I’ve repaired a couple of large areas of my one of my boards. It’s time for me to gloss it. What do I do?
I’ve got the gloss. I’ve got a good brush. I know how to adjust the gel time.
How do I handle glossing both sides? Do I mask a drip line when on one side? If so, when I flip do I mask to exactly the same tape line, or overlap the gloss at the tape line?
After the gloss is on and hardened, what’s the sanding and polishing procedure?
Mask a drip line. Gloss. Pull tape. Scrape (with a razor blade) or sand the edge smooth. Flip the board and remask to the scraped/sanded zone. Gloss other side. Pull tape, scrape and smooth with 320, 400 & 600. Compound to shine. Watch out for sand throughs!
A worthy lesson: learning to blend and precisely match the gloss finish of your home repairs to the surrounding surface of a professionally finished board. Not as easy as it
Sometimes i sound like a broken record on this stuff, but UPOL Clear coat #1 in a rattle can makes a perfect replacement for gloss. Just spray it on, it kick off in about 30 min., and you polish out. No tape, no razors, not cat, not little cups & sticks. It’s sooooo easy, and it’s as tough as gloss. I get it at automotive finish supply shops. And no I don’t rep it or anything like that.
Wash or wipe the board down each time you change grit or compound size. One piece of a larger size grit caught in the sandpaper or compound can result in a nice scratch. Patrick
Hey Ryan, To add a little to the good advice you’ve gotton so far, be careful of the curtains that hang from the tape. Clean them off with your finger as they form or they will seperate the wax on the surface and you won’t get a surface cure in those areas. One other thing, not too thin or there won’t be enough wax to surface cure, and not too thick or you’ll get “orange peel”. Good luck…
To add to Gene’s comment when I am doing a series of boards I keep walking by boards I have already glassed and tap them (gently with the end of my brush. This lets the curtain let loose around the whole board and keeps it from dragging the rest with it. You might have to do this a few times.
Sometimes i sound like a broken record on this stuff, but UPOL Clear coat #1 in a rattle can makes a perfect replacement for gloss. Just spray it on, it kick off in about 30 min., and you polish out. No tape, no razors, not cat, not little cups & sticks. It’s sooooo easy, and it’s as tough as gloss. I get it at automotive finish supply shops. And no I don’t rep it or anything like that.
-Jay
How is that stuff on top of pinlines? Any bleeding issues? How many boards can you get out of one can? What grit # do you sand the hotcoat to before applying this stuff?
Works like a champ over water based or resin pins. But it’s thin, you have to have a have a light polish hand or you’ll burn through it. It adds virtually no weight to a board, maybe a few ounces. Depending on how many coats you put on you can get a few board out of a can.
Thank you to all. This is lots of excellent advice and I appreciate it.
The curtain thing confuses me. I did gloss a large area today. There appears to be some streaking to the wax. When I look at the surface from a low angle I can see what looks like brush strokes in the wax. Is this what you’re talking about?
Hey Ryan, To add a little to the good advice you’ve gotton so far, be careful of the curtains that hang from the tape. Clean them off with your finger as they form or they will seperate the wax on the surface and you won’t get a surface cure in those areas. One other thing, not too thin or there won’t be enough wax to surface cure, and not too thick or you’ll get “orange peel”. Good luck…
Gene
Thanks Gene. I was thinking about that thick and thin thing while I was trying to get it right today. Why doesn’t anyone make notched spatulas? In the world of tile setting they make notched trowels of various sizes so the tile guy can get the right amount of thinset under each and every tile. Do you think it would help in the case of glossing? You could lay down a heavy bead of gloss then run it all over very quickly using the notched spatula. You’d have hundreds of little beads of resin evenly distributed all over the board. Then you’d go over it with the brush to smooth it all out. Hmmmm? Quick! Get me my patent lawyer!
Ryan, The streaks you see in the wax on the surface of the gloss are normal. They will come out with polishing compound. What I was talking about was actual separation in that protective layer, in which case you’ll have tacky spots that haven’t surface cured. What happens is, the wax comes to the surface of the gloss and forms a protective film which allows the resin to cure hard and tack free. If you allow curtains to hang from your tape, the weight of that resin will pull on the wax film and cause it to separate in long lines allowing the air to get to the resin. Where the resin is exposed, it will not surface cure. As far as thickness is concerned, I’m not sure that the notched trowel would work very well (though I have never tried it). For me, the best way to judge the thickness is by the feel of the “slipperyness” under the brush. I would pour the resin down the center of the board from end to end, quickly brush from side to side, and then, using the brush like a squeegee, work the resin from end to end (from the center to the rails) until it had the right feel. Unfortunately, you have to do a few to know what that feel is. Once you’ve got it to the right thickness, you lightly brush from end to end to level it and take the brush marks out. Like everything else in the board building process, don’t over work it. It needs time to just sit undisturbed for a few minutes before it gels. With the right brushes and proper technique you should be able to produce a gloss that is as smooth and shiny as window glass. Press on, and good luck…
I put the gloss on and everything went just as you predicted. And, as a novice will, I make a few mistakes. Nothing catastrophic, just the typical rookie stuff. I was shorting myself with the resin when I first started applying it so I was working more than I should to spread it everywhere. I also went back and worked some areas a little too much too late. The end result tells the whole story. When I looked at the whole thing after it set I could clearly see where I did things right and where I did things not so right. I’ll do better next time I’m sure.
im with resin head all the way …i use the 2 part upol tho …i am real fussy about my glosses ( fanatical) i always had things going wrong with p/e gloss if it wasnt heat,humidity,wax,wind,dust,cold,mix,impurity,oil,or some other drama that always seemed to prevent a good gloss …now im upol all the way its harder shines better ,probably about the same time for a good finish ,but way better results more consistently…and you can get a sick gloss over graffix ,and you can go straight over 80 grit scratches …unbeliveable but true…
with the end of my brush. This lets the curtain let loose around the whole board and keeps it from dragging the rest with it. You might have to do this a few times.