Anyone here sell wood Keels/Fins for Fish boards?

General Discussion
1

I know alot of guys here make their own fins, especially the twin fin fish keels.

I’ve tried to make my own by they just don’t turn out that good and they look

pretty bad. I’d like to buy a set or two if anyone knows someone who sells them.

I’m looking for the traditional old style keels around 8.5-9.5 inch base. The kind

you would see in a Lis Fish or anything with a wide, deep swallow tail.

thanks…

2

where are you located?

I know Basham’s in san clemente sells 'em and they sell more than one design. they also have glass keel fins.

Rio

3

what problems did you run into with making your own? i’m going to try and duplicate these…

…am i askin’ for trouble???

4

if your name is John Cherry , no …

for the rest of us mere mortals , yes…

[maybe you could paint on the patterns , and PRETEND they’re wood inlays ?]

 ben
5

i tried making 'em outta the crap birch ply at home depot needles to say that is carp wood the core isn’t even solid and they ended up warping so i used em as practice i am gonna go on a dumpster raid at the house they are building next door to me today. they for some reason used a good quality birch ply for a closet.

6

I have some 1/2" marine plywood remnant scraps in my shop, and a twinfin template( i think it’s the same one Brom uses). I’d be glad to cut some out on the router table for you, then you can glass and foil yourself. give me a call.

7
Quote:

if your name is John Cherry , no …

for the rest of us mere mortals , yes…

well, jim the genius once told me that the devil hates a coward, so i think i’ll give it a shot when i finally get the time. do you know what that purple color is that JC used around the lighter color wood?..and what all those different types of wood are that he used in the fins?..it’ll probably be a month or two before i have the time, but i figure i can at least start scouting out a source for the wood.

8

Thanks for the replies… I live in eastern NC so I can’t get anything local.

I’ve had a difficult time with the wood I used (don’t think it was good quality)

and the foiling was not definitely not symetrical. I’d like to just find some

wood fins that are cut out and foiled, then I can lay them up and glass myself.

Feel free to PM or email me at:

9

They had some for sale when I was at Mitch’s yesterday. They looked really nice, but pretty pricey. They wanted like $45 for them. The only problem with that Mitch’s is, they are in San Diego. Maybe they would ship them to you.

Check them out at http://www.mitchssurfshop.com/

I saw them in the Solana beach store, the phone number should be somewhere on the site.

10

Soulstice, just wondering if you know if those JC fins in the pic were foiled wood then glassed or where they a thin peice of fancy woods layered up with many layers of glass then foilded? I have a fancy longboard wood fin that was made that way… I hope I am making sence this morning?

11

i’m fairly certain that the fins were foiled before glassing, but next time i’ve got 'em in front of me i’ll take a closer look.

12

Creosote,

Any good quality cabinet ply will work. The more layers the better so you can see your foil. What was the problem with yours other than lousy wood? They are not too hard to make. In fact, if you like foiling boards you will probably enjoy foiling fins. You can do it if I can. I’m a hack. If yah gotta buy. Check Senior Halcyon’s work. You’ll get something well thought out and unique. Mike

13

I foiled a set of keel fins out of red oak, they came out real nice, but im not sure how i should lay them up on my fish. Should i glass them first and then put them on, or can i just ley them up on the board and then glass them with the football patches. I am new to this so any help would do.

14

pssurf,

Glass them first. I use one layer of 6 oz. per side or two layers of 4 oz. Whatever I have laying around. Put a bead of roving around the edges. Hot coat it. Sand it all nice and smooth. Oh yah, I paint a layer of lam resin on the dry wood to seal it before I glass them. To mount, I resin the roving around the base, one patch that covers each side of the fin, a smaller football shaped patch, clean it up a bit, then hotcoat the fins again when I hotcoat the board. Mike