I have recently made a hollow wooden surfboard and its time to glass her! Im pretty good at glassing and I am not familar with epoxy resin. I used oak for the planking on the top and redwood on th bottom. People are saying fiberglass resin wont bond to the wood as well as epoxy will. Does anyone no anything about fibbergalssing wood and if so what kind of epoxy should I use????
surfer98-
I’ve glassed several boards for Danny Hess who also makes beautiful wooden surfboards. Check the link to see the finished boards and the learn about the bio-epoxy resin used. I personally liked laminating over wood (vs foam) since it’s hard surface gives you something to squeeze the glass and resin against. The flexibility and adhesion of the epoxy is better for wood too, vs polyester resin. Danny’s given great feedback on the end result. We make the resin here in CA, so can help you if you decide to go that route. You can also get the resin now through Foam-EZ who supplies lots of other board building goodies as well…
http://entropyresins.com/hess-surfboards-sustainable-surfboards
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Do you like a high gloss? Use Polyester!
I would use poly ! never had a prob with it
From a chemistry perspective, epoxy has better adhesion (OH groups) than poly to any substrate, foam, wood, glass, etc. It also has higher elongation (flex or less brittleness) which usually translates to better ding resistance, especially over a hard substrate (like wood).
What that translates to in a wooden surfboard is somewhat subjective, and also depends on how the board is used and/or abused. It may be the case that poly works good enough most of the time for this application, and you don’t need the full benefits of an epoxy resin, which does at the end of the day cost more, and has slower working times.
If you’re still looking for more opinions on epoxy choice, I might look to other production wooden board builders, Hess, Grain, Timberline, etc. or even wooden boat builders, and see what they use.
Poly is so bright and beatiful on wood.
I love Epoxy on HPSB’s however for Art Pieces Poly is the richest looking finish!
Surfding
There’s lots smarter than me out there but I think you can lam and hot coat with epoxy and gloss with polyester. No? How 'bout it S’ding?
This board: http://www.swaylocks.com/resources/detail_page.cgi?ID=884&d=1'ID' was my first HWS, laminated with poly resin. lasted almost 5 years with no dings or delaminations. Died after my (stupid) brother in law tore the fin appart, filled with water and then tried to -unsuccesfully- repair it without allowing the insides to properly dry. I've only used poly because here in Mexico there's no epoxy available, always with good results.
Hope that helps,
Jack
Is it really neccessary to glass a wood surfboard?
The board i was building was a hollow wood board and if you didnt glass it the wood would absorb water and the board would fall apart.