Wood fins.

[Shwuz]

Huh-huh, huhuhuhuh...
Wood.

Been meaning to post these up. The clear one is finished and mounted, but the black one not yet. Don't know if I will either, something I don't like about the foil on that one.

Raw wood.

Glassing.

Hotcoating.

Mounted.

By the way, the two holes you see through the bases of the fins are how I "clamped" them to my fence with drywall screws while I foiled them. Necessity is the mother...

I thought I really screwed up that clear center for "thrustering" my 2+1 boards the first time I tried it out. Couldn't turn the board at ALL! Then I moved it up in the center box about 2.5 inches. Doh! Yeah, that helped just a bit. <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/foreheadslap.gif" alt="" />

 

[TRI FINS ARE DANGEROUS]

Interesting Schwuz. Good stuff. Kind of funny to see that wood center fin next to those plastic rubber tip safety fins.
Keep an eye out for an article on wood fins in the next issue of allaboutsurf.com.

 

[tenover]

Nice work Shwuz....Can you elaborate on how you built the fins with the tabs on them?

 

[Shwuz]

Yeah, TFAD, I know... Looks kind of odd, but you have to ride what you got, right?


Tenover~ Not sure exactly what you mean by the tabs... Do you mean the little post that goes through the base of the fin on the end opposite the screw? At any rate, the way I made the bases was to just sand through a full layer of veneer on each side where the base was to be (see first pic), then glass as usual with one layer of 4 oz, then another layer of 4oz just where the base was. then a layer (long narrow strip) of glass on the bottom, rear, front and top of the base, just to cover any bare wood. Trimming after every lam, of course. Then I hotcoated by hanging the fins from the hole that I drilled for the "pin" or whatever. Note: location of this thing is very important to avoid much frustration in reshaping the bottom to get it to fit the box. For the pin, I cut a brass machine screw to the appropriate length, then filed away the threads on either side where it would be visible outside the fin. I left the threads on the center for the resin to grip to. then I just glassed it in with some lam resin. The hole was small enough that it had to be screwed in, so I figured that was good enough. For the screw hole in the front, I just drilled a decent-sized (bigger than my screw) hole down through the top of the tab, then taped off the bottom and filled it with resin. I also stuck a toothpick into the resin and the masking tape in the precise center of where I wanted my screw-hole to be. That way I had a soft spot as a guide when I drilled my final hole.

I'm sure not many of those steps were the "right" way to make a fin, but it'll work, so what the hell...

Hopefully I answered your question somewhere in that ramble.