in and then pull excess. Not pour it on and wipe it off.
While his lap technique is quite unique and may leave you with a mess on your first go, there are some videos out there of jack reeves glassing a few boards that may be helpful to watch to see how he lets the resin settle, how he works it and pulls the excess and works his rails. Good reference.
Unless it’s cold and the resin has thickened or the weave of the cloth is thighter than normal, laminating 2 layers at once shouldn’t be a huge deal. If you get a chance, try watching some of the glassing videos on Youtube… many of the guys are doing kind of a ‘figure 8’ deal with their squeegees to help saturate the cloth. Pushing the resin around from different directions helps work it in.
It doesn’t hurt to pour some resin on the blank and/or between the layers of fiberglass but I’ve found that it is less messy to lay the cloth out, trim the overlap with scissors, and get to work. The more I fuss with the cloth after I get it laid out, the more I get unraveling and ‘hanging strands’ around the edges. Just pouring enough resin on the center of the board and working it out to the edges in sections while holding one hand under the laps to catch the resin seems to work about as good as anything. I used to flip the laps up on to the top surface and saturate them before flipping them back down and tucking but I needed a pair of scissors to cut all the loose hanging strands. I still use a pair of scissors to cut hanging strands but there doesn’t seem to be as many.
There have been some discussions on how to calculate the resin amount needed to saturate the cloth… give yourself enough to do the job without having to scrape the bottom of the barrel so to speak. With epoxy especially, vigorous scraping to get the resin spread out promotes frothing of the resin - not a big deal with a white board but it will definitely leave ghostly patches over a dark surface.
Just curious - are you using fiberglass bought through a surfboard material supply house, or something else? There are variations in fiberglass weave and finishes that might be contributing to your troubles. Surfboard building supply places have the right stuff.
EDIT - weird that the other responses weren’t visible to me when I posted. I don’t mean to be repetitious.
EDIT#2 - after watching the Jack Reeves video, I gotta say - just go that route. Can’t go wrong.
Appreciate all the responses. Certainly sounds like a bit more working the resin around lightly in all directions will do the trick–I’ll give it a shot.
John - the fiberglass I purchased online from a surf supply store. Strongly suspect it’s my technique and not the material, but will keep this in mind. Thanks.
If you bought it at a surf supply place it’s probably the right stuff. The resin can be heated (briefly) in a microwave to thin it out some. Since you’re using UV resin, it shouldn’t make much difference in cure rate. I would hesitate to recommend microwaving if using standard MEKP catalyst.
Holy shit, I am just in awe of that guy. A true master of the craft. If I glass six boards a day for the next 20 years I won’t even get close to that good.
Not to change the subject…but last week I glassed a board and used up a roll of cloth on the first side which was a roll of Hexcel cloth. I opened up a brand new roll of JPS for the second side and was shocked at how differently the JPS cloth wet out. The resin wanted to ride up over the cloth on the first pass almost like water on a waxed car before it would soak in and play nice. My next new roll will be Hexcel. The Hexcel also has a slightly tighter weeve even though both are 4oz.