Fish crack finish shaping?

I’m finishing up my first fish and have a question about cleaning up the fish crack. Below is a picture of the current situation. The stringer is square to the foam and I would like to round it off without damaging the surrounding foam. How is it done? Square file and patience?

Thanks!

Use a little rat tail rasp, that will fit the stringer nicely. You can use a paint stick with some 100 grit glues to it to do the foam sides of the arse. Make sure you dome the ares off real good…nobody likes a fat arse.

-Jay

You can take a hack saw blade, Dremel cut off tool, or utility knife and cut into each side of the stringer at a 45 degree angle to knock some of it down. I also use one of those “4 way files” and as mentioned, a rat tail file to get into the narrows. That particular area is basically a bitch to shape!

search using the words “butt crack” and you will get about 1000 hints and tricks for shaping this part of a fish.

I like a dremel with a cone shaped bit, myself, particularly on bigger stringers. Then its just good clean fun!

I’ve had great luck using “MicroPlane” products. Very clean cut, works more like a plane than a file or rasp so it seems to cut the stringer at about the same rate as it cuts foam. Very controlled. They make pretty cool surform replacement blades which seem to make the surform a far more precise tool than with stock blades. I think Foam-ez sells them; I got mine direct from MicroPlane.

http://www.microplane.com/html/tools/round.html

-Mark

I’ve shaped 3 fish boards in the past couple weeks and everytime i dreaded shaping the crack , its just generally a bitch, i wrapped some 60 grit around a popsicle stick and then did a good job of giving me the general shape , then i just worked up in grits to smooth it out. I think sanding them after they are glassed is even worse , anyone have a tip for that? I always just sand the best i can then fill it in with a little resin to get it smooth.

Once you’ve used the rasp/microplane/sandpaper-on-a-stick for a bit and you get closed to your finished shape, you may get some “ridges” on the top outside edges of the stringer. A good trick to get this down to the level of the foam (which you want to do so you don’t cause problems with your glass job) without taking off any more foam is to place masking tape lengthwise over the foam so that it abutts the stringer. Simple but effective.

Also, be sure to follow the advice about about not making your tail too thick. This is the only thing I would consider changing on my fish. At the same time, don’t make it too thin! It’s easy to overcorrect.

Good luck! :slight_smile:

Quote:

Once you’ve used the rasp/microplane/sandpaper-on-a-stick for a bit and you get closed to your finished shape, you may get some “ridges” on the top outside edges of the stringer. A good trick to get this down to the level of the foam (which you want to do so you don’t cause problems with your glass job) without taking off any more foam is to place masking tape lengthwise over the foam so that it abutts the stringer. Simple but effective.

Also, be sure to follow the advice about about not making your tail too thick. This is the only thing I would consider changing on my fish. At the same time, don’t make it too thin! It’s easy to overcorrect.

Good luck! :slight_smile:

Pretty much all covered here… and it’s worked for me.

  1. Using a rasp / microplane / sandpaper wrapped around coat hanger wire file down the stringer to the desired angle

  2. Using screen, blend in the 2 parts of the tail the same way you would do a rail (but flat underneath)

  3. Put masking tape down each side of the stringer and slean up the stringer flat… masking tape stops you from damaging the foam in the process.

I actually enjoy shaping the tails now… I leave it till last :slight_smile:

-Cam

“MicroPlane” yup the best tool for the job. I use both the round ones and the flat ones. I also use a fine woodworking file to clean up with.

Aloha! Round surform blade. against the grain ( from the tail, in ) Carve it to the shape you want, keeping the thing on the stringer. Then shape the tail tips with a regular surform, hit with a sanding block and then screen. This has worked for me for many years, and very many swallowtails. Aloha…RH

My trick for rounded curves to be sanded:

Sandpaper rolled around an elliptical deodorant stick. Very useful for glass-on fins, also.

Thanks for all of the tips! I like the masking tape idea. The sound Dremel Tools make cause my back teeth to hurt :slight_smile: I’ll stick to a file or sandpaper for now.

I’m at the same place on my first fish. I used a sharp chisel the width of the stringer. I supported the tail of the board on a wood block, and rough shaped the stringer from the top to the bottom with the bevel up. When to make it nice I turned the chisel over (bevel down) and made it nice and smooth. Then I came back and shaped the foam.