Sketchboard with Clamps and Rounded Corners

Finding a source for the paper clamps was an interesting piece of starting this up. I did manage to find a source, after searching my way through several murky and industrial corners of the web though. After that, I realized fasteners were needed. This was interesting because who knows what funky little fasteners are called? I do, now, after working my way through a new list of hardware vocabulary. On another note, I decided that rounded corners would look good on this board, so I created a bit more sawdust and made four rounded corners happen.
Clamps and fasteners are included in a Sketchonwood kit. You can enjoy the making part of a sketchboard project and avoid the frustration of searching for parts you don't know the name of. Sketchonwood kits include the clamps and the obscure fasteners, along with the glue, fiberglass, epoxy, even the spar varnish and brush if you want. The kits are pre-assembled to check for fit. Kits do not require anything with teeth and electricity (aka a table saw). Other tools may be needed depending on what your vision is calling for.

Handmade Wood Sketchboard with Clamps and Rounded Corners

Handmade Wood Sketchboard

Making your own Sketchboard

One of the steps in making your own sketchboard involves spending a few quality hours alone with your board and a hand-powered device known as a scraper. As the name implies you scrape things with a scraper. Unlike sandpaper it creates shavings not dust. Very thin shavings that fall on the floor or at the least are easy to clean, unlike the dust that comes from sanding epoxied fiberglass. I like scraping waaaaay more than sanding. Both are necessary, but I think scraping is better. Anyway, scraping smooths the surface, getting you one step closer to a finished board with a glass-like surface on which you can draw.

Because scrapers have a straight edge to them, the first thing that you notice are how the highs get scraped off and the lows remain untouched. This is quite handy in terms of finishing the surface. Dried epoxy turns cloudy when it is scraped as you may be able to notice in this second image, but the lustre and color of the underlying wood is restored when the final coats of varnish are added on to the surface.

Epoxy over Fiberglass over Wood Strip Sketchboard

Here's a sketchboard in progress. The board itself is cedar, walnut, poplar, purpleheart, and sapele. Epoxy is pouring onto four ounce fiberglass cloth. This is the first coat. After this hardens, a second lighter coat is added to cover any light spots. After the epoxy is hardened, the surface will be scraped and sanded prior to a final surface of spar varnish.