tried to foil a fin for the first time yesterday (G10). it came out okay...
to you fin foilers out there, when you're foiling, do you shape rail bands?
i just kinda went after it until it looked like what i had in my mind but, on the next one, i think i'm going to try bands like it was a rail.
any tips?
Yes, I definitely use banding techniques when foiling. That's how Jim Phillips taught me to do it. First cut is huge rear band to take most of the meat out of back of fin. Then a couple of secondary bands, one to blend that into trailing edge, other to blend forward into locus of thickness. The front edge is easier, bands are smaller and look even more like a rail.
I take a square and place a pencil on the 1/4" mark and run it along the leading edge, then again with 1/2", then 3/4", and so on depending on the fin size. with the trailing edge i'll go 1/2",1",1.5", and so on. Remember that these numbers can be changed. I then mark the center mark on the fin thickness. Now you should have a line running along the entire outside of your fin that shows you where the halfway point is on the thickness of the fin. If you are doing single foiled fins you won't need to do this, if 80/20 or60/40 foils, then change this line to suite your foil.
I grind from the outside edges of these fins, and slowly work my way inward. these lines are good guide points that prevent you from Eyeballing your foiling, and ending up with a uneven "hummer" or plainly, a bad fin. Make sure that the trailing edge numbers above are about double the length of the leading edge ones.
Good luck
thanks for the responses guys. as soon as i read what you guys wrote, the lightbulb went on... yesterday, i had a forehead slap moment midway through foiling the fin... "duh!, i should do rail bands"... oh well, live and learn, should have asked Swaylocks first... hopefully it won't surf too bad and the others will come out better...
another question: do you guys taper your bands? or will the tip be thin enough without tapering? i guess, i could just do even rail bands then thin the upper 1/3 at the end if i think it needs it?
Taper in the bands is only needed if you've done your base-to-tip ''taper'' first. I would usually do all of the rough foiling (the bands) first, then do a few passes down the flat to thin to tip. You could certainly do the base-to-tip taper first, but IMO it's easier at end of rough-out, because the flat section is smaller.
I doubt it's going to happen, but Greg Griffin could give us all some tips here. Look no further if you want to see perfect base-to-tip taper.
thanks Mike, i'll give it a go
I do like astevens. I need to have those marks as reference. Also I scribe with a utility razor blade the center of the leading and trailing edges. Those are a constant. From there it is mostly paying close attention to the plys to maintain symmetry.