A while ago I made a PE Reverse D for a guy’s Pig in hopes of getting his board to work better. The fin was somewhat of a tester for his board since we were not completely positive it would make a difference. Instead of building it with expensive wood I took the opportunity to try some new glassing techniques. He got a black fin with a bunch of glitter. I thought I was being funny for putting glitter on this big burly tough doods fin…but he like it.
Fast forward a couple months and enter Ayla. Everyone say hello to Ayla. She is 6 and relentless. Pretty much everyday since I made the PE fin she has asked for a glitter fin of her own and I made sure she helped with some of the process. I was surprised that she hung in as long as she did.
I had some scrap hobby plywood 9/16’’ I think. She picked out the template.
Next up was to use the crappy bandsaw to cut the outline. I told her she only gets the make 10 mistakes with the bandsaw then she won’t be able to use the tool anymore. She didn’t get the joke.
Using the belt sander. Yes, this tool only cost $15 and I think I over paid…but I am too cheap to buy another one. Makes the crappy Chraftsman bandsaw look like a Laguna.
Moving on to the floor where I store more tools. Shop is small but I’ll take it. We are talking about how to use the spindle sander and I am explaining why this tool I barely use was once something I couldn’t live without. Kinda like her Furbie.
Now it is foil time. We argued for about an hour as to what type of NACA value she wanted and made some amazing points. I lost and we went with NACA 0012
I kept her out of the glassing room for the most part. She helped a little but I didn’t want her sucking all the fumes so there aren’t any glassing pics.
We made this fin so one day she can surf it. But I think I will use it before she does.
Glassing: Cheater coat the wood, build the base for the removable fin, use 2x 6oz E glass, I used a single 6oz layer with the colored tint with glitter added to the tint, fit the fin to the box, gloss and polish.
These fins take forever. Glassing alone is a chore but I love it.
As far as glitter and glassing goes I think next time I will tint and then salt/pepper shaker the glitter on top.
PS - My girls sometimes help me on some of my projects - please take this as a helpfull suggestion: I recommend getting her to tie her hair back (my girls have LBH too) when she’s out working in the shop with you. Also clothing - nothing with ties or other stuff that can get caught up. And last but not least - safety glasses! Glad to see you had some dust control stuff on during the sanding - maybe get her also one of the 3M masks with the adjustable nose. Hope that helps! These F-D projects are great memories and who knows - you might be training the next “Al(ana) Merrick…”
Well done Dave! The smiles on her face during the build are priceless and worthy of prints for the photo album. When are you teaching them how to do halos?
thanks for sharing Dave !