Hi, heres a few pics of my first belly board build, its solid cedar. I am happy with how it turned out, need to come up with a basic logo and then seal it.
What would be the best to seal it with? Is tung oil as good as marine spar varnish. I am thinking a few coats of varnish may be better. Any tips would be great.
Cheers
I like it. Nice work. Lowel
It looks that you glued some wood planks lengthwise together and shaped the wood. Result is very nice looking!
Did you do some cross layers of wood too? If not, it may snap lengthwise if not reinforced.
The answer to your question, depends on your construction.
Since it is not hollow, I wood use a natural oil, like linseed or tung oil and wood apply some layers, which will take some time. If you use the board on a “normal” basis, this should be fine. And the protection can be renewed from time to time
If you did not do anything crosswise, you could eithter take the risk of snapping lengthwise or you can laminated it with glass and resin. Poly or Epoxy is a question of personal preference then, UV curing stuff would go very fast, I would use epoxy, because I always use epoxy…; it does not smell through my house…
Cedar really “pops” Under glass and resin. I would glass with 4 oz and OB Poly. It will look fantastic and be watertight. The color and the grain will pop! If I were going to just wall hang it; I would spray 1 or 2 coats of lacquer sanding sealer, sand with a piece of worn out 220, then a few coats of Satin or Dull Rubbed lacquer.
OB (optical brightener) PU will look shit on wood… You know that Dong
For the past 10 years or so I have been building and riding wooden paipos; most made like yours. I never glass them. Too much weight and a waste of time and materials. I’ve only busted one. In an effort to see how thin I could go it had been pared down to barely 3/8’s and it was only three pieces so only had two glue joints. More Joints=More Strong
Linseed and Tung Oil work well but require quite a bit of time to build up a good coat. Varnish works well but is harder to repair.
I use this stuff because I can build up a good finish in only a couple days as opposed to a week or more with straight oils and it’s very easy to repair when dinged.
And you can eat off it.
First things first. I don’t know what type of glue that you used, but if you used an epoxy glue or a waterproof glue, the board breaking is not likely.
There are three broad coating options:
Resin & fibreglass. Long lasting but it adds some weight
Varnish. Longlasting and used by folks like Uncle G. If dinged, repairs take more time to fix, than if oiled. A shiny finish so you may need wax.
Oil. A nice natural finish, but can require regular reapplication. A while ago I coated a board with tung oil, used it once and forgot about it for a few years. It had developed a varnish like coat. Without recoating boards can get a water stain.
All are options.
Hi bgreen,
I used titebond III for the glue, i have decided to go with a product called Orange tung wood oil. https://www.howardproducts.com.au/orange-tung-wood-oil-500-ml.html
Its 100% natural and I can get it pretty easy.
Cheers Matt
You’ll be fine and if you get hooked, you can always varnish the next board. If you haven’t used tung oil before, there is quite a lot of information about it’s use. One site I looked at recommended multiple coats past saturation and then 30 days to cure. I look forward to hearing how the board rides.
Yeah I guess if you like that old stinky burnt varnish peanut butter look; OB is a little too clear and brilliant. Honestly matey; I don’t know anything you know and don’t care to.
