Okay.

Say I want to get my massive 4.9cm (49mm) North S-Bend FR fins down to some nice stubby little fins around say... 3.5-2.5cm?

Is this even possible for a start? I have access to most of the machinery i would assume i need including a band saw and disk sander and belt sander. The question is... is there even any way to go about this, or if i did just charge into it and saw half of the fin off would i need to then seal it with anything? or is it all just solid plastic !?

Any help would be appreciated

Cheers,

Jay

(For the record i would like smaller fins so that i can put boots on and slide on the sand and not get bogged and dig in and faceplant )

Hi Jay, They should be made from G10 material which is many layers of fibreglass laminated up under pressure to form a panel. It is very durable and will not be easy to cut them down as it will blunt your jigsaw blade. You can get a diamond blade that will last a little longer. Once cut down you can re foil with your grinder but again they will take a bit of work to grind up.
Once you have the shape about right just work your way thru finer grades of sandpaper and they are ready to use. No need to seal.
The fibres can make you very itchy, wear protective clothing and dust masks.
It might make you think the fins are cheap once you have done all of this ;)
Cheers Adrian

EBay man, there's a guy selling ridiculous y cheap solid plastic ones with screws. They aren't as nice as the "super sharp flex pattern" or whatever the North ones are but a lot better than a grinder set, and when you dent them just file and sand away

Make a template. make sure you don't cut to close to the bolt holes. Cut the rough shape with the bandsaw. Shape the edge with a sander.

Done

I took the angle grinder to my fins worked really well .

150mm random orbit sander , with 240 grit sand paper works a treat for g10 fins , some fins like the naish ones have a foam or honeycomb core , if you sand them down you need to seal the end with epoxy .

winter said..

4 or 5 inch angle grinder black marker leave the fins on the board go to town but their is no turning back once you have done it why don't you just take the fins off if you want to ride the sand?

haha yeah i guess i did not word that too well...

by riding on the sand i just mean when i have to slide 5-10 metres to get to the water

This is the most fun way

JayG said..

...
(For the record i would like smaller fins so that i can put boots on and slide on the sand and not get bogged and dig in and faceplant )

Taking the fins off won't help with riding on the sand. The fins have nothing to do with it. If you put the whole bottom of the board on the sand the friction will make it stick to the sand and you will face plant.

The correct way to ride on the sand is to lift the toe side rail so you're just riding on the edge (like the guy in the photo). It will slice nicely through the sand and you'll be able to ride as far as you want (ie. the whole beach not just the last few metres to the water).

Be careful you don't flatten your board on the wet sand. It is very sticky and you will stop dead.

Why cut down your fins? You'll just stuff up a good set of fins. If you want smaller fins just buy some. They're $60-$100 a set of four. You can probably beg some cheap ones from a local shop.