I got this blank a while ago “6’8’’ MF Fish - Green density- 3/8’’ red cedar wedge 3/8’’ nose to 1/16’’ tail stringer, ARCTIC FOAM”. I ordered it in a bit of a rush because it was on discount and didn’t notice the wedge stringer in the description. So I was a bit surprised when I opened the package and saw the super narrow stringer in the tail. What is it for? Flexibility?
What I want to shape is a kind of mini log single fin close to the one below. That one is 6’4 and really flat with almost no rocker. The blanks rocker is:
ROCKER NAME NOSE 0" NOSE 12" TAIL 12" TAIL 0"
NAT 4 1 1/21 1/16 2 3/16
So I’m thinking I’ll have to take a bit of the bottom away to get a flatter rocker.
So you have the dimensions of the board you are attempting to copy? The reason I ask is because #1 you can’t copy a board without at least some general dimensions. And #2 always start with the right blank. Too many inexperienced board builders don’t visualize the board within the blank. Which is very hard to do when the board just isn’t in there anywhere.
Well my initial plan was to have the board right next to me when shaping so I can measure everything I need. But my friend left the board with her boyfriend in Portugal so I’m trying to get him to measure at least the width every couple of inches. I’ve been looking through all the photos trying to get some measurements already but I don’t have one with a straight frontal view.
I think I can get the board out of the blank at least in 6’4 so I can loose some of the rocker of the blank.
You could probably “reverse rocker” that blank and come closer to that “mini-mal”. Which is exactly what the boys “down under” would call it. PS-- every six inches is plenty. Lowel
I’ve been thinking about the “wedge” stringer. I have seen a few of those at the Arctic warehouse in OC. Most of the time I am in and out of there so fast that I forget to ask Marty; Whazzup wid dat? Next time I am down there I’ll make a point of asking about the logic behind it. Lowel
…I use blanks with wedged stringers but normally customized. Now I have with the wedge stringer in 2/3 then without a stringer the last 1/3.
Mostly to have a better flex and to add some coolness.
Problem with Arctic and custom blanks is that is kind of a lotto; I mean; sometimes is very good some times the guys doing the work…well. Now I am building a big board with 3 hybrid “T” bands of 3 stringers (wood/pu/wood) per Tband but the central band is very crooked in the last 1/3. I needed to do several things to obtain a decent board.
I think I’ve seen that video before but thanks for reminding me! I’ll watch it again. Not sure if the reverse rocker would work because of the wedge stringer. Even though I think I probably won’t really notice the difference from the thin side of the stringer.
tail rocker really livens up mini logs, easier to turn off the top and bottom…add some rear concave to straighten out the water flow and easily as fast as a low rocker tail.
one of the plus’s of wedge stringers is the abiity to install a box without cutting into the stringer…?
Do you guys think my template would work? Should I make it a bit wider in the tail and wide point? And maybe even a wider square tail?
Also thinking about a bit more tail rocker to lift the nose?
I wanted to go for single concave to double to vee in the tail. And single fin.
Btw. I’m about 5’7 and 147lbs. And I want to take the board if I would noramlly think about taking a longboard but don’t want to carry it a long way or am traveling by plane.
Instead of messing around with trying to flatten the rocker I would vote for just using a design that will fit the existing rocker. 4"n and 2.3/16"t in that length is a moderate rocker that should be very versatile overall but will not excel in small/weak conditions. Something like a 2+1 egg .
Thank you for those links I’m sure you are right and that would be the best thing to do! But I’m a bit stubborn and I really want to try to make a board close to what my initial plan was. I might keep it closer to the rocker of the blank to not mess with it too much.
If that’s what you want by all means go for it! There’s tons of mini log outlines you can draw inspiration from out there. I think the rocker on that blank is 3-7/8". See what it looks like after you cut your outline, you can take some out of the middle to lower if you like.
Regarding your outline I think it’s a tad too wide in the nose, maybe take it down to 18". The biggest problem I see is fitting that wide nose within that blank, I don’t know if you’ll be able to fit it.
You were absolutely right. I cut my template out of masonite and of course I couldn’t fit the nose onto the blank. Even though from just measuring it on my computer it was supposed to work. I adjusted the template and narrowed down the nose a little bit but drawn on the blank it fit but still didn’t look right. Nothing beats doing it in “real life” instead of computer I guess. So I adjusted it some more and took a bit of the width and I’m quite happy with it now.
The nose is now 18.5’’ and the widest point (a bit forward) is 20.86’’ and the tail 15.16’'. It’s a lot of back and forth btw with centimeter and inches haha. I have to get some new measuring tools.
I also measured the stringer after cutting the outline and got 3.43’’ nose and 2.17’’ tail (I put a level on the mid point). There’s plenty of foam with almost 4’’ thickness around the midpoint so I guess I’ll try to flatten the rocker a bit and see how that works.
