May 8, 2009

UDT mod by R.S.








Hey Paul,

Basically, I started out using a Japanese pull saw to trim the end and side rails, then a chisel to carve out a middle rain, followed by a lot of sanding till I went from "acoustic" hand labor to the electrical solution.

I busted out the Black n Decker 'dragster' electric planer on the UDT's. I think I've finally lost enough rubber and have the right flex for my feeble sticks to handle these now.

It was an interesting sculptural pursuit. It would be nice to model a pair of ultimate fins in clay and have them cast in rubber...some day!

I used them today and the flex seems suited to a longer kick for my size etc. I feel like they sit somewhere between a full UDT and a Viper fin. I kept the angle profile on the sides and just lost a lot of rubber whilst maintaining the fin design. I like how the blue marbling comes out when you taper the blade out thinner.

Nice session this morning at ****** **** with Ryan. The UDT's are now near perfect, and sweet on the ankles!

R.S.

5 comments:

charliep said...

will you do mine?

pranaglider said...

Indeed, mine on the other hand look like they have been hacked on by a drunken monkey.

R4TH said...

This monkey never drinks on the job.

nathanoj said...

I have a retired UDT with a torn foot pocket. Perhaps I'll practise on that one first :-)

Unknown said...

So if I was going to mod the pair I have sitting here, what hand tools could I use as a minimum? I started using a very sharp, serrated bread knife but I can tell I'm not going to get far with that.

At this stage I just want to thin out the ribs and keep them full length - a chisel and some 150 grit maybe?