Some time ago this question was posted: How about having a GLOSSARY section in Swaylocks so newbies can better understand what’s being discussed??? So, here’s a crack at it, all of you experts can now fix the omissions & errors, I’m sure there are many!! SWAYLOCK’S GLOSSARY: ACETONE Chemical solvent used to clean up the mess glassers make with fiberglass resin. BELLY Belly is a term used to describe a rounded surfboard bottom, when viewed from the front or rear (not from the side). CANT Cant is the angle a fin makes relative to the bottom of the board. When a board is upside down with the fins pointing up, if the fins point straight up (90 degrees) they have no cant. Canted fins point slightly outward, so the tip of the fin is farther away from the stringer (toward the rail) than the base of the fin. CHANNELS Channels are grooves or concave shapes in the bottom of a surfboard, running from front to back, although typically not for the whole length of the surfboard. CHINE A chine is a hard-edged angle sometimes used on the bottom of a rail, often at the nose of a long board. Boat hulls often have chines. CONCAVE A concave is an area on the bottom of a surfboard that not flat but curved from rail to rail, thus making the bottom of the board higher off the water in the center than at the rails. Concaves are often used under the nose of the board (single concave) or in pairs between side fins (double concave) and are intended to provide lift or facilitate water flow by altering rocker. DECK The deck is the top of the surfboard (where the feet and the wax go!) Decks can be flat, domed, or s-shaped. A surfboard with a domed deck is thickest in the center (along the stringer) and thinner along the rails, so that the top surface of the surfboard is curved if viewed from the front or rear of the board. The opposite of a flat deck. FALSA Fake Balsa. Artwork that mimics the look of (expensive) balsa wood. FIBERGLASS A cloth woven from glass strands, available in various weights and finishes. FOIL Foil is the change in thickness of a board from the nose to the tail, or of a fin from the leading edge to the trailing edge. GUN A gun is a surfboard specifically made for very large surf. Guns tend to be long, narrow, highly rockered boards with features designed to handle high speed and choppy water conditions. LAMINATE Can mean either 1) the act of laminating several layers together, as when one or two layers of fiberglass cloth are laminated onto a surfboard blank, 2) a type of resin [laminating resin] that has no wax added and is used to attach fiberglass cloth to foam, wood or other fiberglass, or 3) a symbol, logo, decal or artwork [lam art] that is typically printed on rice paper and laminated onto the surfboard under or between the fiberglass cloth layers. LAP A lap is an area of overlapping fiberglass cloth, typically along the rails, nose and tail of a surfboard. When the overlapping cloth is left alone it is called a free lap. When the overlapping cloth is trimmed or cut so that it looks neater it is called a cut lap. Laps may be sanded down or ground down before final glassing. A lap line may be caused by a knife cut into the blank. MID-POINT Halfway between the nose and tail of a surfboard. Often the wide point is described as being so many inches in front of, or behind the mid-point. NOSE WIDTH The width of the nose (front) end of a surfboard, always measured 12 inches back from the tip of the nose. PATCH An extra layer of fiberglass cloth added to a portion of the deck of a board, either under the knees (knee patch) or under the back foot (tail patch) used to add strength and reduce dents. PIGMENT A color additive put in resin to produce a solid or opaque color. PINLINE Lines made using heavily pigmented resin, or painted on, used for decorative purposes or to cover areas such as lap lines. Q-CEL Also known as Cabosil or microballoons, a filler added to resin typically when doing ding repair, used to decrease weight RAILS Rails are the edge of a surfboard. Soft rails are relatively round and without defined edges. Hard rails have a corner and a distinct edge. The shape of the rails affects how water flows over the rails. ROCKER Rocker is the bottom curve of a surfboard from front to rear. Entry or nose rocker is the part of the curve under the front of the board; tail rocker is the curve under the back of the board. The rocker is typically measured along the stringer, rocker if measured at the rails can be different due to vee, belly or other bottom contouring. RAKE On a fin, rake is the angle off of vertical of the leading edge of the fin. STRINGER A stringer is one or more strips of wood glued into the foam of a surfboard blank, typically basswood, spruce, balsa, red cedar. STYRENE Chemical used as a thinner for polyester resins. Polyester resins are combined with fiberglass cloth to laminate over polyurethane foam blanks to make surfboards. SWAYLOCK You got me, I have NO idea what a swaylock is. A drunken Rastafarian’s hairdo? TAIL WIDTH The width of the tail (rear) end of a surfboard, always measured 12 inches up from the tip of the tail. TEMPLATE Several meanings: 1) The template or planshape is the outline of a surfboard viewed from overhead, with the nose at the front, rails down the side, and tail at the back. 2) Templates are used for the initial outlining of a foam blank by marking out the desired outline, which is then sawed out of the blank. Templates are often made of thin plywood or masonite and can be reused many times (a throw-away template can be made of cardboard or even paper). Templates can be combined in different ways and/or used like French curves to connect the dots on new outline. TINT A color additive put in resin to obtain a transparent or translucent color. (Not opaque, see PIGMENT) TOE-IN Toe-in is the angle of the fin relative to the stringer, i.e. the front of the fin is closer to the stringer than the rear of the fin. A single fin has no toe-in, as the stringer and fin are pointed dead ahead. Some (but not all) side fins have toe-in. E.g. A traditional fish has no toe-in because the fins are parallel to the stringer. Side fins on thrusters, twinzers, twin fins (other than traditional Fish) and quads are usually toed-in a small amount (1/8 inch to ¼ inch or so). V (or VEE) An angle in the bottom of a surfboard that looks like a V shape when viewed from the front or rear of the surfboard. WIDE POINT The widest single point on a surfboard, measured from rail to rail, across the stringer. WING Also known as a bump, or stinger. A wing is a point on the rail that sticks out noticeably from the rail behind it (closer the rear of the board).
