i just got done cuting the outline of my fish off the clark foam blank. what would be the best wat to make the rails of the board?
step 1) picture your intended rail design in your head
step 2) remove foam (surform, sandpaper, sandscreen) until your rails look the way you want them to
step 3) don’t remove any more foam
step 3 is the most important
lol ok ill try that,
beachbum
Rails are usually shaped by making a beveled cut along the top and bottom edges of the outlined blank. The top rail cut or band is usually much larger than the bottom cut in shortboard shapes where the rails are somewhere around 70/30 in the first two thirds of the board and totally turned down in the last third or so of the board. The bottom cut facilitates the tucked under edge and starts from the nose to about a third up from the tail. After the initial primary cut is made on the top, smaller cuts are made along the corners of that band to form the top rail. The same is done to the bottom rail band. The beveled cuts are then blended smooth using a sanding block or surform. Do I have you confused yet? Your best bet would be to watch one of the shaping videos to get a better idea of what I’m talking about. Before you do the rails you need to remember to foil the blank, get it to the desired thickness and after that shape in what ever bottom contours you want, flat, vee, concave etc. If this is your first board, a flat or flat to vee bottom would probably be the easiest bottom to shape. Good luck with your fish.