What Sort Of Fins Would A Woodchuck Use If A Woodchuck Used Wood Fins?

[Waldo]

Question for the qood fin guys - GWS, TFAD, and anyone else making/using them?

The things are gorgeous, to be sure, but is there a performance benfit?

Seems to me I recall a post where TFAD said something about his twin-finner being so fast & loose that he liked the idea of the wood fins slowing things down a bit in some way. Maybe I'm off on my recollection (wouldn't be the first time). Do they have a more neutral flex to them? How does the weight compare? From my teen skateboarding days, I think I remember boards being laminated with a couple layers of spruce to give it some flex ("boing" as Caster used to call it): Have you experimented with different types of wood laminates for different feel?

Those wood fins sure are beautiful, as are some of those resin-tint fins that have been posted here lately. It always seems a shame to see a board with a beautiful, eloborate airbrush or tint job, then see black plastic fins installed. Nice to see some attention going to those details.

<img src="/forum/images/graemlins/applause.gif" alt="" />

 

[GWS]

The flex pattern will be different. As in less.

Also less is the weight. Which is the main reason I gave it a go on my Bonzer. Glass on wood fins, until TrueAmes gets the air-core Bonzer fins going, is the lightest setup possible.

I like flex in my small wave fins. Feels good to have that fin load and unload through turns like a flex deck skateboard. Bigger waves I prefer a stiffer fin.

I'm going down right now to buy some 1/4" plywood. I'm going to try and make some fins for my Bonzers bhane box out of that stuff with a few layers of 4 oz cloth.

 

[highline rider]

for lighter weight fins you might eb able to use foam core, i know halcyon does it with his, btu thats a higherdensity foam i think. im drawing ut a template right now for a foam cored single fin for one fo my boards just to give it a go. anybody here have a guess as to how many layers of glass should go around it? im guessing about 3 layers of 6-oz would be good enough?

 

[Waldo]

I'm going down right now to buy some 1/4" plywood. I'm going to try and make some fins for my Bonzers bhane box out of that stuff with a few layers of 4 oz cloth.

Cool idea. I have a Bahne box for the center on mine also. Right now I'm dabbling with a 6.5" cutaway center, but it'd be fun to experiment with a variety of templates &amp; do it inexpensively. Think I could get away with just making the fins then coating them with a uerethane sealer for a session or two, just as prototypes, or would the difference in flex between the glassed &amp; unglassed wood be so great that I couldn't accurately compare the different templates? I absolutely suck at anything done with resin &amp; glass <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/doah.gif" alt="" /> (though toying with fins might be a good way to practice).

Now if only I had some time... <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/shrug.gif" alt="" />

 

[dk]

waldo,
sounds neat! post some photos if u ever finish em <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

 

[TRI FINS ARE DANGEROUS]

The tips of my wood fins are stiffer, but they are half the weight of fiberglass fins and more or less the same as plastic fins. Fiberglass fins have the best "snappy" flex at the tips, most plastic fins flex slowly resulting (for me anyway) in a gushy feeling.
I wrong about my theory though, my Twinnerfinner with the wood fins feels just as loose and fast as ever. In fact, I feel that I can square the thing off the bottom way harder than before. I haven't slid out that board yet which happened time to time before.
I going to get a thruster with wood glass-ons soon. I'm looking forward to it.

 

[highline rider]

anybody do any fin work yet? i have been really working on fins lately and would love to see anybody elses work.

heres mine -