Good job Keith; Only one correction: S-Deck might fit better in FOIL. Additions: KICK: Increase or break in rocker curve; usually within 2 feet of nose or 1 foot of tail. HIP: Increase or break in template curve, similar to kick. Usually within 2 feet of tail. FLEX-FIN: A fin designed to bend, usually at the tip, to enhance performance. SPOON: A concave area cut into the deck. On longboards it is usually in the front third of the board to reduce weight. In kneeboards, the entire deck may be concave. In extreme cases the entire deck is eliminated so the kneeboard can flex to enhance performance. BLANK: Plastic foam surfboard core prior to shaping. May be ordered in any number of shapes, thicknesses, densities, with preset or custom rockers. Gotta gooooooooooooooooooooo!
Keith, This is excellent. I’m going to start adding them to the FAQ’s section in question form. For example: “What is acetone?” “What do I need to know about blanks?” etc. In this way people can add their own comments to add knowledge about a particlular area. Oh, in case no one noticed, you can now add COMMENTS to photo archive records, FAQs and Articles. Comment away! Thanks Keith, Mike
A much needed resource… many thanks, Mike!
This is great for anyone unfamilier with the terms. thanks Regarding Pigment - it can be used to make tints as well, right? and solid means Opaque. The color additive is the pigment and the use of it is either in tints or solids. That’s my understanding.
OK Mike, that was pretty much what I had in mind. By the way, I am dying to see YOUR definition of a Swaylock!
How 'bout someone adding definitions for ding, fracture, tailblock, t-band, bonzer, volan. Most of you could be more eloquent on each than I could.
for some reason, describing tints vs. pigment is trickier than it should be. both tints and pigment are used as resin colorants. pigment contains solids, and can be used to make a resin opaque. the higher the proportion of pigment, the more opaque the resin. it’s my understanding that the only pure pigment is white. tints do not contain solids, and their use results in a resin that is translucent. of course, the intensity of the color is raised by using more tint in the mix. now, lets say you want an opaque green lam layer. you have to mix both green tint and white pigment into your resin, unless someone already markets the color you want already pre-mixed.
Hey Ramon, Maybe I’m confused … I purchase polyester pigments (in concentrate) from fiberglass supply co. If I’m doing an opaque lam job I mix enough white and whatever color I’d like the lam to be to ‘taste’ and make sure that when mixed into the resin the color is right and has no show-through when on the mixing stick. here Pigments are creating an Opaque. If I want to do a tinted lam job, where you can see the foam/stringer through the colored glass, I’m using the same pigment concentrate, just less of it so that it is not solid/opaque in the lam. Should this not work? It sounds like you might be saying that the colorant is different - one with solids - one without. Or do you mean the effect is different - one with solid/opaque colors - the other a see-through tint…? I’ve done both solid and tinted lams - using the same pigment additive to the resin - but in different concentrations. I think all this may be semantics, or (in my limited experience) I’ve never come accross tint colors, as opposed to pigment colors. Help! Thanks, Eric J
Before you answer - It may just be a problem of what FS supply is calling things. If the color additive is traditionally called a ‘tint’ - and the white is the ‘pigment’ - I can understand the difference here. FS supply calls them all pigment concentrates - white / blue / green / whatever - no tints listed in their catalog. so I’ve always looked at tints/opaques as applications, not products. EJ
This is an interesting topic.I agree that is the application versus the color agent.Most opaque lam jobs nowadays are based in white…its a pastel look.You can do a true opaque red if you want to put 30 bucks worth of pigment into the resin.Blue tends to mess up the hardening characteristics if you add too much.I am of the opinion that pigments or tints are not quite up to the standards of the past.Jim Phillips was telling me about this a couple of years ago.Maybe somebody more savvy than I could confirm this Sluggo and Greg seem to be pretty tech minded…hope they respond.In the seventies and earlier we used pigments made by RAM and P.D.I.Nice thread. R.B.
If you buy the pigment concentrate it’s easy to dilute with resin to create a tint. I’m pretty sure that’s all they do before packaging the diluted product as “Tint.” White pigment concentrate does add opacity to any color but can change the color itself - i.e. if you add it to red you will get pink. When I’ve added high proportion of pigment to resin for color panels, pinlines, etc. it has sometimes bled even though I mixed thoroughly and used a bit of extra catalyst. Now I lightly sand and take an acetone rag to any color coats before glossing.
do you mean wiping just pinlines and panels…or tinted cloth lam’s too??
Teddy - I meant the colored resin over the sanded hotcoat. For full laminations color bleed shouldn’t be a problem. Also, I use hot coat or gloss resin for the color.
John is absolutely right.Use gloss resin for color work on hotcoats,be carefull with color to resin ratios.Pastels based upon white are pretty safe as is black.Blues and reds can get ya in the bleed dept.WHen I do resin panels and pins most people are surprised at how I apply it…thick like a gloss.If you get it to thin the resin will not cure properly and the wax rise will be inhibited.Lightly sand with 320 or use a red scotchbrite pad (or both) to cut the wax and dull the finish for adhesion.I wipe with board with a white paper towel and actetone (not too wet) just before glossing.The acetone will clean things up and lightly tack the surface…I do this just before catylizing the batch. R.B.