got a sample of basalt fiber to lay inside the leading edge of my fin molds has anyone tried it, it looks like carbon but is quite a bit heavier and going by the specs it could be ok

Used a carbon/basalt for a test on a project.
I don't know that the properties are any different to carbon and glass together?
Works nice..... itchy pokey fibres though, wear gloves

May be similar to G10 Keef, the resin wears away around the fibers, so although basalt may wear better than glass or carbon, it's still going to be pitted because the epoxy is disappearing around it.

yep the resin is a problem, i'm finding recycled resin and airosil then baking the fin a few times at 60 deg is extremely hard , just need a better product than carbon for the leading edge , ill keep you posted on how the basalt goes

apparently you can also use it in concrete instead of rio. You then don't get concrete cancer....

It's a nice bronzey colour.

If it is LE wear, use a tooling resin with aluminium dust.

It will cost you though.....

Oh and need a separation between that and any carbon due to them being incompatible over time

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Mark _australia said..
If it is LE wear, use a tooling resin with aluminium dust.

It will cost you though.....

Oh and need a separation between that and any carbon due to them being incompatible over time

the smallest tooling gel I can get is 5lts and as you said its gold ,as well as its polyester and very brittle on impact unless you impregnate it with roving's
for fins
I have used crushed tungsten with recycled resin dust , it was better but as decrepit said the problem is the resin wearing between the glass
I have used stainless but as you said you need glass between the carbon or you will bet separation
mark as you can read between the lines I'm using these fins for shallow water with the occasional rock garden but any help is appreciated

Have wondered about basalt myself but the longitudinal pultruded batten LE maybe better. Pultruding gives about twice the fibre resin ratio of hand lay up plus orientation better for knocks

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yoyo said..
Have wondered about basalt myself but the longitudinal pultruded batten LE maybe better. Pultruding gives about twice the fibre resin ratio of hand lay up plus orientation better for knocks

Must check with fangy how his batten leading edge faired. I'm confident in it's abrasion resistance, but my worry is impacts. I have a feeling the batten may split and fracture, over a big distance. All it's strength is along it's length, there's no crosswise fibers, so any splitting force on impact could just keep running along the batten.