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Old     (ilikebeaverandboats)      Join Date: Jul 2007       06-06-2010, 1:48 PM Reply   
Most of the credit goes to this guys blog
http://www2.swaylocks.com/forums/dyeingcoloring-fins-0

Be Careful with RIT Dye, It doesnt come out of ANYTHING. Make sure you where gloves, unless you want colored hands for the next few weeks

Supplies
-Fins to Dye (sometime of natural composite/white fin)
-Bottle of RIT Dye (I used Royal Blue, but there are tons of colors) I found it at Michaels, that arts and craft store.
-240 grit sand paper
-5 gal bucket (or something you can fill with hot water, and allows the fins to lay flat without overlapping)
-medium size tupperware or another bucket
-A few pairs of rubber gloves

Get Started

1) Sand off the finish of the fins with a 240 or similar grit sandpaper, look at the fin at an angle and make sure it looks uniform. Keep sanding untill all the spots are gone. Make sure to sand parallel to the base of the fin. Dont forget to sand the leading and tailing edges.

2) Rinse the fins with warm water to remove the oil from your hands

3) Fill the clean 5 gal bucket with 2-3" of hot water. (I let me tap run for a few minutes and thats hot enough) Get outside and pour about half of the bottle of dye into the water and mix it around with a plastic spoon. You can add more or less dye, depending on the shade you want, but I found that the shade is easier controlled by the time left in the solution.

4) Put the bucket in the sun so the solution stays warm and then lay the fins on the bottom without over lapping the edges. If you are using convex fins, lay the concave side down.

5) After an hour, check each fin and reposition/flip if necessary. You will need to flip the convex fins.

6) After another hour, pull the fins out and put them into an ice bath to rinse and help the dye to set. I let mine sit in the ice water for 20-30 minutes.

7) Pull them out of the water, and dry them with a paper towel. if some color rubs onto the towel, rinse a few more times and then re-dry with paper towel and then allow for the fins to completely dry outside.

8) Put them back on the board and enjoy your custom color fins


For lighter or darker coloring, Scale the times down or up. + or - 30 minutes should be a good starting point.


Before





After






Old     (wakemitch)      Join Date: Jun 2005       06-06-2010, 2:20 PM Reply   
Joey, those look AWESOME!
Old     (taft)      Join Date: Jul 2006       06-06-2010, 2:32 PM Reply   
That does look awesome. I think I'll do the same to mine. Seems like a pretty straight forward and easy way to add some bling to the board
Old     (ilikebeaverandboats)      Join Date: Jul 2007       06-06-2010, 3:02 PM Reply   
Thanks guys. It was way easy. Just take your time with the sanding and itll come out great.
Im thinkin i shoulda done the right 2 fins orange and the left 2 blue!
Old     (taft)      Join Date: Jul 2006       06-07-2010, 3:21 PM Reply   
Quote:
Originally Posted by ilikebeaverandboats View Post
Im thinkin i shoulda done the right 2 fins orange and the left 2 blue!
The matching blue fins looks so sick. Super clean looking setup you got there.
Old     (brewkettle)      Join Date: Jan 2009       06-06-2010, 4:46 PM Reply   
Fantastic Job , Now everyone has an option on their own custom colors
Old    surfdad            06-06-2010, 5:09 PM Reply   
Nice write up and they did come out sweet!
Old     (jon_tollefson)      Join Date: Oct 2005       06-07-2010, 3:19 PM Reply   
Sweet! Simple way to make your board your own! Very cool, Thanks for the write up!
Old     (duffymahoney)      Join Date: Sep 2008       06-07-2010, 3:51 PM Reply   
Did you re-sand the fins smooth?
Old     (ilikebeaverandboats)      Join Date: Jul 2007       06-07-2010, 4:33 PM Reply   
Nope, didnt need to. You could probably wet sand the with like 1000 grit but they arent too rough after just 240 grit. I might try one of these days
Old     (scottnaz)      Join Date: Feb 2008       06-29-2010, 6:07 PM Reply   
Thanks for the great idea and write-up Joey,
I dyed the fins for my homemade board Purple this weekend. Followed your instructions, and I'm really happy with the results

Old     (ilikebeaverandboats)      Join Date: Jul 2007       06-29-2010, 6:21 PM Reply   
Right on scott, those look sick!!

Mine ended up fading a bit, so I dyed them again and hit them with a few layers of clear gloss and wet sanded them. If you hit it with the gloss, make sure you tape off the block that goes in the fin box. Even 2 coats is too much extra and will keep them from fitting...i had a brain fart and learned this the hard way haha.
Old     (hematoma)      Join Date: Jul 2008       06-29-2010, 9:38 PM Reply   
We used to do this trick with our RC car wheels, haha.

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