fabric inlay on wood fins..learn from my mistakes

General Discussion
1

Hey Ben this ones for you…

So I saw a few fabric inlay fins and wondered if it was possible to do this on a wood fin(in this case birch…cheap and in the garage) I posted on here asking if you could do so… with no luck in an answer I thought I would give it a go. These fins were pretty much for experimental purpose only…just think of the possibilities of showing wood with your fabric…the patterns you could come up with…

Anyways I’ll show you how I did it…keep in mind this is only the second set of fins I did so it’s not going to be too great

They are made for proboxes.you might recognize the fabric from a post a little while back…never got around to using it but its 100 percent cotton prewashed in vinegar.

 

First I stained my birch to give it a nicer color(again happen to have this stain in the garage)

Then I glassed in the fabric. I did this in the first layer of glass(which I now know I should have done in the last so it would stand out more)

I first applied a very thin coat of resin so that the fabric would stick and stay in place.Then positioned the fabric and went at it.

I let it dry outside for about 15 minutes

Then I finished layering up the glass

Cut it out.Folied.Sanded.And glassed the other side (this time putting the fabric in the last layer of cloth…you can see how much of a difference it looks)

For the future I would have painted this part of the fin white first so that you cant see the fin grain through the fabric.

Still have to hotcoat and sand the fin …but you get the picture.Hope this helped:)

ps.I’m an idiot and made the right side of the set of fins backwards.AWESOME. as I said…learn from my mistakes.forgot to flip the template woops;)

2

good on ya for giving it a go , mate !  [...and cheers for posting photos of the process , too !  yeehaaawww ]

 

 

maybe next time , if you resin the cloth to the wood and then foiled it , you wood [ha] get the wood foil look at the leading and trailing edges , and still have fabric on the fin,  as well ?

 

 ...one day , i 'may' try that , too, i think ...[i'm a bit surprised that i hadn't thought of it previously , really ! ]

 

  so , good for you for making me think ...

 

   ...if you do any MORE , please add them to this thread , i'd be really keen to see what you come up with next !!

 

cheers , lindsey !

 

  ben

3

Ben the inside of the fin is like how you said…the wood shows but on the outside its full fabric coverage but thats a good idea too!! I’ll do that next time thanks!:slight_smile:

4

...or with symmetrical foils , you could make it easier / ? cleaner? for yourself by tracing the foil shape onto the material , cutting it out , resining it on the wood , then adding layers of cloth ...

 

  .....how many layers of cloth did you use on each side by the way , lindsey , and how snug do the tabs fit in the 'probox' slots ?

 

  cheers

 

  ben

5

I did 14 on the inner side and 4 on the outside. They seem to fit in the fin box the wood i belive was 1/4 of an inch thick. And I’m not sure I undertand what you mean about the symetrical foils.

6

nice nice looks good!

7

nice and even and same on both fins [is my interpretation of 'symmetry' at least , and something i have been TRYING to improve on my fins over the years ....but I still have got a ways to go ....]

 

  cheers

 

  ben