Painting surfboard rails

Recently I’ve been seeing boards in the shops with matt black painted rails. Correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems like it is done as the last stage of the building process.

Does anybody know for certain which kind of paint they use? I have been doing quite a few black railed boards, but I’ve been painting the foam. Even the slightest impact shows up with brilliant white (damaged) fibers. We used to call them “snackles.” I don’t know if that’s a term universally used or if it was our local dialect? I figure paint on the outside would solve that problem.

I use automotive lacquer type paint. Apply with thinners and spray.

No rattle can version? I don’t have a compressor or spray gun.

There will be, try auto paint or parts shop?

I’ve used a rattle can to paint rails and then hot coated over the paint to protect it from scratches etc.

For spraying over resin (epoxy or poly) I use an inexpensive rattle can paint for plastic, then cover it with the same brand of clear. Could probably use floor sealer over the rattle can paint. The floor sealer seems to be a very strong finish scratch wise. Without the clear, you will see lots of scratches.
Back in the day, we called the white damaged fibers shatters.

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Thanks, H. I have a bottle of Future Floor Finish lying around. I think I didn’t like it because you have to brush it on and it didn’t level perfectly and was hard to sand (gummy). Maybe a small area will level?

A lot of the “sealer” formulations seem to have changed.
Last time I used Boehr Low-Lustre Concrete/Tile Sealer on epoxy was 10 years ago. Went on pretty smooth with a McGuires foam pad for waxing cars. Smoothed down nicely with a Scotch Brite maroon pad followed by their light gray pad.
But I have no idea if the formulation is still the same.

HI Jeff,
I use a rag to wipe on the floor sealer, it does tend to dry unevenly. I’ve tried a foam brush but it streaks. I have not tried using a roller.

If you are concerned about the look, it may not be the best. I use a scotch brite pad and end up with a matte finish, not a glossy finish.

I also use an inexpensive portable paint sprayer Bernie gave me. Sometimes, instead of the floor sealer I’ll spray a polyurethane clear coat that you can get at the hardware store like a Varathane paint. I usually have some Varathane at home for wood work I do. I don’t spray often because I need to make plastic walls to keep my garage clean, and then I have to clean up the sprayer.

The down side is later when you have to fix a ding. Sanding is harder. But I recently refinished some old PU boards and they were quite a pain to sand down to the weave. The resin seemed a lot harder than any of the epoxy boards we’ve made.

I have also used the pour on self leveling epoxy for table tops. That one takes about 8 hours to get past tacky, and you need a clean room, but the finish is like a mirror. I can’t say how much weight it added because it was a long time ago, maybe 15 years.

I should probably make PU/Poly again, quick, easy and good results if you do it right. A guy I surf with was run over the other day, ended up with a foot long smash on the bottom of his EPS board and the glass was cracked open. Looked like a rail hit his board pretty hard. I told him he had to go in right away or the board would get waterlogged, and we were at a beach where it takes about 10 minutes to paddle in. That’s one reason I am afraid to ride hollow boards here, by the time I get in the board would be full of water.

I hope you find a good solution, your boards are pieces of art as much as they are a surfing tool. My boards are tools for riding waves, I used to think that if they were good in the water, I could refinish them to make them look great, but I’ve learned that re-doing the finish later is a pain in the okole.

Enjoy Halloween with your family. Bernie was born just before midnight on October 30th, a little later and we’d be calling him pumpkin.

Did you ever find the cleaning cloth you were looking for? I could send you some of these little squares I have and maybe you could find something similar but larger. If you want some I just need your address. FYI, I found some old individually packed type (sealed with alcohol) that are no good anymore. The brand was Textwipe. Not sure if there is a market for these except in electronics repair shops. I don’t know what brand the plain white pieces of cloth were.

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Nope…Max 2K has a Matte, and a clear glamor…get the Matte…rattle can, durable, and bullet proof…F that sealer BS. Spray it, seal it, make it durable…Don’t get all cheap at the final stage. A can’s like $20