“there is a time for everything under the heavens.” oh yeah! hehe
this side-project thread is a result of two board projects-- one HWS, the other foam-- begun at different times, in different places.
as i was intent on finishing my HWS first, i’d been setting aside shaping my rosewood bonzer side fins (pictured here before i cut them out) into final form :
part of what i wanted to put on the board was the logo i had in mind for it, except all i had was a concept, with no artistic talent to get it done myself hehe " )
just my luck, norris comes out with this fine offer in his project thread :
with my HWS nearing completion, it was an opportunity to hit two birds with one stone : get my logo done, and start shaping my side fins-- adding one more wouldn’t hurt. a good deal IMO
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DEAL!!! Wow, thanks surfiber! This will be a great trade. I could use a nice longboard fin like the True Ames California Classic. maybe 9.5" size. Make it out of whatever you feel would make the best fin.
this being my first attempt at shaping fins, i’ve also been doing some head-scratching looking out for DIY bonzer side fin projects that show the foil profile…
yup side fin inside foils are typically flat but for bonzer side bites, i’ve yet to see any DIY project here or elsewhere that i could study beforehand…
This is great to watch this all come together! I have no idea how to make those naca foils. I’m starting a few keels for a friend right now and will just try to get nice foils going. Good luck surfiber!
hehe seems like your center fin will be easier to do-- i can use my bonzer center fin as reference to get it foiled right. will post pic updates at every stage.
I’ve made two sets of bamboo bonzer fins, both runners and center. I was basing my foils off some Trueames fins I bought. Max chord, like most fins, is about 30% back from leading edge. Make sure you make the runners real thin, less than 1/4" because when you glass them on you add 4 layers of glass. I also made the template a little smaller than the desired final fin, again because the glass will add some to the template.
Why 9.5 center fin? That’s huge for a bonzer. Standard is 6.5, which, depending on the width of the tail, I think could be even smaller.
I tack the fins in place with 5 minute epoxy. Holding them in place with masking tape, at the 19 degrees of cant, is a pain.
the 9.5" is for norris, to be shaped based on the true ames california classic fin. the pic above shows my 7" bonzer fin at the center.
btw any sideview pics of your bonzer side bites before you glassed 'em onto the bottom? i’d like to see how they’re foiled from tip to fin base, if you have any
hey norris, i went over the langka slab for prepwork on your 9.5" fin, removed the inch-thick bark and found a crack almost perpendicular to the slab’s length, right where the grain looked perfect for your fin’s overall curve.
anyhow, rather than mess up my first fin-shaping attempt-- i’m shaping the bonzer side fins last since i’m gonna ride the board as a single fin for a bit before adding the side bites-- i’ve decided to make center fin blanks out of these narra sections :
i was forced to sacrifice this rare 2" x 12" x 14" piece over the weekend after i messed up a couple of antipolo offcuts meant for my board’s nose rail assembly. narra is too precious to throw away-- it actually smells as good as it looks, plus, Narra is our National Tree ! hehe – so i’ll be cutting this up further & regluing the segments to make 4 fin panels at 1/4" thick each. narra grain will blow you away— shaping it is another matter altogether hehe
true ames’s 9.5" california classic seems to have different outlines online. their website features a blue-tinted fin that seems more swept back than norris’s red-outlined choice.
anyway i brought norris’s preferred image file to a printshop for enlargement and found that my narra fin blank pair lacked width to accommodate the entire piece, so i decided to glue up this fin ‘stringer’ from (beginning from the center) red narra, tanguile & phil. rosewood, dry-fitted here with the narra pair.
if it’s still not enough, i’ll add antipolo (yellow sawdust at upper left came from some pieces i cut up) before gluing up the entire fin blank. 9.5" is really huge!
Nice looking cuts coming off of the bandsaw there! Plenty of material for the fin you’re making, but as you already found out, the base width combined with the rake force you to need a larger blank size than expected. That alone is whay I’m appreciating these composite singles I’m making lately from other single fin cutoffs. Don’t throw out those scraps! You got more fins to make!
