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balsa or any super light plywood ?

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mattthieu
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balsa or any super light plywood ?

Postby mattthieu » Wed May 22, 2013 10:37 pm

hi

does anyone know about balsa plyvood or any light plywood ?

just did one board with standard birch plywood ( caus ei cant get a vacuum pump to build my foam board so, i'm practicing on a ply one, screwed to the rocker table ) and, it's super heavy.
by the way, did not get so mutch rocker back bend, maybe 30 percent, maybe due to the concave ???

OK it's a 158x50 and i used 3 plys or 5mm one, but center one quite hollowed.

sanded down on the edges and exrepmitys a lot and evenso, still really heavy ( and has no glas on it....yet )


so, balsa plywood ???

super light plywood ?

thanks

oh, i'm in canada

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Re: balsa or any super light plywood ?

Postby Ross77 » Thu May 23, 2013 1:29 pm

Hi Matthieu

I used paulonia wood for mine. It was tough to source, but there was a guy in UK who bought a load from china and was then selling it off. I ordered a small quantiy from China but expensive in small amounts- super cheap per length if buying a container load!

It is similar to balsa wood, slightly more dense but stonger (if my memory serves me well!)

good luck with it. I love my home made board, works really well.

Ross

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Re: balsa or any super light plywood ?

Postby mattthieu » Thu May 23, 2013 2:02 pm

thanks for that men !

but, that's really plywood sheet's a was looking for.

IF i was to use stripes of wood and glues them together, then, i woudl use homegrown cedar from the local woodworking guy arouns my corner. he makes terrific sheets of cedar like countertops ( but light ) the size you ask him, local grown, makes great alaias ....

ply looks cool to me cause it's fast building, easy to rocker and concave, really easy !!!

someone knows ultralight ply ???

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Re: balsa or any super light plywood ?

Postby zfennell » Fri May 24, 2013 12:29 am

go with the cedar.

it will be lighter than any plywood you will find.

6mm core with 4 oz glass on top and bottom to set rocker
or

12 mm core needs no glass.
or

2 - 6mm sheets can be sandwiched to make your own 'ply' wood


..just a thought

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Re: balsa or any super light plywood ?

Postby zob » Fri May 24, 2013 12:34 pm

Hi! I made quite a few out off paulonia plywood, 2,4 mm thick. I think it is made from 2 layers of 0,7 mm vener sheets and 1 mm in the middle.
Holds the shape like a charm.

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Re: balsa or any super light plywood ?

Postby mattthieu » Fri May 24, 2013 4:28 pm

palownia ply, now that's the thing i'm looking for ! anyone know where to get some ?

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Re: balsa or any super light plywood ?

Postby zob » Fri May 24, 2013 6:40 pm

I got it from a company that makes furniture for caravans, motorhomes,...
They get 3,4 mm plys as a packing sheet for thicker plys they use. They can be damaged on edges from packing straps and/or a bit dirty, but at 5 €/sheet I am not picky. And I can always get enough material for one board out of one sheet (and the dirty side goes inside :cool2: ).

I also got some Oukume ply sheets from them at 2,5 mm, same price. It is a bit heavier and stifer, but get shorter inserts and you can go even thinner on your board.

I hope this helps. Try finding a bussines that buys or sells thicker paulonia plys and you can find a cheap source of "packing" plys.

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Re: balsa or any super light plywood ?

Postby bay surfer » Fri May 24, 2013 6:43 pm

You only need 2 sheets of 5mm ply(still to stiff and heavy), use 3mm birch ply on top, with glass between, for a total of 9mm, If you have concave, the board should be bombproof, and still weigh less than a Liquid Force Board.
Sandwiched ply with glass in between. Screw down the center then midway then outside, Sqeezes excess epoxy out and eliminates voids and cuts wt, Can eliminate top ply at fins, to flatten out tips and cut weight.
Do not epoxy for finish its heavy, a few coats of fast dry Poly will do better and cut wt to.

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Re: balsa or any super light plywood ?

Postby dejavu » Fri May 24, 2013 10:29 pm

Hey guys you have really got my attention now. I am interested in building a board. Can somebody please give me some instructions.

mattthieu
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Re: balsa or any super light plywood ?

Postby mattthieu » Sat May 25, 2013 12:59 am

as mentionned before, glass in between is no good ! strenght wise !

make the board, easy : to give it rocker and concave i screwed the outside of the board to a very quick made rocker table, basicaly, you just draw the shape of the board on the little to big square pieces of ply ( i used 3 times 5 mm, center one verry holowed to save wheight ) and glued them together, then screwed them on the table, shape holds VERRY well, then, sanded a LOT of material down with power belt sander and finishing with disc sander ( both cheapest tools, work fine ) to thinner board on the edges. sanding is easy as you have the plys from the wood to guide you into how mutch sand where to make it even. made holes on top, put inserts inside, epoxy to fill, sand down, glass botom ( one layer ) wraping a bit on the sides.

i'm there now, have to sand edges, glass top, sand everything and maybe a finishing coat, maybé not on the botom and a finishing coat on the top to make a skateboard like finish to ride it strapless.

still, TO heavy, and, cant find thinner then 1/4 here !! is going to be more off a light wind kiteskate !!

next time, project it to hollow 2 sheets, mirror like, and glue them on the table hollowed face inside, so, i'm going have a 10mm board, but with hollows from 4 to 6 mm on the inside, like the hull of a hollow surf ..... glass, ahd, should be stiff and light.


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