Thanks David---I am into wood working myself--the kayak and the whole glass-resin thing is all new. I have several scrapers [some are of the collectible variety] and I was looking at the whole lots of paper and dust [which is just around the corner] and I had it in mind to give the scraper thing a try first before plunking down my money for a variety of abrasives and having to buy enough of each to get a quanity discount. Your heads up is right on time--Glad to hear that it works---CZ

A few questions that I forgot to ask in the previous post. Are you using a single cut file? Are you draw fileing ? are you using a burnishing tool? --Thanks CZ

Great article.  So if I want to use a scraper to smooth the epoxy on my Chesapeake Double, which would you recommend?  Size/brand?  Price is not important- I realize that you usually get what you pay for with hand tools.

Interesting concept!  I used a 1/2" wood chisel to shave blobs of epoxy off the glass (runs, drips, etc.), and it was very similar to shaving glue blobs off of a wooden seam.  Just another thought (easier than sanding through those blobs!!!).

Larry

I ordered one of these from Home Depot and love it - one of my absolute favorite tools when I was working on my Shearwater.  It worked excellent for smoothing the inside of the coaming lip as well as getting the epoxy smooth. I found that if I went over major drips/runs lightly with 60 grit sandpaper on a sanding block first just to get the top edge off and then hit it with the scraper it worked best.  

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xh8/R-100145658/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

I also have a cabinet scraper (basically a flat piece of metal) but I didn't like it as well - not nearly as much control, but I'm sure with practice it would have been good too.

Kathy

Such an interesting post.  I must agree, sanding epoxy is a messy, dusty, noisy job.  Having dabbled in home woodworking for about 30 years, I too prefer scraping or, even better if the material will allow it, a cut finish using an extremely sharp plane (I have made several wooden planes ~ a la James Krenov ~ which work superbly.

I spent yesterday morning sanding the hull of my C16 ~ very coarse work with a Festool 6" Rotex (Random Orbital) Ended up with some bare patches, despite reading all the warnings ! So need to apply glass patches in places today.

Kathy, your scraping gizmo sounds like a must.  Trouble is, home depot is a long way (10 000 kilometres) from where I live.  I really envy you lucky folk who live in the US ~ You have a large market (competition) and a wide range of supplies.

How DID Noah manage to build that Ark ?

Dave

I also use a scraper for removing epoxy. I like the idea that I'm not using a noisy, dusty machine ... I can actually hear the radio while working! My only "gripe" would be the constant burnishing to renew the burr.