Retro fish shaping advice please!

General Discussion
1

Hi all…

I went to shape a 6-0 retro fish today and blew it…

Mainly on the tail…(oh well only 40 bones…Mitch is cool!)

My question is…HOW do you smoothly sand the join at the top of the V…mainly how do you sand the stringer>>>

I tried a round file and kept digging foam. It was very ugly to say the least…

Any other fans out there of the retro fish…PLEASE email me for shaping advice… I need it.

It is a NEW thing for me, switching from wood to foam…But I want to do this real bad!

Any advice is more than welcome!

Thanks

Joe in Sandy Eggo…PB.

Bye the way…does anybody shape here in the San Diego area???

2

I use a rat tail surform to take the stringer down. You can tape the adjacent foam to help protect it as you finish it off. Mike

3

You could also run tape down the length of the file leaving only a strip of teeth exposed

I havent tried it but sounds like it would work

4

thanks guys

good stuff…

where do I get a rat tail sureform??

Man that killed me today a good blank SHOT on bad tail sanding ughhhh.

like I said at least it was only 40 bucks…

Joe:)

5

I use a dremel, be VERY careful.

6

I know…

I tried a Dremel and um uh…OUCH

you saw my last post haha!

ya that was a hard one!..

GOD I am still sick:(

Oh well there is next time! THANKS for post!

Joe:)

7

http://www.swaylocks.com/forum/gforum.cgi?post=287101;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread

8

Do search in “Shaping Butt Crack”

This topic was covered fairly well about 12-18 months ago on here.

Lots if different approaches:

My preference is to:

  1. shape the stringer with a beaver tail surform right down to the intended angle.

  2. Then clean up the V around the stringer

  3. Then take a soft block and shape both pins like you are shaping a rail.

When you leave the foam shaping to last, you get a clean result.

Trying to clean up the stringer once you are happy with the pins is just a disaster.

-Cam

9

My first hour ever on Swaylocks posts and already so much info…THANKS PEOPLE

thanks for the post right before this one you rule.

When this board is done I will post pics…

everything else came out sweet too(on the board)…Bummer on the “butt crack”!

Thanks and keep the advice coming.

Joe:)

10

I bet after your first surf you wont even remember it. You;ll be so stoked you wont care either! Good luck mate

11

microplane makes a round surform file as well as other surform blades. the blades are much better (for me) than the standard surform blades as they do not tear the foam as readily as do original blades.

i use the round file in vertical movements to take down the stringer working from the start of the crack on the deck down to the tail on the bottom, holding the blade at the angle necessary to get the desired depth of cut and angle of the crack.

this creates a sort of buttcrack ditch with elevated areas of foam out to the tips.

then i use the same round surform with horizontal and vertical movements to bring the elevated areas of foam into congruence with the buttcrack.

finish up with some sanding screen

i usually do this part as the last of the shaping on a fish.

12

If you’re in SD, you should have no problem finding the microplane surform.

PeterG is right, thats the tool you need.

Although I wouldn’t advise a beginner to do this, let me tell you my method

There’s a lot of foam and wood that needs to be removed, so I begin pretty

aggressively with a hard disc grinder on the wood, coming from each side in

turn with very edge of the disc. Once I’ve got that roughed in, I cut "rail bands’’

with the grinder from the wood area out to the tips. Then I come in with the

microplane round surform and finalize the curve on the wood. Then a hard block

finishes and blends the rail bands. Use the curve of the wood to guide the start

of each block pass and just funnel the lines to the tips. Finish off with stiff screen,

again using the curve of the wood to start each pull. Don’t scrub on spots, if

there’s a bump, get the block back out.

I had this same problem when I shaped my first fish. Wish there had been a sways

back then. I bet you can save yours if you get the microplane and just take out more.

Most fish I see don’t have near enough thinning going on back there anyway.

Have fun and enjoy the fish!

Mike