Glass it yourself?

Let me say that this statement makes me cringe. In my mind I am screaming, PLEASE DON"T! We have just finished a 4 hour shaping session, we've foiled the blank, outlined a beautiful design, adjusted the rockers, put int the concaves and the rails are so darn close its hard to tell if their is a difference. Now you want to glass it yourself!?! I take a deep breath and have to realize that this is not my shape, though it looks so darn good. I reluctantly say good bye and just hope that it turns out semi ok.

Why am I writing this? Glasswork is another art, another step in the board building process that is just as tricky and full of insider secrets as shaping. Laminators, fin setters, hotcoaters and sanders all have respective titles because each is a uniquely individual job that falls under the umbrella of "board building"...oh I almost forgot polishers those people are in a class by themselves.

So you want to glass your own board ask yourself this: What fin cant and toe do I want and what will it achieve, what's the temperature and humidity outside and how will that effect my glassjob? (Assuming you don't have a climate controlled area) How fast do I kick the resin, whats the optimum amount to achieve resin to cloth ratio? How do I cut the laps, how do I prep for hotcoat, how do I hotcoat, what sanding paper should I use....and we haven't even discussed epoxy resins! The questions continue to mount up and I cannot answer them in a few minutes, hours or days, in fact it is something that must be taught over time in order to do it right. Sure you can slap some resin and cloth on your new shape but why? Watch a you tube video on glassing and if it looks easy here's a clue IT AINT!