I have a couple ?'s about volan rail (as seen on many boards of the mid/late 60’s and some modern boards). I was wondering, first of all, if the rails are visible because of overlaping deck and bottom laminations–sorta like how the rails on a board with a tinted deck and bottom are darker??–I’m guessing this is not the case, but rather the volan is applied to the rail as it’s own peice of fiberglass.? I’ve seen roles of volan in widths of about 6inches in boat shops–is this the stuff that’s used?? If it is, then what’s the proper procedure for lamination? Do they go on before deck or bottom lamiation? How are the held down? Do you need to tape anything off? Are the hard to do? Is there any cutting needed after the resin has started to gel? Do the (possilbe) cut lines need to be sanded before further lamination?? I’m just totally guessing on this whole procedure, a complete expaination on how to do/acheive volan rails would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks, Graham
Graham: Actually your first guess was correct. The cut laps as they are called are visible mainly because of the finish used on the cloth itself. As is is there are several finishes available on fiberglass cloth, one is Volan and the other Silane. Not sure of when Silane became available but most of the classics were done up with the Volan finished cloth and on a clear lam a new board had a visible tint. Beacause of this a laminator could not “free lap” or leave the laps uncut as it would look pretty bad. The lines are razor cut and ground down as needed before the next layer laid down. Seems the perfect place for pinlines to start showing up in the finish on boards doesn’t it? Today the materials are more refined for appearance and clarity and cutlaps are a rarity in mass produced boards. Hope that helps. Tom Sterne>>> I have a couple ?'s about volan rail (as seen on many boards of the > mid/late 60’s and some modern boards). I was wondering, first of all, if > the rails are visible because of overlaping deck and bottom > laminations–sorta like how the rails on a board with a tinted deck and > bottom are darker??–I’m guessing this is not the case, but rather the > volan is applied to the rail as it’s own peice of fiberglass.? I’ve seen > roles of volan in widths of about 6inches in boat shops–is this the stuff > that’s used?? If it is, then what’s the proper procedure for lamination? > Do they go on before deck or bottom lamiation? How are the held down? Do > you need to tape anything off? Are the hard to do? Is there any cutting > needed after the resin has started to gel? Do the (possilbe) cut lines > need to be sanded before further lamination?? I’m just totally guessing on > this whole procedure, a complete expaination on how to do/acheive volan > rails would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks, Graham
Graham:>>> Actually your first guess was correct. The cut laps as they are called are > visible mainly because of the finish used on the cloth itself. As is is > there are several finishes available on fiberglass cloth, one is Volan and > the other Silane. Not sure of when Silane became available but most of the > classics were done up with the Volan finished cloth and on a clear lam a > new board had a visible tint. Beacause of this a laminator could not > “free lap” or leave the laps uncut as it would look pretty bad. > The lines are razor cut and ground down as needed before the next layer > laid down. Seems the perfect place for pinlines to start showing up in the > finish on boards doesn’t it? Today the materials are more refined for > appearance and clarity and cutlaps are a rarity in mass produced boards. > Hope that helps.>>> Tom Sterne Tom, thanks for clarifying. Your explaination’s diffinately helpful Things should be much easier now and I won’t go off on some wild goose chase. Thanks alot!
Graham:>>> Actually your first guess was correct. The cut laps as they are called are > visible mainly because of the finish used on the cloth itself. As is is > there are several finishes available on fiberglass cloth, one is Volan and > the other Silane. Not sure of when Silane became available but most of the > classics were done up with the Volan finished cloth and on a clear lam a > new board had a visible tint. Beacause of this a laminator could not > “free lap” or leave the laps uncut as it would look pretty bad. > The lines are razor cut and ground down as needed before the next layer > laid down. Seems the perfect place for pinlines to start showing up in the > finish on boards doesn’t it? Today the materials are more refined for > appearance and clarity and cutlaps are a rarity in mass produced boards. > Hope that helps. yep-the finish on volan is a green tint, therefore it exaggerates the color when the rails are lapped-tends to be a bit darker of a green than rest of board cause of the three plus layers of green glass. > Tom Sterne