so I am contimplating adding a nose block to my clark blank fish…
you ask why a nose block on a fish… well the planer got away from me while trying to kick the nose and now the last 4" of the nose is more like a chip nose than a fish. So either I try to glue some foam back in and then reshape to fix the flow or a nose block.
So I’m wondering how finish sanding the blank works with a nose block. Obviously the sanding screens won’t work on the nose block.
I like the idea of the nose block but then it won’t look that good under a resin tint, will it?
If I do the nose block I was thinking of doing pin tail blocks as well.
Glass the board through the hot coat stage as is. Then take a straight edge and clamp it too the board where you want to cut it off, use some foam blocks as pads so you don’t crack the class when you clamp it tight. Use a router with a bearing guide or template guide and cut off the cancerous too thin area. Now glue your blocks into place with some lam resin (hopefully the blocks will have already been pre-semi shaped). Once thats all done you can wrap the nose in glass hot coat and sand as usual, run the glass a little farther out on to the nose ( like 6-8 inches) that way you can feather it into the existing lamination real smooth.
Presto, easy wood sanding no worries about hitting foam, clean glue lines, transparent block and bubble free nose lamination because you have plenty of time to just glass the nose. HEY DO THE PIN TIPS TOO! it will be fun. I love power tools!
Hm. Well, naturally, I do it differently. I shape, then cut off the foam and use Qcell and lam resin to glue a laminated wood (balsa/redwood is nice and easy to shape) block on. I shape with my grinder, a finger plane, and 60 grit on a hard backing. You can make mistakes like this, I tell you, but be careful and all will go well.
Trust me, don’t put a colored lam over a nicely laminated and shaped wood block. Best to go with clear or a light color in a light tint.
Much of the beauty comes from carefully considered thicknesses of wood in alternating colors. Don’t use a hard wood like oak; fir only if you have to. Redwood is okay; cedar kind of yellowish, pine is nice and white, koa is a little on the hard side.
Hand sanding these things to finish shaping them makes you appreciate how workable surfboard foam really is.
Now I have done one colored board where I cut the board after hot coating and glued on the laminated block then, and lammed clear over it. It’s a nice contrast to have the laminated block there surrounded by a colored board, but I’d rather put a laminated wood nose/tail block(s) on a clear triple stringer. THAT’S a nice looking board. If I was on the other computer I’d post a shot or two… USE THE SEARCH FUNCTION.
Hm. Well, naturally, I do it differently. I shape, then cut off the foam and use Qcell and lam resin to glue a laminated wood (balsa/redwood is nice and easy to shape) block on. I shape with my grinder, a finger plane, and 60 grit on a hard backing. You can make mistakes like this, I tell you, but be careful and all will go well.
Trust me, don’t put a colored lam over a nicely laminated and shaped wood block. Best to go with clear or a light color in a light tint.
Much of the beauty comes from carefully considered thicknesses of wood in alternating colors. Don’t use a hard wood like oak; fir only if you have to. Redwood is okay; cedar kind of yellowish, pine is nice and white, koa is a little on the hard side.
Hand sanding these things to finish shaping them makes you appreciate how workable surfboard foam really is.
Now I have done one colored board where I cut the board after hot coating and glued on the laminated block then, and lammed clear over it. It’s a nice contrast to have the laminated block there surrounded by a colored board, but I’d rather put a laminated wood nose/tail block(s) on a clear triple stringer. THAT’S a nice looking board. If I was on the other computer I’d post a shot or two… USE THE SEARCH FUNCTION.
Here’s Yater working a Balsa, toward the end he lams on the curved nose block. He works it the same on foam as well.
I’ve added tailblocks prior to glassing with a tinted lam coat. If the tint is very transparent, then the block will come out lloking pretty cool. For instance, if you are doing a light blue tint, then the block will have the slightest blue hue to it. Personally I feel that the color over the wood adds a little extra layer of dimension. BUT this only works if the lam is very transparent.
Glass the board through the hot coat stage as is. Then take a straight edge and clamp it too the board where you want to cut it off, use some foam blocks as pads so you don't crack the class when you clamp it tight. Use a router with a bearing guide or template guide and cut off the cancerous too thin area. Now glue your blocks into place with some lam resin (hopefully the blocks will have already been pre-semi shaped). Once thats all done you can wrap the nose in glass hot coat and sand as usual, run the glass a little farther out on to the nose ( like 6-8 inches) that way you can feather it into the existing lamination real smooth.
