Tools run down.

Recently I've had a real breakthrough with my boards. The quality has never been higher and I'm in a really good head space of knowing that every board I send out the door is of a really high standard with a blemish free glass job. 

A big part of the reason for the breakthrough is the tools I've been using. I've built boards for the biggest labels in the world and don't get me wrong they were great quality and breezed through the strict criteria at quality control. But I've realised being an inherent tight arse has forced me to build to a high standard the hard way.

The other reason for my upward curve in my work quality is something I haven't shared on social media......I've spent the last 6 months working for a guy who laminated MR boards for over a decade. He's who I'd consider the best clear freelap laminator I've ever seen. Yes he can do colour work and cut laps but that's not his focus. If you know anything about MRs boards it's that they are mostly clear glass jobs with all kinds of elaborate art work sprayed directly on the shaped blank. So after MR has shaped the blank and a sprayer has spent a full day on a $250 one of a kind spray job, you'd bloody well make sure the guy entrusted with the laminating role is the best of the best, and this guy really is that good.
I was a good laminator with a few thousand boards under my belt but 6 months with this guy and I'd now consider myself 20% better and more knowledgeable than I was.  In all honesty I didn't really think I had much room to improve, like I said I was already laminating boards for the big labels. With the combination of the training I've had from this bloke and my new quiver of tools, I'm really happy and proud of my quality.

For years I've used 150mm Bosch orbital sanders for finishing boards and Makita sander polishers for sanding laps and sanding boards. I've always used a 6 inch Flexpad for sanding laps and a combination of Shapers and Flexpad 8 inch pads for sanding. These are what's long been the industry standard so who was I to second guess it.

Break throughs 

Mirka Deros orbital sander.

$895aud

150mm/6 inch pad size

5mm orbital swirl

The first breakthrough I credit to Dale Wilson of Byrning Spears. I'd been looking at the Mirka Deros 5mm orbital sanders and I was really keen to buy one. I was hesitant If the $900 was worth it so I reached out to Dale as I knew he used them. Dale was extremely high praising of the Mirka and quickly convinced me to take the leap.
This was at the start of Covid and I was inundated with channel bottom twinny orders. I think I had 15 or 16 on order and they were really time consuming, using sub standard tools up to this point meant the odd sand through in the channels that needed attention before being finished and shipped out, exposed weave in the channels that needed attention by way of painting filler and blending back in to the filler coat. Even if only every second board needed attention it adds up to a lot of frustration and time spent that could be spent in the water or with the family.
I wouldn't necessarily recommend the Mirka as your finish orbi. It's an amazing asset for sanding channels as it cuts really aggressively but seeing that it's SUPER lightweight you don't ever bring up weave and it's super easy to control with one hand. The vibration is mellow and smooth so it never runs off on its own and only goes exactly where you want. But being lightweight you need to push with your shoulder to get nice orbi cuts on the final passes, Bosch and Makita orbis are heavy so they have that built in downward pressure which saves your shoulder muscles.
I also use it for my first passes on machine cut preshapes, 80 grit with a soft orbital interface pad, unbeatable and quickly takes the lines off with no strain on my 37 year old carcass.
What I will say is that if my Mirka broke down, I'd walk to my car and drive straight to the closest tool merchant and buy a new one. No way in the world I'd ever build boards without one. 

Shapers electric scissors/shears.

$189aud

Cordless, comes with two rechargeable batteries

These aren't new and production lam boys have used them for years. But my first attempt at using them was 3 years ago and I cut the cloth for a board that resembled a path home from the pub so I wrote them off as too hard to master and went straight back to good old fashioned scissors. The guy who loaned them to me just ran around the board and had such a steady hand that he needed no help from his other hand to guide the cut. So I used his technique, monkey see monkey do!
I tried another attempt about 6 months ago and was shown to run my left hand along the shaped blank and rest my outstretched thumb on the electric scissors, this created a flawless way of cutting the cloth in a perfect arc that followed the outline of the shape. To be honest it was so obvious that I should have made that adjustment 3 years prior. 
Now when guys talk about electric scissors or think about reasons or justifications for buying them they only think of them as an asset in terms of speed. They definitely are faster than manual scissors but there's other benefits than just speed.
Firstly, huge reduction in repetitive strain injury (RSI). For me, after doing 8 boards a day your fingers and wrist are fatigued. After 10, 20, 30 or more years and I'm sure arthritis and other issues will arise. Secondly,  accuracy. Instantly once I switched to electric scissors my laps become a lot cleaner and neater. They cut the cloth in a curved arc so the loose strands are no longer there or much less of an issue then when I used scissors. Let's face it, a pair of scissors with a 8 or 10 inch blade really just cuts a bunch of straight cuts around the boards outline. They'll never cut a smooth curve like a tiny electric blade that cuts super clean and sharp. When I laminate the bottom and then flip my boards my freelaps now look like cut laps, maybe not quite but they are very consistent and follow the boards outline, no loose threads, just a seam running parallel to the outline. In turn this makes painting my lap and more importantly sanding my lap very, very easy and a lot less stressful. I simple run my 3 inch pad loaded with 80 grit along that seam once, one stress free pass to knock down the seam and the risk of nicking the foam is a thing of the past. Then when you sand your board you'll never have a high lap which in turn means you won't get weave when you sand you deck, if you're getting weave on your deck near your lap line it's a sure sign of high laps but you'll probably blame it on over sanding haha!
If you're one of these chumps with threads/strands of loose fibreglass all over your blank and you have a nightmare sanding your laps, then 100% get yourself an electric scissors kit. They'll instantly tidy up your laps which is the key to professional quality lamination work. Flat and tidy lam jobs leads to flat and weaveless sand jobs.

She's a hot late night here in Pottsville so I'll leave it at that for now.
I'll add another couple of tools later in the week so tune back in to read about:

Makita sander polishers, why they are deservingly the industry standard.
Makita cordless variable speed grinder, insanely good product!
My attempt at getting GOSC 3 inch lap pads made in China and the reasons why you need to explore laps pads.
My $99 cordless eBay polisher for shaping channels but secretly has another great purpose.