Tired of breaking off your swallowtail tips when you pull it out of your;car,garage,house?So was I, 27years ago (or so) Rich harbour had come up with a way to reinforce the tips of his tails using wood stringers.The reinforcers were short lived ,because of construction hassles,and material used(wood).I have re-introduced the reinforcers (about 5 years ago) with great success. SPLITTAIL REINFORCEMENT:First,you need a thin sheet of fiberglass(I use realty forsale signs,eg.21st.CENTURY,FIRSTTEAM,etc.etc.)during the hot coating(when you come to the boxing,and plugging phase)make a vertical cut running parallel to the stringer from each tip.They can be from a half inch to 3"or 4" long,up from the tips going toward the nose.Angle your cuts like your toed fins are.I use a jig saw to cut with,and pre-tape the cut area(using masking tape,TAPE BOTH SIDES!TOP&BOTTOM)to prevent chipping.Using a pencil& a straight edge draw your cutlines on the tape,TAIL SIDE UP.Then makeyour cuts(they go all the way through the board)After cutting;file with sandpaper,or my favorite ,a finger nail file.Check sizing to have a sure fit.The fiberglass sheet should fit like a wedge in the cuts.(leave alittle extra hanging out to gring off, but not flush, leave a 1/16th-1/8" exposed to give you a bumper effect(you can sand them flush also)Mix-up some glue(lam+pigment+cabocel)on the thick side,push some in the cut, and coat the fiberglass sheet. Re-insert the sheet, check it for placement,let it kick,and then come back and sand it out with the rest of the board.For max. reinforcers you would make horizontal cuts as well with wedges,before the vertical cuts,but thats another story.P.S. It won’t stop the major blasts,but it will help with the wallbanging stuff.Since I have been doing this the tail tip dings have disappeared!