> Hey Paul, great idea for joining strips.

Thanks, now as for your other questions:

> I have just gotten a hold of a large quantity of VERY tight weave 3 oz
> fiberglass cloth (it makes great tape - anyone got any ideas for a jig to
> cut long straight strips?) and I am going to try a test run to see how the
> panels react to being fiberglassed flat then bent - don't know if the
> lauan will stand the stress.

I took an archery class in college, and I have a real nice bow made from wood, withfiberglass on the front and back sides. It flexes beautifully, but it takes up to 45 pounds of pulling to get it to flex at all.

If flexing is going to be a problem, I'd strongly consider just glassing the ``inside`` of the panel (in your case this would be ``polyestering``, but same idea) With no glass reinforcement on the outside the wood should be easier to bend. I think if you put a microscope on the wood you could problaby see the grain opening up a bit on the outside of the panel as the panel bent. The reinforcement of fabric and resin on the inside would keep it from compressing a lot -- if it would compress at all.

Anyhow, after that panel is bent, when you add resin to it that resin will flow into the wood grain, pores, cells, what have you, and harden into little wedges, or keystones, that will act to keep the panel in the bent shape. The resin, as well, should duplicate the natural proteins that hold the wood fibers together, and bond those fibers tightly. Glass on top of that will add further to the structural strength, and by resisting compression a bit, again force that wood to hold its bent shape.

> A consideration about working with pre-fiberglassed panels is that the
> glass is very hard on cutting edges. For S&G it is not too bad because the
> panel is precut to shape and the edges can be dressed by sanding leaving
> only the drilling to do. Any cutting or drilling would be best done with
> carbide tools.

It would be nice to work with these panels during the time when the resin is hard, but not completely cured. unless you heat postcure your fiberglass you probably have a week to work in, during which time the resin slowly gets harder and harder. Most of my drilling seems to go through a pretty thin layer of plastic and an even thinner layer of glass fibers, so I`ve had no problems wiht using the regular high speed steel drill bits I get at the local hardware store.

> Carbide drill bits are readily available in small sizes at a reasonable
> price. A visit to your local Printed Circuit Board manufacturer and a
> request for the "dull" bits that are past re-pointing will
> probably net you a handful.

Thanks for the tip, but why would I want a dull bit? I've always believed that dull cutting tools are dangerous. The automatic machines they us for drilling PC boards may require a drill bit of a given length. I suppose that when those bits got too short for that use they would still be long enough to be resharpened for boat use, though.

> I hope to be able to make a pair of panels at one time keeping the outside
> faces together against a plastic separator that the surface becomes smooth
> and minimize the sanding. For making the flat panels I was going to apply
> the resin and garden cloth to the panel and flip it over on to a sheet of
> heavy plastic, resin and glass the next side (which would be an outside
> face), add another layer of plastic, then glass the second panel (keeping
> the outside faces toward each other) finishing (the second back side) with
> resin and garden cloth followed with more plastic - a panel to distribute
> the weight and add a bunch of weights (my flock of "led ducks")
> to hold the whole works flat for curing.

Hmmm. I would worry about the panels NOT being flat, as you are using a bunch of strips as a base for laying another bunch of strips. any irregularities on on panel will be mirrored on the other panel. a high spot here will force the matching piece to have a low spot. I think you would be better off using a smooth, flat, surface to work on, and align the face side of each panel. Of course, if your strips are really very regular in thickness you might get away with no problems. Try it.

> If anybody has any suggestions as to what to use a separator/ release
> agent between the panels let me know.

use TWO sheets of 4 mil or 6 mil polyethylene plastic. the resin wont stick to the polyethylene if yu peel it off at a sharp angle, If you use only a single sheet to separate your panels I fear you won`t be able to flex the assembly enough to easily separate the panels. The polyethylene is inexpensive and comes in 10 foot widths and lengths from 25 to hundreds of feet. I think a roll of 10 by 25 feet is around $5 to $8, depending on the thickness. I'd get one, and not unfold it completely, but leave it 2.5 or 5 feet wide, and unroll as much of the 25 foot length as I needed. You could slit this down the middle and get two pieces, each 5 feet wide and 25 feet long, with a fold line at about the 2.5 foot mark, and use them as a bottom layer ( so your stuff doesnt stick to the workbench), a doubled separator layer, and a top layer (so your Lead ducks do-t get permanently bonded)

Poor boy`s vacuum bagging idea with this poly material is as follows: double fold the material at the long open edge and tape that down with duct tape. Double fold one end, unfold enough so you can shove in the crevice tool from your vacuum cleaner, and secure everything with duct tape. Double fold the remaining end and duct tape about 2/3 of it. Attach the crevice tool to the hose on your vacuun cleaner and turn on your vacuum cleaner. This should suck the air out, and give about 10 to 12 pounds per square inch of pressure. You can finish taping the last end, or leave it a bit loose so there is just a slight amount of air entering.

Hope this helps. Let us know how things go, and take some pictures.

Paul G. Jacobson