John, nice balsa. I am about to make a tailblock. What kind of wood did you use for the tailblock and nose? For anyone, are there kinds of wood not to use because of natural oils and subsequent delams or does that just apply to stringers? Thanks, Gary
If you wipe down the tail block with acetone and just as soon as that flashes off, lay on a coat of Lam resin, (no glass just resin) allow this to cure before you glass. The acetone gets the oils, the lam resin stops the air bubbles. Now you can use just about any kind of wood that you want. The biggest problem is with redwood. The heart redwood that we are getting now is too close to the bark, so there are oils still in the heart wood. In the old days the redwood trees were real big around and the trees had sent most of the oils to the bark to protect it from the bugs. I know you did not ask that but I just thought I would thro that in.
Lucky Lab, I agree with the method stated above for preparing a tail block for glassing, but there are so many kinds of woods with different oils and tannins and who knows what else in them, (contact with the dust from silk oak and some mahoganies will give you a rash like poison ivy)I think it’s best to try some samples first. Before you move ahead and get a disappointing result on your new board, pick up some cheap pieces of wood from the scrap bin at your supplier and paint on some resin. If it looks good, then you can invest in more wood without worrying about it. In the past, I’ve had a huge bubble problem with Tulipwood, and I’ve heard from Mitch’s that Clark was not recommending redwood stringers because of delam problems. I’ve used the following woods with good success: Honduran Mahagony, White and Red Oak, Koa, Basswood, Maple, and clear Douglas Fir. Paul Jensen should be able to give you some insight into what kinds of wood work with resin, he builds amazing wood fins and boards. HEY PAUL! Doug.
Gary - I used balsa and redwood. It was just some scrap laying around. The pieces were glued up with 5 minute epoxy and stuck to the blank with Gorilla Glue. I just laminated normally but the wood was old and dry. Hopefully it’ll all stay stuck!
Western Red Cedar is a good replacment for redwood. It’s drier and laminates better and is similar in color. Basswood can be used in place of balsa. Poplar, spruce and douglas fir are also pretty good. Maple is a bit hard when put next to foam. All of these laminate pretty good and are fairly dry. You can also use epoxy to seal the wood. If you do use poly, set the laminating resin fairly slow so you get better penetration.
Just about any wood will work…My recomendation is to use woods of similar density…Polyurethane (Gorrilla Glue) works well to laminate the woods together…I like to use epoxy to lam the tailblock to the foam, and these days I only use epoxy to glass a board…Polyester isn’t predictable in it’s ability to stick to some woods…Gary, I heard raccoon bones look good in a tailblock…
Thanks guys. Being fresh out of racoon bones, I glued up some basswood and mahogony last night with PU glue and will lam with Greg’s epoxy. I like the contrasting colors ala Paul’s hollows. As always, thanks for the info. Gary
Amapola and Plumajillo are two other lesser known sustainably harvested woods that offer excellent shaping characteristics. I have had success laminating these with epoxy with no bubbling or delamination. They are also similar in weight to balsa and beautiful to look at. Birch and salvaged old growth redwood have also worked very well for me.
It’s hard to see the sky from the forest floor…I like it when they kill new trees… Once you hug a logger, you’ll never go back to a tree… Pau http://hollowsurfboards.com
That’s fucked up
Responsible harvest and reforestation are essential methods for maintaining a healty forest.
It was a joke… Where I live forests grow like weeds…Resposible thinning is an inteligent use of the resource… Fly over the PNW sometime and check out how much forest there is…I have… http://hollowsurfboards.com
Gary, The wood that I prefer to use is Brazilian Cherry. It is a fairly dense and heavy wood but the amount needed in a tailblock is relatively small and the weight added is neglegible. I haven’t had any oil issues with it and it comes out beautiful when laminated. I do happen to have a bunch of it milled up into thin pieces and if you want some I’ll bring it by the pub next time I’m in town. Cheers, Matthew
It was a joke… Where I live forests grow like weeds…Responsible thinning is an intelligent use of the resource… Fly over the PNW sometime and check out how much forest there is…I have… Where I live it’s a desert. The forests come from Home Depot. It’s no joke that over 90% of the USA’s old growth forests have been cut down and no longer have sustainability. I’ve seen the 600 year old raw logs loaded on to Japanese factory ships. Raw Logs. I’ve seen hardwood trees sent to the chipper for the use of FAX paper. It is my opinion; the remaining old growth forests should stay intact for watershed preservation and for the Salmon, our canary in the coal mine. I’m all for hugging the logger, but trees smell much better.
I have a two sets of Brazilian Cherry stairs to build soon…I should have plenty on tail block scrap left over…Hmmm…??? http://hollowsurfboards.com