Ski Builders Forum

What is the best way to clean up the top sheet after it comes out of the press? Can I use a buffer to with a cleaner or polish to make the top sheet shine? What do you recommend?

thanks

i d cover the topsheet before laying up to prevent any scratches or dirt. maybe with an adhesive foil..

or: use veneer, sand it, oil it!... i m going to leave plastics from topsheets and sidewalls, as it brings always trouble

Totally depends on what the top sheet is. Are you using plastic? Wood? Nothing at all?

If you want a glossy top, the glossy clear top sheet works great (SBM carries it). You'll be hard pressed to make the semi-clear stuff blank slate sells be glossy.

For wood lots of guys are using polyurethane, I think it's a bit of an art form. Brazen and Skidesmond I think do some of the best wood finishing on the site, their stuff turns out mirror smooth sometimes.

P-tex topsheet (crown) I've been scrubbing any excess epoxy off with a clean cotton rag soaked in acetone.
Always cover in masking tape when cutting flash and working on bases.
Seems to work for me, YMMV.

sam

I do not use the skibuilder's plastic top sheet. i either use a wood veneer or fabric for graphics.

I have used polyurethan before, and i have also left the ski raw as it comes out of the press. the polyuretahn doesnt seem to give a very protective coat to the wood.

my common tactic is sand the topsheet and sidewalls ect. and then apply another coat of epoxy on top with a paint brush. ( i do not get resulting brush strokes because when the epoxy exotherms, it becomes a gel and smooths out over the ski) the epoxy gives the ski a more durable and long lasting finish than polyurethan...BUT it does come with a downside. to the trained wood-finishers eye, you can see small bubbles in the epoxy... this is a result of the epoxy curing and creating bubbles, and it is a problem that i want to fix....

my method is definitely not the best, but it works well to provide a finish that can get banged around a lot and never chip or scratch the wood.

my goal is to finish the ski still with epoxy but not have the bubbles. any suggestions? I am using west systems, but i am open to trying new epoxy in general...

i think the west is your problem.
when I did what you suggested with west i had the same problem.
i just did a skim coat last nice with the uv stable entropy made for surface coats and had better results than before.
This was on fabric.

For wood veneer I put a skim coat on when I press. I use parchment that gets adhered to the top aluminum skin as mold release. so far this gives me a smooth top sheet after pressing. I do so slight sanding with 120 or 180 grit paper to get rid of bubbles etc before finishing with spar varnish. I do 2-3 brush coats of spar and a final rattle spray can finish with the same spar varnish. This last spray finish give a nice shiny finished look to the top. I'm using minwax helmsman spar for both brushing and spraying.

Thanks Twizz!

As was mentioned depends what the topsheet is and what is you're cleaning off. To start with I skim coat the topsheet w/ epoxy. I use AL for a cassette and I wax them with a floor wax that has carnauba wax in it. Some of that wax will end up on the topsheet. I use turpentine or mineral spirits to thoroughly clean the top before applying any kind of poly, then lightly sand, then thin coats of poly or liner poly. After a few coats I start buffing the top sheet out starting with 220sand paper, 400 then 0000 steel wool and lastly a buffer with polishing compound used for cars. It might take a 1-2 hrs, but looks so nice. Dust is the enemy.

If you use a clear plastic topsheet Sammer has good advice.

Pete - Are you using the same epoxy on the top as you do in your layup or something like Mirror Coat? I used Mirror Coat once, it definitely gives better protection but it has no UV inhibitors, takes a very long time to dry and picked up a lot of dust. The manufacturer recommends using a torch and pass it over the epoxy to force out the bubbles. I didn't do that and should have. Maybe the drying time would have been faster too, IDK.