My current form is made from MDF and has a perfect surface. Despite this I've always added a rubber strip AND an extra strip of glass to the surface just to ensure a smooth surface and a the same pressure everywhere on the bow's surface.
I've seen a friend's form and he uses shutterply and do not have any form of additional surfacing on the form.
I'm now starting to plan a new form and was wondering how many of you also use shutterply with no additional surfacing? It seems like a lot cheaper and less labour intensive option. I'm just worried it'll have deadspots or whatever.
What is shutterply?
Shutterply is a relatively inexpensive 20mm thick plywood.
I just use a formica strip.
I have made so many forms testing design that I rarely put anything on a form except wax. That said, it wouldn't hurt to put something on it to smooth out any minor imperfections.
With the router method, I only sand with a long curved block a little and wax the heck out of it.
If I were gonna keep a form and use it more than a few times, I would put a pc of .050 glass or formica on it.
I use the LVL beams and I typically put a .100 thick lam and then .050 or .040 glass on top of it to smooth it out.
I have made several forms with nothing on top like Kenny and it works just fine (as long as you get a good router cut). Although on occasion i will get a gouge or some other imperfection on the top of the form and I just started making all the forms with my lam + glass method.
One other thing I do now is spray that form down with tire shine and that keeps the excess epoxy off like wax does.
Hey Johan,
I used 2 x 18mm plywood screwed together with 3mm MDF between to take my form to exactly 1 1/2 inches thick. I do think the MDF does router better, I struggled a bit to get a clean rouuter cut. I did loads of sanding to get out thye imperfections. Where are you based in SA?
Thanks
Pete
@ PZee I'm in PE :) iWindi
@ Kenny What type of wax do you use?
I also tend to cover the entire form with clingwrap before I use it to prevent extra epoxy from sticking to it
Hi Johan,
Johnson paste wax right now, but saw BJansen uses tire shine spray so may try that, and try not to overspray lams!! :D