I figured this out recently. These clamps work perfectly for holding a fin blank.
Here’s an ad that I got in the mail recently. They are going for pretty cheap. Go buy them and start foiling!
Here’s a little something that I made recently using the clamps.
Now you just need to put it in front of an exhaust fan.
Happy foiling.
Good stuff Swied !
Can you angle it so you can do full passes along the entire LE or TE with an 8 in sander ?
i think I’ve seen a pic of Larry Allison with a 3- dimensional clamp to cater for all angles.
If you line up the trailing edges of 2 fins so they form one continuous arc, a single sweep of your sander can sand 2 fins at the same time. After however many(?) sweeps, change the positions so the leading edges line up as a continuous arc and keep sanding. Works best on single foil side bites and twinnies. Makes it easy to maintain the same foil on both fins as each pass of the sander continues across both fins.
I’m at work or I’d post a pic…
saw a pro on here once show foiling using a ball joint clamp that allowed him to flip the fin into different positions with out taking it out
allowed him to foil the fin pretty quickly
do one side flip do the other
here’s a hobby version i picked up for doing my woodcrafts
http://www.wiltontools.com/us/en/p/2-3-4-vacuum-base-vise/63500
Yup the swivel vise works great for fin foiling…there may be others but the one I bought (after that post by I think it was Gene Cooper) is made by Stanley, Model # 83-069M costs about $40, looks like this:
I like the looks of that clamp Keith. I’m thinking about putting it on my Christmas list – even though I don’t really need it. 
My clamp setup, at $9.99, still holds the lead for being the cheapest functional option.
my setup is like Austin’s.
I like the vice grip because it’s super quick to take the fin out turn it around, flip it over, etc, etc.
I put pieces of sandpaper on the “teeth” of the vice grip so that it really grabs the fin material.
Also, the narrow bite of the clamp makes it easy to work around FCS fin tabs etc.
Check out the Kreg web site they have a quick action type vice grip.
I just found this vacuum base articulating vise at Harbor Freight for only $17.00. It looks very similar to the $40.00 Wilton and has lots of positive reviews too. I’m going to check it out tomorrow.
http://www.harborfreight.com/2-3-4-quarter-inch-articulated-vacuum-vise-3311.html
Does that Wilton vacuum base vise totally stay put when you’re shaping fins or does it tend to move around?
