Ski Builders Forum

About to try a veneer topped board. planing on finishing it with entropy casting resin. Now before i get to finishing what are the best ways to protect veneers during pressing.

thanks

I have never protected mine at all, I just press it and then sand and finish it.

If you are skim coating with your layup epoxy...Use spray adhesive to line your top aluminum layer with parchment paper. Lightly spray ypur aluminum and your parchment. do not just put tge parchment down on top of your layup. this will wrinkle for sure as the paper slumps into the tip and tail curves. The result should be a smooth matte finish on your top sheet. Just be sure to get the parchment as smooth as possible. The bending force from the press on the aluminum skin will tension the parchment and kind of pull it/smooth it out also.

This method requires very little sanding, if any, especially since you are using epoxy as your top coat. Be sure to lightly flame your entrop CLR to pop the micro bubbles. I coat, flame, wait 5-10 min and re-brush to smooth out any fish eyes, reflame. Repeat this a couple times but don't over do it.

I find ~75-80g of mixed CLR is about right for a pair of skis.

thanks vineman, im looking for a minimal sanding/finishing solution.

I use a high viscosity mould release, which doesn't leave any bumps or anything like a wax. That is all. I skimcoated during layup, then sanded a bit, but the sanding wasn't really necessary.

Anyone have pics of the finish they got using epoxy skim coat?

Look in my journal, you'll see pics of my last set with matte finish and glossy finish the matte finish is my skim coat without any sanding directly out of the press, flashed out and then sidewall profiled before applying the CLR top coat.

site seems to be down vin

My journal on this website....

Sorry I found the journal vinman. Top work!

One thing I would recommend to the OP is to think about beveling the veneer top sheet so that it wont get chipped so easily. You also need to dress the sidewall so even though your top is finished you still need to finish the side of the veneer and the insert holes with something.
My method which has worked quite well is to press with a dry top sheet which allows hand sanding which is a very good thing IMO, you can bevel the edges and get a nice smooth look rather than a square edge. I then wipe on PU with a rag and rub that back with green scotchbrite.

here is a pic of the lam right out of the press.




Goz, sweet veneers on that splitter, love it.

god tip on dressing the sidewalls. I use my dremel to round over the finished edge after applying the epoxy topcoat.

This may be a total noob question but just to clarify is this the general process?
staining/finish the veneer before layup
press the ski with a skim coat of resin
Sand/trim/finish ski
Coat with clear epoxy finish?

I press mine with a dry veneer then sand and coat with polyurethane. I just pulled one out today actually

Out of the press, the epoxy on top is seepage through the veneer, this one also had a fair few borer holes in it so it got a bit more than usual.


Cutting the flash


After sanding


After clear coat

I would not stain your veneer. If you do be sure it's water based. I have used some water based dye on some small inlay pieces for color effects but never on a whe top sheet. Oil based would be a very bad idea. Plus IMHO the reason to use veneer is because you like the effect and character of the wood look. The skim coat of epoxy will bring some of this out. Then adding a clear top coat brings this out even more.

If you skim cost the entire top it won't look blotchy from bleed thru. See my post above for more info.

I did that on my first board vin and found that I could not get a uniform finish because where I had finished the sidewall and inserts had no epoxy. When I put polyurethane over it I could see a difference in the areas that had epoxy to those that did not.
Do you find this?