Steam Bending And a Toboggan??


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Sorry, couldn't help myself :P . I'm building a toboggan for my Daughter for Christmas (Well, Santa is...) got the lumber milled up today and it's soaking for it's Sauna bath tomorrow morning.. Had to do an impromptu bend tonight to test the jig and make sure that everything was going to work.. Success :ph34r: !! Video will be coming soon :)

Ho Ho Ho and a bottle of Rum!! ~J.Buffett

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A few updated pics from today.. Closing in on it :P !! Should be at a holding point this weekend to let things dry a few days before adding a finish and running the line. Any suggestions on a good finish for this? Thinking some type of an oil rather than a "film" type finish (BLO, Tung, etc) Finally a few coats of a wax to make it FAST!! Never made one of these before so am open to suggestions :)

Thanks!

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Ok, I've finished building the sled now I am really struggling on how to finish it. I don't really want to use a film finish (varnish, polyurethane, etc) or a high gloss coating as trying to stay on top of scratches, flaking, etc would be a nightmare. I would like to spend more time using it rather than maintaining it. That being said I know that maintenance is un-avoidable, so I would like to use something that is going to be easy-peezy but still provide a decent level of protection ;) . Right now I am leaning towards a penetrating oil finish (teak oil) and saturate that until it stops soaking it in. Let dry for a day or so then go over with a few coats of Johnson's paste wax to seal things up and keep the oil from leeching onto the pad and clothes. Also, hoping that the wax finish will help with speed as it's going down the hill.

Here's where I am a little torn; I know the wax will wear off after a few runs and will need to be re-applied almost every time we go out. Not really that big of deal as it's pretty easy to do. But the bottom is definitely an area that could benefit from a hard film finish as it would stay slick on it's own (with or without wax). Then I come full circle to maintaining it.. Uuhhh...

Any suggestions or thoughts? I've got 4 days to get this wrapped up before Santa delivers to a 3yr old girl :)

Thanks!

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Boat, I think the West System epoxy would be perfect for this.

That's what I ended up going with; used their 207 clear hardener and rolled 2 coats on the bottom today. Tomorrow I'll do the top then sand and give a final coat over everything with a satin varnish. I was a little concerned about having a hard / rigid film because of the amount of flexing and racking on the planks (didn't want anything to break loose and flake off) but I talked with a friend of mine at west tech support and he assured me that it wouldn't happen. I guess most of the dog sled teams in the Beargrease use this same process on their sleds without any issues :). Good to know!

I'm hoping that the rope and pad showed up today; I'm dying to put everything in it's place and call it done! Just got 4" of new powder today; looking forward to the maiden run!

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Finishing day tomorrow :P Everything is prepped and ready to go! Doesn't look like I'll have the video ready for x-mas eve but it won't be far behind!! I'm spraying a new finish in the morning, hopefully all goes well. I'll post some pics after the varnish flashes off (sometime before the Packers game).

G'Night all

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