Presto, easy wood sanding no worries about hitting foam, clean glue lines, transparent block and bubble free nose lamination because you have plenty of time to just glass the nose. HEY DO THE PIN TIPS TOO! it will be fun. I love power tools!
resinhead:
yep this sounds like a good approach, and yes I plan to wood block the pins as well
Kokua
Quote:
Howzit resinhead, That's the way I do nose and tail blocks,it's easy.Aloha,kokua
great this is the plan
Honolulu
Quote:
I'd rather put a laminated wood nose/tail block(s) on a clear triple stringer.
I agree that does look the best, but this is for a fish that will have opaque resin tints top (yellow) and bottom (red). Based on Jay and Kokua’s inputs I’ll put the blocks on after the color resin work so the blocks will have clear over them.
The plan now is for redwood/balsa nose block and fish tail pin blocks. The nose block will be about a 3-4" block inorder to enable increasing the nose thickness which is the driver for this addition.
b.t.w.
bought a nice 2"x2"x12’ (foot) block/stick of redwood at Lowes yesterday. Now need to get a nice block of balsa and start ripping
Go get a handfull of paint sticks from the paint dept at Lowes. I alternate them with some redwood benderboard from the garden section. Nice redwood / pine combo. Balsa might give you a headache because of the different densitys of wood if you do a Balsa / Pine configuration. It might sand out weird, try to keep alike densities ie, Oak / Walnut, or Pine / Bass wood.
On my last 2 boards I did nose blocks. I know in the acrhives there is stuff on it since I received a lot of posts when I asked the question some time ago. I just took two blocks of wood, mahogany, cut an angle on each so they would form a “V” to the desired angle. Then glued the v together. Preshaped them using a dremil and sanded. Layed the shaped block on the board, traced its inside line gut the foam along the line. Then glued the whole thing on the nose using a hot glue gun. Did a little touch up shaping. Then glassed over the whole thing during the regular layup. The first one came out better then the second. I am not including one on the board I am shaping now. Again check the archives, there are better explanations.
On my last personal board I made a resin tailblock. I laminated the bottom with a yellow resin tint with 2 inch laps. My tailblock was also 2". So after i finished the bottom lam I cut the tail off where my cutlap was. Then I glued the shaped resin tailblock on and continued to laminate the deck. I made bigger laps in the tail area to fully cover the tailblock on all sides with fiberglass. My fin patches for the glass on fin also drifted over it aswell. Its working good so far. Hope that helps.
Couple items we’ve done and are in the process of doing.
Balsa + Construction paper (EASIEST)
get some 1/4" or 1/2" thick balsa and glue up sheets using wood glue and alternating colors of construction paper.
cut up the boards to length and thickness needed and glue to nose or tail. Easy to cutdown with a 4" grinder or sander then finish by hand. Paper and balsa sand out about the same.
Grab bag Scrap box - Woodcraft
For $30 woodcraft has some good size boxes of scrap hardwoods of all typesin all shapes and sizes koa, zebrawood, mahogany, ebony you name it, it’s in there…
Pen blanks - Woodcraft
For $4-$5 woodcraft sells a wide variety of pen blanks $15 for a package of 6-8 wood ones but the come in fancy resin and artificial wood types. Depending on the size of your tail or nose just 5-minute epoxy one or two to your nose or tail and cut it to shape with a grinder and your good to go. Way fancier and faster than trying to mold your own out of epoxy. Swirls, marblized, clear and sparkled resin stick ar available.
Lamination boards - Woodcraft
For $15 they also sell 1/4"x1"x24" long strips of various hardwoods you can glue up in any sequence you want or with other woods to create color patterns of your choosing.
Fiberglass Fin blanks - Proboxhawaii
Cut out your fins, glue up the scraps and attach them to your nose and tail as translucent block to match your fins you just made…Styling
There’s alot of options but I think solid curly koa blocks shine the prettiest against a white or light wood (balsa) body especially when she’s polished up a bit. Can’t beat rosewood with ebony or pure koa for soul…
Lately I’ve been thinking though if I’m still gonna put on one of Dave’s Surfco urethane nose and tail protectors as backup why do the blocks…
The surfco urethane protectors are still the best in my opinion to prevent splits and dings to these areas and any bodily areas they come into contact with…
