Regarding Leash Plug

Whatsup everybody. This is my first post so strangely enough I feel like an introduction is in order. My name is Tommy Grimes and I am a shaper from Long Island, NY. I set up my own shaping bay and a glassing room for myself at a relatives house. So far I have shaped 10 boards and am starting to get a real feel for the wonderful craft. With all that said I do have one problem that I hope somebody can correct for me. The infamous leas plug…I wanted to consult you guys about this before I dived into trying it myself and ruining it. Too many times my ego has overpowered my logic in regards to consulting somebody before I delved into a project. I have learned the hard way on almost every step of board-building to the point where I can safely relate myself to Thomas Edison with his 1000 failed attempts on how not to make a lightbulb. Thats me with a surfboard. But theres one thing I think every shaper would agree on, you only need one way to make it work.

 

From what Ive seen, glassers pop out the hole for the plug using a drill piece and a wooden jig that drills far enough to insert the plug. 

Since you put the plug right along the stringer, what are the steps to drilling it out? Even with the drill piece, the bottom of the stringer will still remain uncut and therefore will cause the piece that you want to pop out and remove, to stay completely in tact. Any help on this matter would be much appreciated. A step by step would be a god-sent. Thanks to anyone that will offer help.

-Tommy Grimes

Hello Sir,

The Low Tech Lab was doing fine until one favorite college daughter came home from school and logged on to Face Book. The computer crashed....Total distruction.....we'll work it out....I'm back on line but I can't do photos...

I took a hole saw and modified the drill bit so that it only cuts about 1/16 past the hole saw. Think about it. I wish I had a photo for you. When drilling into the stringer I have found that it's best to do a pilot hole first.......After drilling use a standard screwdriver to "pop out" the foam/stringer....go easy......

I'm a backyard guy. Two guys riding fish I've made have requested that I do not put the leash plug in the center on Fish surfboards. The leash raps around the fish tail......The guys like the plug out on the side.........easy for me.....

 

Ray

 

Most hole saws are adjustable so that you can set the center bit as deep or shallow as you want. I’ve found the best thing for leash plugs to be a forstner bit. Cuts cleaner than a hole saw and removes all material within the cut.

   Howzit ammy, I agree on the forstner bit even if they are such a quality tool and usually I only use them for wood work, but I kept an extra one just for leash plugs, they make such clean holes.Aloha,Kokua

 

Yup. I have one that’s used for only that. Nothing beats a “clean hole”, eh?

Or make yourself a circular wooden jig and use the router with the appropriate bit. But the Forstner bit is the easiest.

Sammy & Kokua are right the forstner bits cut the cleanest and leave a flat bottom. Not to keep pushing them but I just bought a set of high speed steel forstners for $20 and it is a ten piece set. Great deal and decent bits if you keep the edge on them. For real fine work, I use the carbide forstners.

All of you are life savers. The forstner bit is perfect for what I need. Thank you for the help.

-Tommy Grimes

sometimes those forstner bits have a lot of grease on them, make sure you clean it with acetone first.

Forstner bits are the way to go, but the right pilot hole and a calibrated hole saw bit work fine. I pop out the material with a skinny little wood chisel, then clean up the stringer underneath with the same tool. Just slip the chisel into the slot, back it with your finger, and pry carefully. It’ll pop right out. If it’s through foam only, just crush down the foam in the bottom of the hole with your fingertip to make it flat. If you make the hole too deep, drop a penny or nickel in there just for fun.