>I've seen the term fillers but, have not seen
> brand names.

Brand names? On finely ground wood chips, powdered plastics, pulverized wheat and broken bits of glass fibers? None that I can remember. There are two fillers that I do know brand names for: Cab-o-sil makes a thickening agent and 3M makes the microballoons you speak of later. Fillers are like the sand or gravel in concrete. They are aggregates that take up space and are held together by the strong adhesive force of the epoxy resin.

> Is this something that is better picked up at the supply
> store or can a person mix it up out of something around the ole
> homestead??

These items are very light, and rarely used for repairs, so your local supplier would probablyh not have them around. He would have to special order them -- and I imagine that would be at list price, plus a markup on the shipping costs. A pound of one of these fillers would be a lot. So, deal mail order with a company that stocks them. You'll get a lower purchase price, and what you pay for postage should be about what you would pay for sales tax if you bought locally. Assuming you could find it locally.

> Saw-dust and resin??

Works well. Paradoxically, you get lots of sawdust when you cut strips for a stripper, but you need lots for fillets when you build a stitch and glue from plywood. The truly frugal woodworker builds both kinds of boats, of course.

> My dad built a homebuilt aircraft years
> ago and he used something called microballoons, I believe. Is this a
> consideration for the fillets on the stitch and glue?

It is a consideration, but it is not as strong as using sawdust. The microballoons are tiny glass (or in some cases plastic) spheres. Years ago 3M sold things like this for making highly reflective signs, and for the `beaded' white movie screens that nearly every home moviemaker had. (this was in the days before home video killed 8mm movies) They had the nice optical property of collecting the light that hit them, and, regardless of the angel the light hit them, sending a good portion of it back to the source, instead of diffusing it. I suspect these may be the identical products being used in a newer role.

How frugal do you wish to be?

Some people use common baking flour as a filler.

Chopped pieces of Fiberglass fibers can be easily made from scrap pieces of fiberglass fabric, and a sturdy scissors, or flatbed papercutter. Cut 1/4 inch wide strips and pull out the long threads, leaving the short stuff in a messy pile.

If you can dry them well, and grind them into a powder, I suppose you could even use those raisin skins you said you have. It might have a nice color. Try a small quantity with the sawdust or flour.

> Also, are there any
> past threads on the " Idiots Guide To Fiberglassing ". Or do you
> know of any good sites for such reading?

A quick search gives:

http://www.fibreglast.com/GettingStartedPage.htm

That should also get you to the Fibreglast home page at

http://www.fibreglast.com

They use a different way spelling `fiber' than most of us. More info here that you'll need.

Clark Craft's free price list (as opposed to their $5 catalog) used to have a solid page of info on fiberglassing ( more than you really need), and another on how to build with stitch and glue. You can get this (it will come by mail) from www.clarkcraft.com They sell their own glass and resins (epoxy and polyester) so the mixing instructions are specific to their products.

Your supplier should have some free, or cheap, spec sheets regarding the mixing and use of their products. Ask.

Also check at the local library. You'll find books on building boats. Many of these refer to polyester resin, which can be confusing. These products are used in making models, so you'll find info in magazines on model railroading, and model airplanes, too.

One big tip that seems to be so simple that it is rarely mentioned: Mix your fillers into your resin before you add the hardener. This way you can take your time stirring the stuff in, and be certain it is well mixed. Once you add the hardener the mixture starts to polymerize (or set) and that is not a good time to start fiddling with adding your filler, as the time you spend at this point cuts down on the pot life of the mixture. You use the amount of hardener that would work with the original amount of unfilled resin. You may want to mix the filler with the resin to make a slightly thick mix, so as to allow for the amount that the mix will be thinned when you add the hardener.

Hope this helps.

Paul G. Jacobson