Just a couple of things I learned about veneers used in compsand construction…
I like hickory. It feels like bamboo as far as stiffness and toughness, but IMHO looks alot better. It doesn’t cost much more and this is what sealed the deal for me- from WIKIPEDIA-
Hickory wood is very hard, very stiff, very dense and very shock resistant. As stated in the U.S. Forestry Service pamphlet on “Important Trees of Eastern Forests”, “there are some woods that are stronger than hickory and some that are harder, but the combination of strength, toughness, hardness, and stiffness found in hickory wood is not found in any other commercial wood.”[6] It is used for tool handles, bows, wheel spokes, carts, drumsticks, lacrosse stick handles, golf club shafts (sometimes still called hickory stick, even though made of steel or graphite), the bottom of skis, walking sticks and for punitive use as a switch (like hazel), and especially as a cane-like hickory stick in schools and use by parents. Paddlesare often made from hickory. Baseballbats were formerly made of hickory, but are now more commonly made of ash. Hickory is replacing ash as the wood of choice for Scottish shintysticks (also known as camans).
Also, I’m over using curly / figured veneers. For me I found they require a LOT of extra work to get them flat. Both times I used them they had “bubbles” despite using 12 inches of vacuum.
Finally, you can use veneer softener to get veneers to to fit tight areas. Spray the stuff on then let it dry. It makes the wood kind of spongy. However, I’m thinking that it might ruin the springy flex qualities of the wood.
Just a couple little tidbits. I hope others chime in.
7-4 x 20-1/2". It was intended as a convertible- 2+1 or thruster. I ended up using the small side bites and the thruster center fin and it’s loose and fast. My next board is going to be a scaled down version with the same fin set up for a daily driver. I’m wracking my brain trying to determine the size. I’m leaning towards 6-5 or 6-7.
Another veneer trick I learned from CJ in Santa Cruz which I highly recommend is to use another layer of veneer as a deck patch. I just use the veneer offcuts. Run the grain perpendicular ( so the two veneers form a 0-90 pattern). It does not lock up the flex at all because the wood going perpendicular has almost no strength in the fore/aft direction. Adds almost no weight (just barely coat the wood with a roller before bagging it on) and on a 1.5 lb EPS board I have zero deck denting. For me deck denting has always led to delam which was the ultimate cause of failure of most of the board’s I’ve tossed in the dumpster.
This is a board glassed with 2oz, patches bagged on, ready for veneer, then glassed 4oz top and bottom.
Instead the 7-4 hickory is 2lb EPS with 4oz under and 4oz over a single veneer and it has a healthy depression under my right knee (on a board at that volume I have to sock it to it with my knee to duck dive). So, to anyone who wants to eliminate the deck denting I heartily recommend CJ’s method.
Howzit llilibel, I know that is Palos Verdes in the back ground but I haven't been to that beach since the 6's and am trying to figure if it is Torrance or which beach it is. I know we used to check it when we went to the South Bay area to surf. Aloha,Kokua
Hey Kokua, yep that is Palos Verdes in the background. I grew up there and mostly surfed Torrance (in the photo) and the Cove and Indicators. I almost never surf Torrance anymore. Almost every time I check it’s just shore pound. It used to be so good. I remember learning on re-forms at Torrance. There is no way the waves break far enough out now that they reform on the inside. Hermosa is pretty much the same. No more sandbars. It gets better once you get up towards North Manhattan or, God forbid, El Porto. El Porto is pretty good and much more consistent, but it’s like Malibu without the perfect point break (crazy crowded).
Funny that. I remember surfing beaches on that stretch in the early 80’s and getting decent waves. Then one year (around when the pier burnt) it seemed to just stop and never break anymore.
I was suprised at how stiff some hickory and cherry 1/32" x 3" x 24" panels (hobby shop going out of business sale) were when I bagged them to my current project. I’m going to have to sand them down a bit to get some flex back…and to think I just started to have my compsand construction dialed in well. sheesh.
I must warn you guys. There is a fine line between making a veneer board too stiff, and getting it just right.
If you have to soften your veneer to make it bend...It's too thick of a veneer
If your veneer has to bend, you are running you veneer too far out to the edge of the board. The veneer should be on the flats, don't run it way out to the the break in the rail...Why? because the board will be too stiff..too much curve in the veneer.
Light glass with veneer (4 oz) is plenty. Unless you are looking to make an indestructible surfboard?
Let the EPS and the wood do there thing....don't try to lock it up with heavy wood, and heavy glass.
I use 4 oz glass, and i haven't had a delam, or a busted Timberflex board yet....But I have made some that are tougher than tanks (real Longboard Killers if you know what I mean)
The trick is making them light enough.........make them light.
Is it a good idea to glue the veneer with contac glue??? I did a test with a small piece of foam ,and glass it with 4oz after... and it looks good and solid.(I won t vacuum)
i now have access to structural contact adhesives that are in Nos tanks expensive but awesome i think they could be used in a dirty rough and ready compsand . even cardboard and contact over eps or mdf trying to think of cheap or free stuff
