Finishing off and deciding on fins...

Still touching up the rails by hand, but also now need to make a decision between using 4 AB 1 templates for the fins or attempt to make a set of Rich Pavel Speed Dialer fins.. Any suggestions...??

Rail Shaping 101 - The board gets unwrapped

So the true shaping is well and truly underway now. Everyone will have their own technique for this stage. I sstarted using a belt sanded then went back to an orbital, then hand sanding with a block. The rails have come up pretty well so far. With the bending ply any errors in the curve are very noticeable but it also is quite an accurate guide for my curves because of the lines through it as you sand back. Below are a couple of shots of the board now that the protection of the deck has been taken off. Not far to go now.





You may notice on the second shot some glue up near the nose, this is just filling a small gap between the cork and the ply on the rail. It will then be sanded off when it dries. I didn't unwrap the board until I was ready to sand back the last millimeter or so onto the deck. The tape has protected the deck well, however there are a couple of marks that I will have to try and sand out (hopefully only I notice them)

Below are some plan shots of what the rails are meant to look like. I think I'm close but still want to do a bit more handsanding to get them perfect.

And so the shaping begins...

Now that the rails are on it is now time to shape the curve into them. This is not as easy as it may first appear and requires extra care as everything will be visible in the final product. Here are a couple of shots so far. I am shaping the top side first and then curving the underneath up to it. The shape of the rail is a rough take on one of my other boards (5'10" DVS fish). Care is of the essence now. More photos to come when it all starts to take shape. Almost complete.... Yeeeew!!!

Rails on....

So I went with cork and bending ply for the rails and just cork for the tail. Had to be really particular with the order that things went on and that all my ply strips had the correct rocker cut into them. Now to begin the shaping process, grinding the rails back to form a reasonable curve.

A bit of tail and rail

Have begun gluing on the vertical strips to eventually sand back to form the final rail and tail shape. The tail of my board will be all cork. I am still tossing up whether or not to use some other timber strips in the rails for an enhanced visual effect at the end... More work but I think its worth it. Just means I have to source more timber... Perhaps bending ply or even Paulonia. Anyway here is a couple of pics of where I'm at so far.

fin trifecta

so i compeleted the trifecta of fins this afternoon. I love the smell of Cedar dust....the middle fin was taken from a smaller template and still needs a bit of meat taken off it, but i'm stoked with the other two fins. Almost identical and foiled almost to perfection....

Fins!

Started on the fins today and happy with my first attempt at shaping these. I used a snapped FCS G5 as the template and Western Red Cedar cladding board which is soft enough to work with and gives a beautiful contrasting color to the Plywood decks we have been using. The color in the wood will stand out nicely after being glassed. The inside edge needs a bit of work, but i'm happy with first attempt. The hardest part will be shaping one more exactly like it. Stay tuned...

the deck is on

For those interested i forgot to post a photo of the completed deck. So here it is. I was quietly impressed by the grain in the wood and the final shape of the fish. Now to get the bottom skin on. Had a slight blow out on the rails as i add too much weight to the skin when glueing it, but will be able to repair it so hopefully wont show at the completion

Duncs - board update

There has been a bit of action on the board front of late from me, so I figure it is time for an update. Since my last post I have checked the gluing of the deck and fixed up any little spots that didn't fully glue up like I wanted. I have also put in a block of balsa under the deck for where the leash plug will be put in when the board goes to be glassed. But perhaps the biggest achievement is successfully inlaying my piece of wood from the Morning of the Earth house into the deck (see photos for position etc). I have also sanded back the overhang of the deck to meet flush with the railband. Continuing to sand the fins (4). Grant tells us that from here on in we really show our hand in terms of care and skill. Everything now is visible on the final piece, a bit daunting. Anyway check out how things are looking so far.




PS: Got some nice sliders this morning with Scotty and a couple of other mates at a perfect little lefthand beachie bank not too far from where I live. But like any good little rip bank that forms it won't be around for ever and I am not telling anyone but mates that I surf with where it is :) Hope you are getting waves in your part of the world. Peace.

leash plug

The leash plug we are using has a gortex vent which allow the board to breath, but not let any water in. Handy little piece of plastic. I have set the plug into a block of paulownia and will then glue this piece to the inside of the deck and drill a hole through to it. The plug should sit flush with the deck...thats the theory anyway!....

time to skin up

So i made my first attempt to glue the deck on. A whole lot of clamps and weighty objects lying around the garage were used to hold the deck in place. Probably could of used more clamps but overall happy with the way it has taken.

Skinning...

So today I glued on my first skin. Check the photos. Now just a nervous wait to see if it takes.



This shot is a test of the clamps prior to glueing. The skin was trimmed down and small holes drilled on the outside to thread cable ties through to add pulling power onto the skeleton. (see shots below)




After applying glue to all ribs, rails, supports and tail pieces I then flipped the board over and clamped it to the skin. After clamping it up I put a fair bit of weight on it to push the stringer down onto the deck.



After a bit of additional spot glueing and some small running repairs and extra support I'll now sit back with crossed fingers and hope it all holds. I think tomorrow when I take the weight off I'll add a bit more glue along the ribs and stringer to increase the strength of the hold.

same same , but different

Heres the two fish next to each other , same blue prints used , but different interpretation of what can be achieved. The tails are the big difference.

Adding a piece of surf history.

Happy New Year.

Did a bit more gluing today and now have put in all the tail supports and finished gluing all ribs to railbands. Caught up with Scott yesterday and discussed our next moves over a couple of cold refreshments. He has cut out one of the skins and I too am close to that stage.

Now that we are dealing with parts of the board that will be visible things become a bit more pressured. I want to add a personalised feature to the board and have been looking at a couple of options. One of them in its early stages is pictured above. In picture 1 there is the nose of the board, the fins and a crusty old sliver of timber. That piece of timber is actually from an old decking board from the house used during the filming of the classic surf film Morning of the Earth. For details of how I happened to acquire some timber from here check out the Baddy Treloar photo at www.freelifecreations.blogspot.com.

Anyway my idea is to inlay a strip of this timber into the deck of the board. Not sure if I've got the skills to do it but I think it is worth having a go.

Fish tales

Safety Equipment

Just thought i would point out that i use all safety equipment when cutting or sanding.....glasses and ear buds...The Ryobi jigsaw has had a workout..not bad for $60 from Bunnings! Still have all my fingers intact too..