Pulling The Molds

Pulling The Fiber-Glass

The fiberglass has set up and its time to pull it out of the casting. Even though the fiberglass has hardened it may still be a little tacky. I like to dump a good layer of baby powder on it, and brush it around. (this step is not necessary and may be skipped, I do it to eliminate the stickiness and to make my fiberglass baby fresh)

Next I take a large flathead screwdriver and gently go around the edge of the mold, loosening the fiberglass. (be careful not to pry too hard or you may ruin the cast or the fiberglass) Look for areas where the fiberglass may have dripped down onto the cast, these will be the difficult areas that will want to stick.

Here you can see one of those "difficult" areas that will stick. (note drips at right under pencil) You can also take a grease pencil or fat daddy marker and draw a line around the edge of the cast to use as a guide line later when you trim the fiberglass. (spray paint works good too)

Once I have gone all the way around the edge of the cast I will begin to gently pull the pieces apart. They should come apart fairly easily. (if not, you may not have applied enough Vaseline to the cast) I find that it's best to turn the casts upside down when separating them, this seems to help when pulling them apart. You can see that I'm not using any gloves, and boy did I pay for it. Once the resin has set, it can be as sharp as a razor so always wear a good heavy pair of work gloves.

Here is the back half fresh out of the cast. Now I will repeat the process for the front half.

Here is a shot of the cast and fiberglass, back half.

Here is a shot of the fiberglass and cast, front half.

Now I apply more powder to the outside of the fiberglass castings, which will reduce the sliminess of the Vaseline residue left behind from the mold.

NEXT: TRIMMING THE FIBERGLASS