What’s the best cloth to use when making a fin? I’m planning to make a longboard fin with a wood inlay. I’ve made one fin before, but it sucked, because I made a hydrocoloid (silicon gel) mold and filled it with resin, and I didn’t use any cloth or inlay for reinforcement. Needless to say, I learned my lesson the hard way…It instantly shattered when I accidentally dropped it (from just 6 inches up). Of course, this was some time ago, before I had found this site. Now I’m going to try it again and do it right this time. I’ve read earlier posts dealing with fin construction, but haven’t seen mention of what type of cloth works best. 4 oz? 6 oz? 10 oz? Volan? Does it matter? Thanks…deeb…
What’s the best cloth to use when making a fin? I’m planning to make a > longboard fin with a wood inlay. Forgot to ask: For anyone who has made a fin with a wood inlay: Any tips you could give me? Do I need to taper the edge of the wood? I was thinking air could get trapped between a blunt edge and the cloth. I’m planning on using 1/8-inch ply. Is this too thick? Or should I plane down hardwood pieces? Any other things to think about? Are there any references for this lost art? Thanks again…
Layer 6 oz scaps, the quality doesn’t really mmatter on fins. Fin companies will talk about flex, strength, etc, but even they use economical stuff too. You have heard of light weight carbon fins? I have a set(3) and they are light, thin and pretty strong. However, with wood inlay and if you are still learning and experimenting, use 6 oz layers(as many as needed to accomodate your foil at the thiches point, then grind grind and grind some more. As for symmetry, expect the worse and hope for the best–just like a night out on the town scamming for chicks!!!
Plywood is easier to foil because you can use the ply’s as a guide. I don’t think 8th inch is to thick, you can get closer to a true foil with a thicker fin. The sharper the edge of the fin (wood part) the closer the cloth will stick to the edge.If you want a glass bead around the whole fin leave it blunt. Have fun and good luck, Scott. Forgot to ask: For anyone who has made a fin with a wood inlay: Any tips > you could give me? Do I need to taper the edge of the wood? I was thinking > air could get trapped between a blunt edge and the cloth. I’m planning on > using 1/8-inch ply. Is this too thick? Or should I plane down hardwood > pieces? Any other things to think about? Are there any references for this > lost art? Thanks again…
Layer 6 oz scaps, the quality doesn’t really mmatter on fins. Fin > companies will talk about flex, strength, etc, but even they use > economical stuff too. You have heard of light weight carbon fins? I have a > set(3) and they are light, thin and pretty strong. However, with wood > inlay and if you are still learning and experimenting, use 6 oz layers(as > many as needed to accomodate your foil at the thiches point, then grind > grind and grind some more. As for symmetry, expect the worse and hope for > the best–just like a night out on the town scamming for chicks!!! Years ago, George Greenough told me how to make the fiberglass blanks for his stiff, tuned, high-aspect ratio fins: begin with completely resin-saturated, unidirectional glass strands (you can easily take roving apart to get it), carefully placed on the floor in an oversized, plywood female mold, a matching (male) plywood lid was laid over that and then the weight of a car or truck was jacked up over the top of the mold until the cure cycle was complete… resulting in an extremely high fiberglass to resin ratio.