Can someone explain what brushed carbon is?

[punasurf]

I'm getting ready to wrap a couple of boards with a 5.8 oz 3K carbon twill, but I have no idea what brushed carbon is.  Any one know?

[FreeSup_Brazil]

Thais is a difficult lamination, you should need a vacuum machine for carbon lamination layer by layer.
Look this vídeos on youtube, there is a lot of techniques....is amazing to have idea how are made good boards.


http://www.youtube.com/user/NelsonFactory

Regards

[DavidJohn]

IMO it's just the type of paint finish.

DJ

[TallDude]

I'm thinking it's paint over glass, over carbon. They sand through the white paint into the glass. That would expose the carbon-fiber without actually sanding into the carbon itself, which you don't want to do. Then they just put a clear sealer over the whole thing. Some people use a concrete sealer for the final coat.

[PonoBill]

Basically it's bullshit marketing. But here's the idea. You build a cabon board, and then you have to hotcoat it and paint it. So you use a white hotcoat, put it on very lightly, and then sand most of it off. Leave some white patches, and some big black patches so you can see th4e carbon (oooh). and that's brushed carbon. Lightest layer of paint/hotcoat you can manage. Well, really, you could sand a lot more of the hotcoat off, since it's only the part that's in the open pores that matters, but it wouldn't lool as cool.

[TN_SUP]

My $3k starboard is just a image of brushed carbon, just like the fake wood, a little disappointing.

[XLR8]

Brushed carbon is just a look, a finishing technique for aesthetics.  I never really liked it but Matt recently finished this spread tow carbon board off that way a little differently than most other brushed carbon looks that I have seen.

This one uses a metallic tinted cobalt resin, which was thinned and sanded in places.  The metallic tint, combined with the large weave carbon, combined with different concentrations of the resin adds a quality of depth that is pretty cool.

[PonoBill]

It's not completely for aesthetics. Paint and/or hotcoat adds weight, and the idea is to get the minimum hotcoat on the carbon to seal it after laminating. Sanding most of the hotcoat off leaves splotches of white and give a "performance" look, which, if memory serves, Starboard first used to show off both the carbon under the surface and the intent to offer extreme performance at the cost of prettiness.

[J-Bird]

I thought the purpose of white paint over the carbon (i.e., brushed carbon) was to reduce the temperature of the surface of the board (that nice black carbon fiber sure must get hot in the sun).  The reason some of the white is sanded off after applying is to reduce the extra weight of the paint...so you get a board that does no overheat, is not too heavy, and still shows that it uses expensive carbon.

[Cardiff Sweeper]

They still do get roasting hot.
The boards certainly are tough, but not immune to gashes and pressure dings. However, each time one of mine gets banged up, water has never leaked in. And IMO, that's the primary concern of any ding.

Solarez over a recent cut



I weigh each board once a month on a postal scale, and they weigh the exact same as day one.

[jd]

Are these boards really $2500+?  Ouch.

[raf]

I don't think its a gimmick at all.  There is a huge difference in weight between a full, well-applied opaque paint finish and one that is virtually all sanded off.  Your board won't get too hot in the sun either.  And you can see what you just paid an extra $1000 for rather than take someone else's word for it.

[crtraveler]

Ugly.....

[JimK]

Not my favorite finish looks sloppy but hey who am I?

Things to remember in ANY carbon product (board, paddle ect...)

Carbon comes in MANY qualities just because it "says" its carbon doesn't make all carbon products equal (ie you can buy a carbon fiber fishing rod at KMart for $20 or a KeNalu Elite paddle for $379...NOT the same quality or quanity of carbon...but they are the same length)

QUALITY carbon construction takes EQUIPMENT and EXPERIENCE
Example Some kook in the middle of nowhere gets his hands on some dubious quality carbon fiber and smacks it on the top layer of their product and calls it a carbon -----!
Integrating quality carbon fiber into a light & STIFF Carbon sandwich is both art and science.
You can't equate both products as being equal.

Moral of the story if you want a carbon fiber product buy one from a reputable (experienced) mfg. Who is supported by an equally experienced and reputable retailer who stands behind what it is and how it will perform and last.

I'm down off my soap box now...Sorry for the tirade
JimK

[TN_SUP]

I have not seen a real brushed carbon board, I assume only expensive custom boards would be real. I can see pixels on my brushed carbon "graphic" starboard. I'm actually paddling a photograph of a brushed carbon board.