What is the easiest to use for fillets? | SouthernPaddler.com

What is the easiest to use for fillets?

bluegrasslover

Well-Known Member
Feb 18, 2009
202
0
54
Willow Springs, NC
I mixed up my first epoxy and wood flour ever to fill screw holes, etc the other night. I can say that it's definitely not the easiest thing I've ever worked with. It was hard to smooth and dried very rough which required quite a bit of sanding. I had a little extra so I tried a test fillet below the rub rail. It seemed impossible to get anything close to a smooth fillet. I mixed it to about the same thickness as peanut butter. I can't imagine how hard it will be to sand a fillet smooth done like this. Is this typical or did I just mix wrong? Would it apply smoother if I used silica or micro balloons instead of the wood flour?

Thanks!
 

oldsparkey

Well-Known Member
Aug 25, 2003
10,479
123
Central , Florida
www.southernpaddler.com
The balloons or glass bubbles would help in the sanding and getting it smooth but there is a trick to doing that.

Take some masking tape and put the tape down outside the seam to the distance/width you want the fillet then do the same on the other side. I run two strips of tape on each side of the seam. You will notice that I did a epoxy saturation on each side of the seam , I let it dry (24 hours) before putting the tape down , this way the tape sticks to the epoxy and when it is pulled there is no chance any wood will come up with the tape.
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Now take the fillet material and put it over the seam , when a section is covered take an old charge card and use it as a scraper/spreader over the fillet material and continue down the seam in one motion. The card will smooth out the fillet while filling it and any excess fillet will move out on the tape. That excess can be scraped up and used where you ran out. After the fillet sets for a spell , before it gets hard , pull the tape and you will have nice crisp edges to the fillet and one smooth fillet.

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DISCLAIMER.........
It is not recommended to do this but I do....... After the tape is pulled I put on a rubber glove and get some acetone on my finger and gently run my finger over the fillet ... that makes it really smooth. I heard that alcohol can be used but have never tried it.

Also if you do the charge card trick make sure the magnetic (black) strip is not the side that is spreading the fillet , it rubs off and will leave the black in the fillet. Plus if you think it will take two rolls of tape to do the job get three or four , you do use a lot of tape but it beats sanding.

Chuck.
Then you get fillets that look like this when the boat is done. If you will notice , at the bow ,on the inside , you can even do curves that way. :D
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bluegrasslover

Well-Known Member
Feb 18, 2009
202
0
54
Willow Springs, NC
Beautiful work! Something I just thought of. What kind of radius should I be aiming for? Are the fillets just enough to put a little rounding in the corners or do I want it to be the largest radius I can get? I'm building an UJ pirogue.
 

oldsparkey

Well-Known Member
Aug 25, 2003
10,479
123
Central , Florida
www.southernpaddler.com
bluegrasslover said:
Beautiful work! Something I just thought of. What kind of radius should I be aiming for? Are the fillets just enough to put a little rounding in the corners or do I want it to be the largest radius I can get? I'm building an UJ pirogue.

Hit just depends on what the builder wants , each one has there own likes and dislikes on that. Myself , when it comes to a sharp angle I like to make it bigger so the glass has a nice rounded surface to lay on and not right angles. The better the radius the easier it is to make the glass conform to it , the sharper the angle the more cussing a builder will do because the glass wants to pull away from it.

Again it is a matter of what the builder wants and what works for him or her. Steve is right a plastic spoon works really good but I got use to the charge card , it has more interest for me in using it. :lol: ( Sorry about that interest thing it just slipped out )

Chuck.
 

gbinga

Well-Known Member
Nov 7, 2008
736
2
Hoschton, GA
Darn fine line between runny, and hard to smooth. I never got good at it. If it seems a challenge, don't feel like the lone ranger.

GAinGA