no volan scars

is there a trick to doing a good volan job? how do you cut the lines so smooth so that a pinline is not needed? most volan boards i see have no pinline. must be pure skill.

is there a trick to doing a good volan job? how do you cut the lines so > smooth so that a pinline is not needed? most volan boards i see have no > pinline. must be pure skill. A Rail line tool with a nife in it would do the trick. Peter Rijk.

is there a trick to doing a good volan job? how do you cut the lines so > smooth so that a pinline is not needed? most volan boards i see have no > pinline. must be pure skill. There are several things that you need to do to end up with an attractive lap line, first, the board need to be taped off by hand with out the aid of a rail trimmer. This starts you off with out a cut in the foam, second, during the actual cutting, a minimal amount of pressure is used, you need only cut through the fibers, this takes a gentle touch. The over laps at the nose and tail take the most work, I usually get the trim started just ahead of the corners where the glass is single ply. With an initial cut of about 3-4", I then slide my finger tips under the tape and masking paper and fold it upwards at about 90 degrees, if the lamiation is off firm enough, it will fold crisply and adhere to the foam well, if not you will lift it away from the foam. I take my single edge razor blade and crease it in the center, this gives me a little “handle” to grip, the forward part can slide on the lamination, while the part I hold is elevated. Push the tip of the blade through the intersection of where the foam and tape intersect, as you cut, pull the trimming towards you, this will keep the cut from walking away from the lap line. Your hand will be under the excess holding it vertical, when this is finished, go to the ends of the board and finish the double layer, carefully, it is very hard to do a clean job on this part. On 10 oz. or heavy cloth I pre file the corners first, then styrene them so I can see the tape through it. Now all you can do is give it a try, good luck.

I’m sure Jim can do all sort’s of things by hand that I, or maybe other les experienced people can’t. Before I tape the blank I use the rail line tool, to draw I nice even line on both rails, then tape it alongside this line. Then after glassing I use the same tool but this time with a cutter, to make the same nice even cut in the glas and then work the same way Jim described. (Don’t re adjust the tool) Its easyer this way to follow the already cutted line and when you use pigment or opaque its some times hard to see the tape. Peter Rijk.