am i on the right track to shaping a luscious butt crack? a bastard file for the stringer (or dremmel drum sander, or both), dragon skin for the foam.
if you have a wood center strip, then there are some good dremmel tool bits to use. Taperd die grinders work
You might want to tape the foam inside of the crack when your using your file or dremel so you don’t damage it. mike
Using anything with high rpm’s next to such a fragile is almost begging for disaster.
Just bite the bullet and use a circular file that has a taper. Be sure to hold it with the fingers of both hands - one hand on top and one on the bottom, so you actually let your fingers control everything. It’s slower but not that much slower, and the results are dakine.
That’s probably good advice.
I know how to work those kinds of tools very effectively. I’ve seen Magicman use them as well. Brom’s got about 50 grinders in his shaping room, all w/ different grinding tools. That guy scours the pawn shops. He rips the butt cracks like nothin’.
220grit,
I’m with you on this one. Used this method exactly and the buttcrack came out pretty nice. It is a little more time consuming but the results are clean. Wide painters tape down either side of the stringer helps as well but be sure to blow off the foam first or the tape won’t stick to it.
I used the small square Microplane as shown here.
http://www.microplane.com/html/tools/square.html
You can turn it on one edge, so it cuts a V shaped groove. I found it to be much faster than the round file. It cuts differently than a file, it actually shaves off the wood. I also used the large round Microplane, but that blade is wide enough that you will be removing some foam on either side of the stringer. The small round might be better.
Even with the Microplane, it still takes a while. I think I spent 50% of my shaping time on the tail!
I’ve used a wire coat hanger section with 36 grit wrapped around it. This works well for softer woods especially, like cedar, and it easier to control (less damaging to the foam).
I like to be fairly causious around the tail area when shaping a butt crack.
I file out the reqiured angle on vee in the stringer with a bastard file and then work through the curve of the tail like it is a rail… e.g., cut a rail band and blend the tail in using sand paper… dragon skin may be ok initially, but be really careful around the tips of the pins in the tail… one wrong move with the dragon skin could result in disaster (or a slightly shorter tail 
I prefer to use the screen in the tail for blending over dragon skin.
I’m sure dremels etc. are ok if you’ve done 1000 before, but if it’s your first, I’d recommend doing it the old fashioned way
-Cam
That microplane is cool. I wait until the very last (right before glassing) to do my butt cracks and pins. Moving it from room to room only increases the odds that the pins will snap off, or you sneeze and you bang it against a door jam and it breaks off, well, you know what I mean.
I sure brom can do a crack in record time. he’s good and has done , what, 9 million fish???:)???
God only knows … have fun! Oh, by the way , tail tips ,check on that loose tee shirt hanging to close to the tail tips, as your marveling your way around your new finished set …
Have fun! You bet. Each fish I make is a vision I have that always starts with some fun, light attitude, kinda like the early true definition of rock & roll - ya gotta have fun, enjoy, and ROCK. Has anyone noticed that rock music these days is no fun? Maybe that’s why my 13-year old son and ALL his mates, are into purely retro. It makes them smile, it makes them feel good, it makes them enjoy. Flying down 101 with a van full of buds, they crank up the Beach Boys greatest hits everytime. Nothing like getting a little Mike Love and Brian Wilson songfest to get your boards going. Meanwhile the current MTV lifestyle is depressing at best.