I’m almost finished wit my latest creation (pics to come). There is a little warble in my veneer skin so I figured I’d do a pinstripe to fair it up. I’m almost out of epoxy and figured a spray can pinstrip would work, maybe even be thinner (flatter, less proud?).
I remember somewhere readng that you should use polyurethane for epoxy, acrylic for polyester, or something like that. Search results didn’t help.
What should I use for epoxy. I don’t want any two part stuff and I don’t have a spray gun. I’d like to just go to Lowe’s or Home Depot and get something of the shelf. What have you guys used successfully?
I haven’t had consistency in the results of rattle can pins, so I switched to acrylic pens from the art/hobby store. I buy the big wide pens and sometimes I just freehand it (wobbly lines). The pens are about $9 USD or more here. I have less issues with bleeding when I use the pen, but it might be improper technique that causes the bleeding.
I use the Rustoleum spray cans made for plastic because that’s what my local stores sell.
I don’t normally do pinlines, but when I do I use the Greg Loerh cheat - pinline tape from Pep Boys. Under the glassing. No taper, but at least the lines are always clean.
Yes, Posca and whatever else I find in that section of the store. I get the 1/2" wide tips now. I didn’t like the way the pins looked on pin lines that are wider than the pen tip, and you have to make multiple passes to fill the gap.
I’ve seen others do things like a link of tiny circles or patterns instead of a solid line. Those can be pretty cool, but that takes a lot more time and creativity. By the time I get to pin lines I’m too amped to ride the board, so I have a lot of boards without pin lines even though the cut lap or veneer edge isn’t clean. If I make a board for someone else, I’ll add the pin line, and try to finish the board as nice as I can.
Huck, there’s something about the resin Pinline bump that says that although the rest of the board is perfect, the intentional pinline bump shows that the hand of man has created it. Perfect in its imperfection.
If you are going to tape it anyway for a pinline, consider wiping on some thick hobby acrylic from Michaels. I have successfully used multiple colors on a board to get a resin swirl effect. Dab a little of one color then a few inches down another color. It does not take much and too much will make a mess. Too much and it may crack when you pull the tape. Then pull with a squeegee or straight edge. You’ll get a resin bump the height of the tape thickness. Or you’l get a mess and you will cuss me for posting this. But likely the former.
Sorry seeing this a bit late. They all work I use rattle can, acrylic paint, acrylic paint pens, india ink, etc etc.
They all should be covered with a clear coat. I use Max2k clear glamour. But Krylon can be used in a pinch.
The trick is in the sanded finish on the board, and the tape used. The thinner the paint (rattle can) the better the tape. I use 3M fine line because its a plastic based tape…its got zero crepe to is so it cant leak. if I’m using a thicker acrylic paint like Liquitex straight out of the tube, then the tan or green 233 is fine. When you get bleeding itsusually on the white board side and because you have either
not burnished the tape down hard to the board
left too big of scratches …no scratches around the pin area bigger than 320…420 even better.
Below is all done with acrylic liquitex Basic from Michaels stores
spray on some clear over the tape before you put down the color to seal the tape edges. even really fine sanding lines will leak under the tape with thin paint.
I decided to put a pinline over the warbled edge of my veneer skin and now I think the pin line is even more warbled. (Is that even a word? Warblier? Wobbly? Wobbled?)
I remain of the opinion that of all the tasks involved in surfboard making doing good pin lines is the hardest of all…
WNC in San Diego has my rocker in their catalog, I get them cut a few at a time… It’s based upon the old Segway Ken 8-8. But WNC told me that they are nolonger stringering blanks, but they will cut the EPS rockers and split it for you. …just no wood.
You can also squeese an 8’5 to 8’6 out of the US blanks 86EA…its pretty good too. Just a slight bit less tail rocker, but you can push that shaping. i think the EA is like 3.75 thick, so you have to move a bit of foam, especially when its a slab cut.
I think pinlines come out better when you are having a snack, I never do them when I’m jacked on coffee. Walk it backwards, and get a lot of tape behind me and make small changes in the curve. My arms are spread out. one hand pressing down…the other 3-4 feet away guiding the tape…with that much spread nothing will look wonky.
I was debating sanding the pin line off but figured that would be too much work and I would risk major sand throughs on the rails. My wife and daughter, not surfers, couldn’t see the wobbles. A friend of mine, another DIY boardbuilder, could not see the wobble in the veneer. Maybe I’m just hyper sensitive. To me they are glaring.
Hah! That’s the problem Jeff. I built a board for a friend. He said it looked good. I said as long as you ignore a couple of flat spots in the rail line. He said where. I said if you cant see them I’m not showing you them. I bet your board is beautiful. Hope your family is well. The key to Resin’s cutback is his right hand… Just sayn. Mike
Ha Rooster! Back in the 80’s we called it throwing a pizza…all that time throwing pizza dough at Mona Lisa in Allied Gardens, helped with the coil and rotation.
Good to see ya back at it Rooster…miss your sunny disposition.
Great tip there Resinhead, thanks for the pearls of wisdom. I don’t know how many times I’ve laid, re-laid and re-re-laid a tape line and still had the pinline come out wonky. I’m going to try spreading my arms a bit wider and see how it works out.
