Just finishing up the shaping of my first balsa longboard this week, and as this one’s for a customer I don’t want to blow anything in the final stages! I’m planing on a straightforward polyester glass job following a cheater coat as its worked fine on the balsa paipos I’ve done (and I’ve avoided any resinous wood in the tail-block, etc). However, my question is in the area of long-term adhestion for a “rider.” During the shaping process, the board was sanded down to 280 with a powerpad, then again with 280 in the grain direction by hand. The resulting surface being pretty smooth and my batch of balsa being tight-grained, is the surface over-prepared for a good bond? Any insight is appreciated.
to quote Jim Phillips, balsa should be sanded “as smooth as a baby’s butt.” I followed that advice and found it to be good. Sounds like you’re in the ballpark, but only you know what you mean by “pretty smooth”…