I just stopped by Ridout Plastics on my lunch break today to have a look around. It’s only about a mile from my work, so I check-in there periodically. Today I saw a nice sheet of 1/16th inch thick G10 in the scap pile. It was cut in the shape of a circle with a diameter of 36 inches. That works out to about 7 square feet of material. I got it for only $4 per pound, since it was a scap piece. The total cost, including tax, was $30. I am going to be able to make a lot of fins from this piece. I plan on sandwiching it between a couple of pieces of wood. I have found that adding a layer of 4 oz fiberglass with epoxy in between the wood and the G10 improves the bond, and prevents big bubbles from forming.
Here is a link to one of my previous fin build threads. I have learned a lot since then.
you don't have to put a resin bead around the perimeter of the fin,
you don't get much G10 sanding dust because it is only 1/16" thick, and
there aren't as many steps involved as other fin construction methods.
The main drawback to this method is that you can’t get a clear center bead because G10 doesn’t come in clear sheets. Also, G10 is normally very expensive. On a previous project I was excited because I found a one quarter inch thick by one square foot sheet for $10. This new sheet is much cheaper.
I have a few hundred board feet of mahogany stashed away in a secret location. It looks like I’ll be making quite a few brown fins with green center lines. I’ll post some pictures as I make progress on this – which will probably come fairly slowly.
I started building some fins this weekend. As of tonight I have completed on 9" longboard single fin blank. The next step will be to foil it. I sandwiched a 1/16" thick piece of G10 in between two 1/8" thick pieces of pine using epoxy. I sanded the G10 with 80 grit prior to the glue-up, so that there would be something for it to hold it together.
Here is the raw sheet of G10. You can see the two masonite templates. Right now I’m working on the big fin. My next project will be a set of glass-on thruster fins.
I made a template out of masonite, which I copied from a fin that I purchased. Note: This is for personal use. I’m not going to sell it or mass produce it. I covered the masonite with blue painters tape in order to protect it when I glue it to the blank with Super 77.
Here is the template glued onto the over sized blank. I cut the shape of the blank out with a bandsaw. Next time I will make my cut closer to the line. I ended up having to router out too much material.
Here’s my little POS DIY plywood router table. I used to have a nice router table connected to my table saw, but I sold it on Craig’s List. I miss it now. Look closely and you can see the green strip of G10 in the middle.
Here’s the finished blank all shaped, and ready for foiling.
All of the fins that I have made up to now have been glass-ons. This is my first attempt at building something that will go into a fin box. I’m not sure if I will need to reinforce the tab in the back of the fin where you drill the hole. The hole on my original fin looks to be about 1/16" in diameter, which would completely bisect the G10 strip. I’m interested to hear any tips from anyone that has done this sort of thing before.
Shaping fins is not for me.....I've got lots of fiberglass cloth and about a gallon of UV cure lam resin....When you're ready we'll glass those babies!!!!!!
Awesome thread! I like your thinking. Great deal on the G10 too!
You might want to consider using the universal fin tabs for wood fins, no worries on water getting in since they are plastic molded inserts and pretty easy to install. Strong too. They were originally designed to fix broken tabs on fiberglass fins but I found they work great for wood and bamboo fins.
You might want to consider using the universal fin tabs for wood fins, no worries on water getting in since they are plastic molded inserts and pretty easy to install. Strong too. They were originally designed to fix broken tabs on fiberglass fins but I found they work great for wood and bamboo fins.
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Thanks for that Brian - I didn't know such a thing existed! I'm making my first fin-box fin right now, and contemplating another.
After exchanging some PMs with John Mellor I started getting worried about water getting to the wood in places where there are holes. I used a chisel to chop out the wood at the end of the tab where the screw hole will go. I don’t have any pictures of it, but I glued some small bits of scrap G10 to both sides with epoxy.
Here’s what it looked like after I sanded everything flush, and drilled a hole.
Thanks everyone for the compliments. This has been a fun project.
More progress to report… Here is my setup for applying some color tinting to the wood. I used an alcohol soluble tint in order to avoid raising the grain, or risking delaminations with water.
I first rubbed in a clear coating of DNA in order to wet out the wood. I did a bunch of tests on scrap wood. I found that if I applied the color first, then I would get harsh lines. My goal was to acheive a smooth transition between the green and the yellow. After the clear DNA I rubbed in some green around the edges. Then I hit it with the yellow, and rubbed it hard to disolve the edges of the color. I don’t think this picture does it justice. It looks really good under the light. I’m looking forward to seeing it under a polished finish.
