Ski Builders Forum

Copying OAC and starting a place holder

Looking forward to see this

Yet again, in the middle of negotiating another lease/searching for a new place to rent.

Currently learning how to apply polyurethane though. I can now understand why it is a skilled art to make that stuff shine.

amidnightproject wrote:Yet again, in the middle of negotiating another lease/searching for a new place to rent.

Currently learning how to apply polyurethane though. I can now understand why it is a skilled art to make that stuff shine.

The biggest mistake when using poly is applying it to thick and over brushing. You can thin a Spar varnish/poly w/ Mineral Spirits. Apply thin coats (I found a foam brush works really well), don't over brush it. Lay it on, look for drips, let it level out, walk away. When thoroughly dry, lightly sand w/ 220, wipe down w/ tack cloth, repeat.

After the final coat, rub out w/ 0000 steel wool and a tiny amount of soapy water or mineral oil. This creates a little slurry which helps buff out the finish. I started doing the final buffing w/ a rubbing compound, a power buffer helps.

yeah it's work, results are really nice and the buffing builds up the triceps :-)

skidesmond wrote:

amidnightproject wrote:Yet again, in the middle of negotiating another lease/searching for a new place to rent.

Currently learning how to apply polyurethane though. I can now understand why it is a skilled art to make that stuff shine.

The biggest mistake when using poly is applying it to thick and over brushing. You can thin a Spar varnish/poly w/ Mineral Spirits. Apply thin coats (I found a foam brush works really well), don't over brush it. Lay it on, look for drips, let it level out, walk away. When thoroughly dry, lightly sand w/ 220, wipe down w/ tack cloth, repeat.

After the final coat, rub out w/ 0000 steel wool and a tiny amount of soapy water or mineral oil. This creates a little slurry which helps buff out the finish. I started doing the final buffing w/ a rubbing compound, a power buffer helps.

yeah it's work, results are really nice and the buffing builds up the triceps :-)

Thanks for those tips!

I've been using 400. I'll give 220 a try. I've got plenty of scrap material to learn on which is great. This way I'm not ruining the look of an actual finished set of skis

So steel wool eh? Just the sound of that sounds to violent for a smooth finish. I'll give it a whirl

Have you never used steel wool? The stuff is great, it's like the softest grit sandpaper you could get.

The only time I've used polyurethane was for these little signs I made (completely non ski related). After sanding and steel wooling, I went at it with the same polishes I use on my Lotus. It came out like a mirror, but took forever!

First Thjng j do is sand the tops after cutting out the skis. I go at them with 180 usually. Then spar varnish brush coats. I wet sand in between coats with progressively finer grit 220-320-400. I usually do 2-3 brush coats and 1-2 rattle can spray spar. The spray coats really make things nice and shiny.

twizzstyle wrote:Have you never used steel wool? The stuff is great, it's like the softest grit sandpaper you could get.

The only time I've used polyurethane was for these little signs I made (completely non ski related). After sanding and steel wooling, I went at it with the same polishes I use on my Lotus. It came out like a mirror, but took forever!

Yea loads! starting fires with 9volts and polishing KC lights on vehicles.

And it always left some sorta swirl mark. I'll have to try the 0000 stuff.


Never used spar Vinman. I'll give it a shot.

Aside from nylon, topsheet sucks. It just gets beat and you can't repair it. Looking for something better

System Three LPU is pretty durable, more so than poly but it's like $60 a qt. Cleans w/ water.

When rubbing out the finish use a long back-n-forth motion instead of circular.

On a side note about vehicle lights... I bought a kit to clear up the fog of the clear plastic covers and all they sell you is various fine grits of wet/dry sand paper and a polishing compound. All of which you can buy yourself at the hardware store for much less. Get grits of automotive sand paper (wet/dry), 600, 1000, 15,000, and polish compound.

Yea the stuff they sell you in the store can be had for much cheaper. Except the ones that have the spinny drill attachment for buffing out.

Think I will be adding a second PID controller to my setup today to let me control top and bottom temps independently.

You'll like this. You will be ale to induce camber with your heat system more easily. Add a second on off switch also. I use my on off switch it things are not ramping up evenly to keep the temps within a 5 deg difference between top and bottom.

That's exactly why I did it. Better control over the temps so I can induce camber/rocker. I already had it setup for two relays. I had two pid's in it and two separate switches for each blanket. I just had some issues when I originally setup the controller unit and never got around to the second relay. Got that squared away now though!

About to go setup to lay up some 177's for someone. I'll have some pics when I'm done.

decided to clean instead haha. hopefully will be back with some real content in the next day or so! woo!

Did these guys last night. It's a charter of Casco Bay, Maine.