a little bit of a late night post but ya know how it goes with the " I can’t sleep,going on the computer…wound up on swaylocks"
Okay so I’m like an eager freshman right now…the one who raises there hand for everything.overly curious.but filled with questions that are probablly common sence;)
can you use wood flooring?
where do you pick up your wood if there is not a lumber site nearby
3)How thick should the wood be that you are buying
Looking online everything seemed to be sold in HUGE quantities and EXTREMLY pricey
Lindsey, you can get small pieces of baltic birch plywood at Michaels that work really well for fins. Depending on what you're making, a quarter inch thick piece would work. You can use any wood you prefer, but obviously, some will look better than others. I like the baltic birch ply because it's got tight grain and no voids in the layers so that it foils nicely.
Go outside and pick any wood your heart desires. It all gets wrapped anyway so anything goes. For that matter use leftover foam as a core for lightweight fins.
I'm in Battersea, England (the United Kingdom if you like). I also build bespoke custom snare drums from imported Finnish Birch 3 ply which is 1.5mm thick & is easily procured in the UK . I use the offcuts to make very nice fins. Lam 3 layers together (4.5 mm finish) with a waterproof glue, foil & lam with 4oz. & yer done!
I just got done using up the last of my veneer. I've been making my own plywood out of walnut and white birch. 1/16th in veneer with some elmers interior/exterior wood glue. Google it, it is not that expensive. put a crap load of weight on it and build some fins. the plys allow you to foil easily by looking at the lines. similar to glass panels. Just a tip that I do is to mix lam resin and styrene and coat it before you glass the foiled fin. It will prevent the wood from sucking resin out of the glass or blowing the bond between wood and glass. Good luck and hope this helps
5 ply marine grade plywood is traditional, and it’s my personal favorite for single fins and keels. Sometimes you can find scraps of it big enough for fins, but other than that, you have to by half sheets and it’s pricy.
Cabinet grade birch ply is good, but a little weird… IMO… with that one “finished” side, Also, many times I’ve been working for an hour on a fin and suddenly… surprise!.. a void reveals itself. That sucks.
I just made a set from some birch I had laying around from a deck I never got around to glueing up…Sanded really easily. The grain in the wood makes it easy to foil(compared to bamboo). But Earl I see what your saying about defects in the wood:(
If anyone is interested I posted a thread on the ones I just made.
Just don’t use teak or walnut. Old furniture can be utilized, or old siding, keep your eyes open, and the old used wood can be way better than what you’ll find at the craft store, hardware store or even the lumber yard.
I’ve used the baltic birch from Home Cheepo. It had lots of voids. But, you can make a lot of fins from a 4x8 sheet. I pick through the scraps of my buddies cabinet shop for birch ply. No significant voids and it is free. Mike