Just tried a very cool fake wood grain with a simple and cheap wood graining tool. You can get them anywhere (paint store, on-line etc) and usually for under $10 USD!!
I did a simple red-ish colored foam stain then after glassing the board and applying the first sand coat I painted on some darker brown paint and then used the wood graining tool to simulate the look of real wood. After the paint dried I applied a second sand coat to seal the paint job completely . The cool thing about this is that even if you sand through the final coat (like on the rails) to the point of removing some of the brown pain it doesn’t matter… it still looks like wood. I’m very happy with the end result (customer too) and I really think it looks cool. I see endless possibilities with this simple little wood grain tool.
Here is a link to a great video showing the tool at work - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcENJpHYYqc&t=17s
Knew at one time a couple of guys who did what they called “Falsa”. Which was a painted fake Balsa. One of the best was a guy I knew only as Charley who did air brush for John Mel at Freeline. I always wondered about using graining tools on foam. Excellent job. Lowel
Charlie Lyon, former air brush artist for Freeline , has been on Maui for years. Not doing much surfboard work these days. In the past, done work with Ole, Timpone, and others.
This was acutely painted between sand coats and not directly on the foam. I think a smooth surface is required to get the grain tool to work properly. Possible it might work if you did a resin seal on the foam first but that sounds a little risky to me.
