I have been interested in trying to glass my own longboard fin for a while and I thought I'd ask the people on the forum if they had any suggestions. First of all, If i shaped the fin out of wood, say 9 inches, what kind of resin/poly would use to coat it. Can I use bartop or do i need a specific type of resin? If i wanted to sape a fin for a 7'4 retro egg what styles do you guys suggest? I'd be looking for a shape and size that would allow for a looser/slidier type ride, like a wakeskate with no fins. any ideas will be appreciated. Thanks also if i figured out what type of chemical with which to coat the film, could i take say an old magazine photo or a cutout of a map and wrap it around the fin before coating so it could show through as a graphic? double thanks to all watermen and women.
The glassing is usually done with polyester or epoxy resin i believe, depending on the board. Make sure you take your time with the sanding to get the foil right. It is alot easier to shave wood off than it is to put wood back on.
If you're shaping a fin out of wood for a 7'6 egg, I wouldn't go with a 9" fin. I think smaller is better, especially if you want a looser/slidey kind of ride. For that kind of feel, Id suggest a flex fin, which is hard to get with wood. You might be able to get close if you foil it really thin, but generally, flex fins are solid fiberglass. Your other option would be just go with a smaller fin in general, or at least a fin with a smaller base. A cutaway template wouldn't be a bad idea. Once your fin is shaped, I recommend polyurethane resin because of it's clarity. Just get a small amount of laminating resin, even a UV cure type would work fine, and lay up your foiled fin panel with 12 oz. of cloth... 2x6 or 3x4... on both sides. If you want to get a graphic in there, put it between the top two layers of cloth. Lay up one side at a time, mix a hot batch, wet out your bottom layer(s), lay down your graphic, and lay down your last layer of cloth on top of that. When it's at the rubber stage, trim off the excess, leaving a little bit sticking out all the way around the fin. If you want that halo around the perimeter, flip it and lay in some roving all the way around, nesting it into the groove between the wood and the margin you left when you trimmed the other side. The halo looks good and adds a degree of protection. Plan ahead and make your fin slightly smaller when you cut your template if you plan to do this. Then lay up your other side the same way you did the first. Once trimmed, rough sand the edges to get the shape back, cut your base, and tack it up onto your board before you hotcoat. Once set, glass it on, fair out the edges of your patches, hotcoat, sand, gloss and polish.
The advice above on making a wood fin sounds good. I've made a few all fiberglass fins by glassing about 45 scraps of 4 oz fiberglass cloth or 35 pieces of 6 oz cloth cut to about the size of a license plate. either poly or epoxy resin will work and wet out no more than 5 layers at a time and keep stacking. I do it on a flat work bench with wax paper taped down on the surface. resin tint is a nice touch to give the fin a pretty look. Once set, clamp the "fin panel" down, trace outline and cut out the fin shape with a jigsaw metal or fiberglass blade, foil with 36 grit and fine sand. As you thin out the fin, the flex starts becoming apparent, when you stick the fin in a clamp and bending it. Making a glass on fin will be easier so you dont have to deal with the fin base, and drilling the hole for the set screw.
man there is a great post on swaylocks about making fins and how its just easier to buy them unless you have fine woodworking skills or just natural talent i would not waste the time , its extremely hard to get the foil right and its not worth saving 20 bucks, a good fin system can make or break a good board . , i tell you want on a side note do not order any product from fiberglasssupply.com i got hit with a extra 25 dollar freight charge not included on my bill then i didnt realize its shipping from washington state and it takes two week .
My Dads a professional woodworker so maybe thts one of the reasons im interested in trying this. just the idea of making something myself and then using it in the water sounds awesome, even if it sucks. but you know practce is the only way i could get better. but i wont order from the aforementioned company. thanks
Beautiful oak fin, brother... Regarding bamboo... it's tough to get the kind of strength you need with bamboo, along with the right flex. Experiments with bamboo has led to a lot of snapped off fins. So to get the strength, you need to reinforce with other materials. I have a brand new set of bamboo/carbon fiber fins that are very light, but much stiffer than bamboo/glass. They're for my big wave board, so I have to wait for the next macker to try them. My personal preference for wood fins is cabinet or marine grade ply. Great strength, great flex pattern, and positive buoyancy. But get the good stuff because regular plywood has a tendency to have voids. It sucks spending a lot of time foiling a fin and suddenly there's a big, ugly gap right on the edge of a foil line.
i have made a couple of fin sets using the bamboo plywood from greenlight. you can get templates to trace. use a jigsaw to cut them out (i used a coping saw--ugh!) and a hand grinder to foil them (I used a dremel the first time--ugh!) they are pretty cool looking and pretty stiff. glassing on is a bit time consuming, but not so hard.
I put up some vids on our website how wo make fins for ProBox (same method for glass-ons without the base tab) and also how to glass fins on Check out Greenlight's videos page here ~Brian www.greenlightsurfsupply.com
