FP 5..Resin coating a wooden surfboard

http://www.olosurfer.com

The first coat of resin going on the 13 foot paulownia wood surfboard for pipeline known as the future primitive, . .The weekly update. .Steve Roach did the soundtrack called 'steel and bone'
http://www.olosurfer.com

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• wooden
• surfboards
• wood
• surf
• board
• surfing
• surfers
• longboard
• woodwork

[kerranz]

why not use a roller with a resin core? It'd sure be faster, and smoother.

[RoyStewart]

@kerranz I used to use rollers, they are excellent for beginners but I prefer brushes these days, The resin has to be used as a fairing coat and a faster buildup to the required thickness is possible with brushes. By the time the final coat goes on the surface is so smooth that a brush is just as good anyway, particulary if the resin has good self levelling properties.

[hughinjeju]

Hi, how many coats do you usually use?

[RoyStewart]

@hughinjeju A minimum of 4 coats per side, in the early days I did up to 12 coats, with some very thin finish coats applied with a fine foam roller ( sometimes only 100ml of resin on one side of a longboard) but these days I'm able to do it with less.

[hughinjeju]

@RoyStewart Many thanks! I'm working on a hollow cedar 5'11" fish, have three coats on so far, wasn't sure how many were needed. Cheers, ride safe.

[RoyStewart]

@hughinjeju well the main thing is just to make sure that the board is coated i.e no sand through. Because the resin is inevitably used as a fairing coat and is a relatively thin one, sand trough in a few spots normally happens, and more coats are needed to overcome this. The number of coats is less to do with getting a thicker buildup ( cedar is pretty hard even with a thin coat ) and more to do with fairing out bumps and hollows.

[RoyStewart]

We just use 4:1 marine epoxy, several coats, with no fancy additives.

[amwo]

Do you just use hotcoat layers?

Thanks!

[RoyStewart]

Hi, The epoxy resin is toxic until it is cured, so it must be kept off the skin, it isn't very volatile so there's not much in the way of fumes but one should still wear a mask and stay out of the room while it is curing. Once cured it is inert. The resin we are using has good brushing qualities and is designed to lay on well without brush marks, the bottom of the board must still be sanded and polished for hydrodynamic reasons, but decks ( and artwork etc) can just have a brushed finish.

[kristenterrana]

How do you make it so smooth?? Aren't there brush marks on the board? I'm curious, I've never worked with resin, but I want to start coating my artwork with it....isn't it very toxic??