I had just finished laminating the bottom of my new “Wood Joint.” The hickory seemed so strong I went to 2 oz (or 2.3 oz to be exact). RR resin. I was done, peeled off the gloves and then I saw these bumps. I thought they were air bubbles… but there’s no air in them. I thought they might be pooled resin but a pass with the squeegee did nothing. They do not correspond to the grain. I previously sanded the veneer with a hard block and 100 grit. There were some irregularities in the veneer, but they went lengthwise, with the grain.
Mystery bumps. Anybody ever see anything like this? Looking into my crystal ball I see a lot of sanding in my future…
Things happen with 2oz glass. It gets kinky, does’nt want to sit flat. I find I can’t walk away from it til the resin has really kicked, and it needs repeated squeegeeing. Working with 2oz the lam takes far more time.
Those crinkles are larger than what I get though…probably a different brand glass. The issue could be strand tension during the weaving process, and I think the crinkles begin where a deeper puddle of resin is left for any longer.
Thanks. The bubbles (?) are perpendicular to the grain. I don’t think it’s in the wood.
I tried to squeegee them flat, to force out any resin that may pooled. Nothing. They just reappeared.The cloth was lying nice and flat before I poured on the resin. I did leave pools while I worked the laps then went back and squeegeed the excess resin off. Maybe, like you say Speed, it’s somehow in the cloth. I’d expect wood to react in unpredictable ways. Never would have expected it from cloth.
I think 2 oz is going inside the skins from now on.
Wrinkles in the glass. When the glass was still on the roll someone stored it on it’s end. Look at any glass box and it says, “don’t set on end.” Speedy’s right, 2 oz has some finicky aspects to it and wrinkles don’t want to lie down. But I’ve seen the same thing is 6 oz too. Just go ahead and finish … maybe just a bit extra resin on the hot coat. These things usually can be delt with and usually come out in the wash. .
Less likely to have the problem, if the laps are done last. Wrinkles can be worked toward the rails, then the lap tuck will keep tension on the strands, holding them in place, until the resin kicks.
OK the weirdness continues. I just finished eating dinner and walked back in to look at the board. NOW I have AIR bubbles! A lot of them. It has to be a good three hours after laminating…and they weren’t there before I sat down to eat dinner a half hour ago. WTF? And the resin has for sure kicked, just slightly sticky. It’s too hard for me to push the bubbles out. Gassing? But it’s a cool day and I lammed at about 3 pm, so the temps have been dropping.
Are you sure the veneer is bonded completely? I did a veneer job that was too big for my pump so there wasn’t enough pressure. Everything looked great until I shot the first coat of sealer. It looks like resin pools from here. Have you tried drilling with a super small bit to see if there is a void under the veneer?
No it must be the glass. I did the deck with 4 oz and it came out perfect (or as close as I can get). I’m going with Greg’s explanation. And two hot coats on the bottom.
Hey Afoaf, you reading this? Did you stand that 2oz on end? You messing with me? Just kidding. Thanks for the glass (kind of). Thanks for coming to the art show. See you when I get back from Italy.
probably better to use it as an underlayer than an outside skin…
sometimes wood oils out of those draker areas can do the same thing, where the resin just “lets go” after a while.
Another thing is that certain resins don’t like heat especially when you mix lam, hot coat, and finish coat types, if the outer layer goes off hotter that the underneath layer likes the you’ll get bubbles and slide offs… This new hogh tech stuff isn’t as simple as the old PU resins used to be…
Took the whole family over to the gallery yesterday afternoon and checked out the art. Your squid board is insanely beautiful! Love the inlays! Everybody found at least 2 or 3 pieces we could have purchased. Too bad the lady running the place was such a snobby bitch! She didn’t acknowledge our presence at all during the half an hour that we spent there. We did get frozen yougurts next door for the entire family. Yum!
I have been plagued by this same thing. I have tried to use a tighter weave 3.2 oz fiberglass thinking that I could get boards that would turn out a little tougher. And sure they are more pressure ding resistant, but I have had the bubbles problem you described. I am now completely convinced after doing 3 boards and using different resins and blanks that it is the fiberglass. Something happens with the tighter weave fiberglasses that causes bubbles to be trapped. Also like you I was glassing when the temperature was falling and I experimented on 2 EPS blanks and a polyurethane blank as well. Needless to say I think I will be going back to the traditional 4 oz and 6 oz glass.
The boards looked perfect when I finished laminating, but when I would walk back in to check on them they would have these air bubbles trapped inside that I know weren’t there when I finished with the squeege. In your case I don’t think it is the dark wood causing it because it happened on all the blanks I tried and it happened in different locations. Using the polyurethane blank convinced me it was not outgassing that sometimes occurs with EPS.
So if there is anyone out there that can explain what in the hell is going on, it would be greatly appreciated. Otherwise I am stuck with a roll of 3.2 oz glass that is sort of use less in board building.
Mark- glad you liked the show. Thanks for checking it out. Sorry you had a bad experience with the owner. Usually art gallery “sitters” are not like car salesmen (it’s not always the owner sitting there, sometimes they have employees). They usually don’t approach you unless asked. They just let you browse unmolested. But the least she/they could have done was offer a friendly greeting.
Afoaf- the gallery I used to work with set the price with the understanding that they could give up to a 20% discount. This gallery never mentioned such a policy, but I’d try. Just tell them, “I’m not familiar with art gallery practices, but I like that painting. I would spend X for it.” Then it’s in her ball park. I hope she would at least let the artist know. A lot of galleries will also let you make installments.
Yeah, that artist “Brunnick” (?) did really nice work. I liked the one he did that looked like low tide Rincon on a knee high day. You might hurry if you like that Santa Monica Sunset one. Almost everyone I talked to liked that one.
