Does anyone know that current surfboard foams have very toxic side effects .Have any of you read the EPA’S Data sheet on this stuff? EPS sounds better for your health and when it goes to the dump site it Bio- degrates rather than pollute the watertable with TOXIC TDI . I would BOYCOTT ANY PRODUCT MADE WITH THIS SUBSTANCE if you enjoy good health and love surfing.
Nice thing about EPS is that almost all of it is recyclable, right back to the plant you buy it from. There are also some urethane foams made with MDI which has a much lower toxcicity. Unfortunatly these are not available to surfboard manufacturers in the US.
John, please finish your thoughts. 1)Right, TDI is a very harmful substance and may cause cancer but once the liquid products have turned into foam, it is trapped in chemical bindings. The liquid is harmful, not the blown foam. 2)EPS is a foam based on polyester not a polyurethane foam. It will certainly not biodegrate. PU foam is recyclable ( pyrolysis ) as is EPS foam. But it is easier to recycle EPS since it is not a thermosetting polymer. 3)Lots of energy is needed to produce EPS. 4)As far as recycling is concerned, the worst part of the whole board is the glass layer: fiberglass is not recyclable and the cost of separating the glass and the polymer matrix ( whether polyster resin or epoxy ) is too high. 5)MDI and TDI do both contain isocyanates, they are both harmful. 6)If you have decided to boycott every product which contains TDI, you should at first get rid of your fridge, all the insolation materials used around your house, your furniture ( it could be painted with PU varnish that does contain TDI) 7)If you love surfing, boycott instead the surf clothings, shoes etc. produced overseas and flown around half the earth and get a board that lasts for 5 years. 8)And, if you find a better alternative for blanks, besides wood, please post it, i would love to make a greener board.
Dr eco. Thinks you saved me some time. Most people can read but they can’t/ won’t dig deep enought to find out what it really means. Ie. lead paint causes brain damage, but only if you injest it. So be carefull when you are around old paint with lead. That does not mean that all old houses should be destroyed, just because they were painted with lead based paint.
Doc, EPS is based on polystyrene not polyester. In fact Clark foam is polyester polyol based. Walker is a polyether. TDI based foams (Clark, Walker and all the Aussie foams) have 2000 times the emissions of MDI foams, so there is a difference. I for one feel that polystyrene foams do make fine boards.
Right, it is polystyrene, sorry. I thought clark uses polyurethane, carbon dioxide blown…
14 years old?! Wow. I found this thread when researching harmful effects of the PU foam dust as planning on getting kids building their own boards. I am a bit nervous now to be honest. TDI, MDI, it’s all toxic stuff. I do wish there was a way to make a fully eco board (as much for marketing potential as eco friendliness!). Does anyone have any updates in the 14 years since last post?! I heard about Agave boards. Wondering whether I could find some wood and glue a blank just for fun, to try making a more eco board, not a fully eco one as thats probably nigh on impossible.
Here we go again .
You can always use pine but it’s heavy.
Wood is good, but also heavier. EPS foam may be the way to go.
Apologies, I made the mistake of thinking a discussion forum was about “discussion”.
You had no time to comment on the question but time to make a short unhelpful remark. Thanks for that. If the thread bores you, you could always NOT READ IT.
Yeah not keen on EPS but might try a board with pine. I would certainly enjoy working with the wood. Thanks
News flash. Life is fatal. All dusts, resins and solvents are harmful to some degree or another. Surfing can kill you. Take proper precautions. Live your life. Enjoy.
Hey preacher, do you wear a seat belt in your car? Wear a helmet on a motorbike? Duck when someone throws a punch at your face?
Yeah, thought so. Life is fatal, for those who take reasonable and sensible precautions where possible without ruining the fun of life, it tends to be fatal a bit later. Mind the traffic won’t you
Here we go again .
I’ll add that all sorts of things in the boardbuilding have been represented as safe, eco, not toxic yadda yadda yadda. When you strip away the marketing bullsheet its all toxic. Solvents and resins are toxic. Its just a fact of life. Some are just toxic in different ways or differing amounts. Its a toxic soup of chemicals that get hard and strong when combined. Best not to get any of it on your skin or breathe any of it in.
Yeah, everyone seems to jump on this (thanks to years of marketing bull shit being shoved down all our throats, bull shit I know well too) and assume I am looking for some pearly white (with a hint of rose) way to make a surfboard! I am not. Just curious about trying some other methods, and not for the environment’s sake, as I don’t believe most of the global warming massive bull shit industry based on typically fraudulent science. So there ya go, no tree hugger here. I know toxicity is everywhere, I know that the same people who preach about global warming actually push legislation to irradiate my kids heads every time they go to the dentist. It’s all fucken bull shit. I am not on a drive to change the world, just fancied playing with some other materials, especially if it means I don’t have to gear up with my full face air fed mask, and just play around a bit.
“Here we go again” - Since you like pulling on people’s chains, how long did it take you to crawl out of the abortion bucket exactly?
Here we go again