I have some Vintage boards that had crude repairs from the past and I’m wondering if there are certain things that are frowned on by traditionalists?
I know one of the things that usually takes away the appeal from vintage boards is adding a leash plug. But are there certain things about typical repairs that would fine for modern boards, but looked down on for vintage?
For example… the board I’m planning to repair has some old yellow marine epoxy that was used to patch the dings. The dings aren’t even flush so I’m thinking about leveling it off with a similar pigment, but I didnt know if making it look too new might be worse? Almost like covering over the history of the board?
You might want to post some pics for a visual, I’m having a hard time understanding how leveling off a ding would make an old board look “too new”.
When working on vintage boards I try not to cover up with solid pigments, but as long as you’re matching the color as best as you can, I think there is little danger of making an old board look new with a few ding repairs.
At the end of the day its your board, do it the way you like.
Thanks Huck… really nice work on that board you repaired. Looks awesome!
The one I’m working on was kinda hard to describe because I think putting new Jet black repairs next to the 70’s faded black might take away from the overall rustic look of it. Espicially tracing around the Vinson logo and things like that.
I like how you blended the modern repairs, without making your board look like it’s from two different era’s. I guess that’s what I’m trying to do with my repair.
Nice early 70s board. I wouldn’t fuss over the repairs looking too new. As vintage boards go, repairs just come with the territory. What I truly dislike is when a lot of solid color is added to cover ugly bits on a board that had no color to begin with.
That rail where the Vinson lam is looks like it delammed from a good whack, possibly a little dry when built and not saturated enough from the beginning? That will be tricky to get it looking right, but not impossible.
Thanks for all the helpful info… makes me feel better about attempting the repairs. I’ve done similar in the past, but never with pigment. Maybe I’ll leave the rail repair for later. Yeah Sammy there was a big gouge just below the rail that probably lifted the glass around it. It’s on the other side of the larger patch below. I guess they must’ve taped off the letters in the first layer of repair… and then covered with a top coat? Looks like the pigment is definately under a layer of glass.
The other pic is how the original looks on the opposite rail…
Yeah, the previous repairs are definitely ugly, plus they look like they were badly done, too light on the resin (why you see the cloth) and just generally cobby. Also, black- yeah, I’m a little surprised it hasn’t delaminated.
Sand those ugly old repairs off, buy some black pigment and have at it. Use some in the filler, some in the lamination, feather the edges nicely and with any luck it wont be a regular shape when you’re done. Hotcoat, also pigmented. If it was a tint going this wild with color would matter but with black pigment like this, naah.
Sand then wet sand nice and smooth, put on a little gloss, polish the whole board , maybe a little boat wax and that’s gonna be as invisible as you’re gonna get.
Oh, and keep it out of the sun. The Greg Noll Mickey Dora Black Cat models are very rare for a reason and any you see are probably fakes. The very very few real ones are pricy. They would cook themselves on a hot day at the beach, I watched one delam one afternoon.
Chuck shaped me some fine single fin’s during his 70’s stint in Santa Cruz, from daily drivers to winter guns…he was a highly respect craftsman that was proud of his craft…RIP
Personally favor old boards repaired watertight… all the sunburn, bumps and bruises left as is…battle scars proudly earned giving service
Right? My buddy Tim had this popout, a lovely dark green it was. Now, the layup on it was glass matt, and thick, so it didn’t delam, but melt wax? Hooboy.
So we came up with a little game.
We would take it down to the pond. Paddle it out to the swimming raft there, bring it aboard. Leave it deck up for a while, so the wax ( Gulfwax canning paraffin, it was that far back) would melt, then put it in the water, deck down. The wax would harden up nice and smooth, like the wax coat on an Edam cheese. And then the sport began-
One kid would flip it over and back upright, so the wax was nice and wet. Kid number two would run across the raft and leap onto the deck of the board and ZISSSSSSH, slide off the nose and into the water. Then it was his turn to do the board flipping while Kid #1 got to do the slide bit.
And sometimes you’d slip and crack your elbow on the deck, sometimes your head would hit with that hollow dropped watermelon sound. Eventually, we’d get too banged up, or tired of it and do something else.
