I hate to post a question that has been asked before, but I must be missing something in the archives. I want to make a traditional fish (like everyone else!) and need a template. I have seen posts that mention fish templates in PDF, whatever that is. I’m not looking for computer lessons here, just a point in the right direction. Are there fish templates in the archives that can be printed? If so, where?
thanks!
Wondering the same thing, what about a place in the resources dedicated to templates, probably have to come up with a widely used format that everybody can import/export out of the various drafting/illustrating programs. Like svg, dxf…etc.
Is this an area that Mr. Swaylock can add?
It’s real easy to make your own templates…I just did it myself. Plot out measurements on the blank at 1’ from the nose, wide point, center line, and 1’ from tail. Put nails at these points and find something long and flexible that will allow you to get a nice constant curve. I drew one curve from the tip of the nose to my centerline, matching the points up, then did the same from the center to the tail, making sure the curves made a solid, flowing curve all the way through. Cut your blank at that line, true it up right to the line, put cardboard over the top of the blank and trace from bottom. There you go. My fish turned out pretty good, so I’m happy with my template…
Tenover-
Thanks for the post! I’ve made my own templates before for eggs and midlength boards. I’ve tried making one for the fish too. It’s so short, though. Something seems to be off. I thought that if there were already a few there (I read a post where someone said that there were) I could compare a couple and find out where I’m wrong. It’s the buttcrack and the nose that I cant seem to nail. And also the wide point… is it that far up?
Thanks!
Well, I’m certainly no expert, but what I did for my wide point is look at some fish shapes that I really liked and kind of eyeballed how far up the wide point looked, took some suggestions from the archives here and drew up my template to what looked right. Turns out my wide point is 7" up from the center point. As for the tail, The swallow isn’t even drawn out in the template, it’s just a square tail that’s 11" from tip to tip. It all looks a little “short and fat” on the blank, especially after you cut it out and before the rails are shaped…Once the rails are taken down, it looks perfect. I left the swallow tail cut until I was ready to fine sand, then used a jig saw to cut it out, using an old 10" skeg as a template for my curve…Easier than it looks/sounds… I used my Dremel with a small sanding barrell to take down the stringer, along with a small round rasp…That was a little difficult.
Here is a link for a templete that was posted awhile ago…
http://www.swaylocks.com/cgi-bin/discussion/archive.cgi/read/59927
nathan
Nathan-
There it is. I thought I looked on that one. Thanks!
Here’s an ALTERNATE approach. Find a nice shape online you would like to make and print it. Determine or estimate the length and width.
If you are good, you can also estimate the width at each foot of lenth.
(I have a method to accurately scale up a pic using digital calipers or steel rule
and aspect ratios but its too long to explain here, ie, I can make an identical full scale paper template but it is very tedious)
Mark those measurements on one side of the blank to mark outline points.
Buy some blue or dark masking tape and use it to make your outline.
The tape curve replaces the pencil drawn curve. Then stand the board up against
a wall, stand back (at least 10 feet) and hold out your printed pic and compare the
outline you created with the tape with the pic. Look very very carefully…do not rush this step. It helps to compare the upper and lower halfs seperately. If the design you picked has many different radii of curves, you can also concentrate on each. Where you see a difference mark it with a pen and pull the tape off and re-adjust. Repeat this process until the entire outline is just right. As you get close, you can supplement the tape line with pencil lines (tweaks). When you think you have it right, you can draw or paint the outline and peel the tape off or just leave it on. I have used traditional methods and this approach is more enjoyable IMHO. If it is not dead nuts perfect you can fix when you are trueing your outline. One caviat…I do this because I feel like Im creating art and I have a real good eye for geometry…you may be different.
Couple of handy hints: it may help to break the tape into 2-4 seperate sections to facilitate adjustments. As your laying your tape down, look low and down the tape line for smoothness of curvature. Tape a foot or so and look down the line for smoothness and adjust if necessary. A little practice and youll get it down eventually.
Some of the bennies of this approach:
Tape line is non-permanent easy to adjust (unlike a pencil line…ever try to erase on a foam blank?)
Its fun and helps you develop eye/brain skills of geometry and design
Makes you feel a little artsee-fartsee
Enjoy the journey