Question for all of you with wood/surfboard experience…
I have been using balsa Composite tech. for the last 6 boards. Glassing each has been different trying to get good adhesion, no bubbles, smooth/level, etc. This last one I brushed a thin layer of epoxy then, while still wet I laid the glass down. The glass soaked up a little epoxy and it held in place while I squeeged more epoxy down. It looks better but still bubbles.
?Now... should I brush a thin layer of epoxy and let it DRY, sand, then lay the glass? Inquiring minds want to know!
when you start gluing, shaping, chambering(?), you balsa board please post pics of the process and progress, I for one would really love to see it come together, thanks mate
You can be sure I will, mate! Be prepared for Chainsaw Massacre 101!
You are correct about not thinning epoxy with acetone. My comment was in response to Robbos' post #7 above, and his reference to thinning resin with styrene for better penetration into the wood. Am I forgiven?
Bill, your advice is always good, I just wanted to make sure no-one mistakenly took your advice to also aply to epoxy.
4-oz S-glass should be perfect. I had a board made by www.balsaflite.com that was both light and strong. I cleaned up the glass job with another buff job on the gloss coat but other from that the glass job was really nice and strong.
Below are some of Skip Andres Kozminski’s glassing considerations:
We then prime the wood with a clear urethane varnish and remove the porcupine fuzz with 100 grit the next day.
Sanding - When I am hand plane and sand, I always strap the blank to my shaping rack with a strip of car inner tube (a bungee or surf leash would work too). Remember that when sanding, especially with that rough paper, even the tiniest sideways swipe will leave scratches that really show up big and bad after the glass job. All our boards are glassed single 4 oz. The lightest 10% of them get a 4 oz. deck patch too.
Some where I read that you should glass balsa with a falling tempture. It helps suck down the resin/epoxy into the wood and stops the wood from blowing bubbles.
Also you can use acetone to thin epoxy it will work, but be carefull not to get it on you. The acetone will carry the epoxy into your body through the skin. The epoxy is bad stuff but only if it can get through the skin, water clean up stops the problem. This is the reason everyone says to not clean up with acetone. The acetone is not really all that bad, it is just that it will take other thinks that are really bad through the skin.
?Now… should I brush a thin layer of epoxy and let it DRY, sand, then lay the glass? Inquiring minds want to know!
Thanks, Les
There are penetrating epoxies sold for just that purpose Les (sold as wood rot repair). Basically very low viscosity epoxy usually thinned with a solvent like xylene, toluene etc. Unfortunately those solvents are nasty and toxic so if I need to thin epoxy I use either heat or D-alcohol.
For wood sealing purposes about 20% dilution is good. If you can mildly heat the wood before application the better (a warm car interior works good).
So yeah, mild heat, apply, sand, (repeat?) then laminate is a good way to go.