If I had to build up the perimeter of a THIN LAMINATE blade
and have it come out nice: (A thicker wood blade would be slightly different)
Do one side at a time....
Mask area to be built up 1/4" inch back from edge.
Sand to tape for prep. Do both sides of paddle at this time.
Pull masking tape and retape w/ fresh again at 1/4" line. Also place another layer of tape over this one at 1/8" or half the distance of first one to edge..... do above 1/4" & 1/8" on one side only....
Mask 'backside' of repair to over hang 1/4"+ out away from edge.... creating a dam so to speak.
Important!> Make sure the dam comes STRAIGHT OUT from edge and does not curve towards or away from area being built up. This is one reason to not have tape come out more than 1/4" or so from edge.. no worries on straight runs but doing the curved tips will cause tape to want to curl....Use more (pieces) tape if you want to do more than 1/4" or so.. Really press the tape down around any chips or chunks you are trying to fill in too. If chunk is ragged , sand edges smooth and even bevel it a bit on both sides for more mechanical grip.
A smart thing to do with tape in hand here is to mask w/ paper the rest of paddle now. Shaft too.
Use Uni carbon or glass, forget kevlar, not worth the trouble........ note; to 'make' your own uni, buy some cloth which is more useful for other projects and just pull a few long bundles out of it, viola ! Uni.
Wet out with Epoxy and lay onto sanded-taped-masked-horizontally sitting blade. If you have to, place shaft LIGHTLY in a vice to achieve best compromise of levelness. Do not use too much resin. Experiment on table first to see how much is needed....place wet out long strands ( wet out on table first) into position & poke it into position just along the 1/8" tape line and hanging off the edge.
Gently work out as much resin as poss and still keep strands in place with the 1/8" tape line just showing. (This is the best reason to play with some on the table first.... told you so already.)
Once it is not so juicy , pull 1/8" tape.
Smooth out biasing strands and excess resin towards edge by laying some wrinkle free 4 mil plastic down over strands starting at 1/4" tape line and moving outward. Should have a tiny bit of resin 'backfill' to tape 1/4" tape line but strands stay in place at 1/8".
Let cure before pulling plastic.
Pull all tape including backside and repeat above on other side..... lightly sanding for prep again if excess resin migrated under tape on what was the 'backside' initially.
If done right the only sanding ness on blade is a tiny bit from the thickness of the 1/4" tape line..... a good reason to use the best 3M Pinstripe tape + it will do the curves of the blades in a single piece.
Even this little line will probably be better than the jagged edge like before. Would be cool to add some pigment to resin for a colored edge look.
Sand 'new land' on outside edge of paddle to taste.... should be plenty there to file first followed up with 320/600 wet or dry.
Use in best of health and happiness.
Aloha,
pog
Submitted by onnopaddle on Sun, 11/09/2008 - 9:29pm
Nice edge protection strip work flow Pat, you make it sound easy.
Cheers Rambo
#1 Sun, 11/09/2008 - 11:40pm