1st handplane attempt

Are there any other handplane shapers here on Sways ?

Just your standard flat handplane. Looks like a triple carbon / veneer vac bag composite hydrofoil concept…but nah.

Just shows that Sways isn’t the place for innovation or creativity any more.

Nothing to see here…

You are not in the Sways inner sanctum Brett…

Very interesting.  How/what do you hold on to surf it?

Hi Bill, I saw the current variations on the market with straps or a hand hold hole.

The straps look complex and I didn’t like the idea of not being able to disengage as I go over the falls so I went with a handhold but not a hole so put the grip in the middle (blue area ) and extended the side wings forward so that my hand is balanced in the centre ( front to back).

Then raised the central area up a few inches and now it’s just a matter of trimming the side wing area for the best balance of speed and control.

I’ve got an even more futuristic / technical version in the water but I will wait until it’s worthy to show.

Much like a fin, a foil creates lift.



Nice Brett. Do you or anyone else have a rule of thumb for area of plane versus mass of human pilot?

Sure, for the shortboard hydrofoil its 200 square inches for up to 90 kgs.

Because a foil quadruples its lift at double the speed, the area is divided into 2 levels.

At low speed you need all the planing area for initial lift but 200 sq in will lift at walking speed then the sides become your rails giving you stability and they stay submerged. They are only 60 sq in.     The side rails are 24 X 2.5 inches wide.

Same formula and design for the handplanes but scaled down. Still having most of the area in the central section with minimal area on the side wings. Total planing area 90 sq in.


Cheap vacbagging of carbon/glass and veneer. All you need is the pump, plastic tubing, garbage bag and tape.

This is my High Tech Lab area in the driveway where I cut and sand.

Surffoils, that’s a Beaut! What is the veneer? It is really a cool shape…looks like a spaceship! I am working on my 3rd handplane and I’m trying to decide if I should seal it up with polyurethane or epoxy. I am guessing epoxy is the way to go. Aloha brah.

Hi Hobbs, the veneer is pine, I tried harder woods but they are also harder to vacbag and the pine is light and looks good. I use epoxy.

That’s a beautiful handplane, I think you can judge when a real shaper does handplanes, all the curves and lines blend with an artistic balance.  Can you post more pics ?

Here’s the latest out of the bag and roughly trimmed, there’s more to come with this one before it gets wet.

Well ya know…I’ve made a few wooden ones with varying success but I love the take on this particularly!!!..Have you ever thought of scaling that up to some kind of paipo or boogieable size?

A larger paipo style would fly in the water no doubt…A little pointy here and there maybe but i’m sure that could be ironed out.

It would be worth doing just to the speeds you could achieve !!!

What are it’s basic dims?..

 

Good work as always

Love the driveway wall, work bench Brett.  How are you anchoring the plank of wood?

And I thought the epoxy sealed, 3/4" BB plywood bench top I built for saw horses was porch/shed tech.  My ironing board glassing table is almost competitive – no high stablitiy or power add ons though.

Bill, the other end of my work paling is wedged in a tree.

Sparx45, I did the bodyboard and shortboard version over the past 7 years and posted them here but they were easy to miss.



Oh yes i remember those and was following those threads then. What I meant was could you scale up that shape and ride it?..looks like the Raider off BattleStar…love it

 

Spx

Oh I see what you mean.  I didn’t think of this ‘Star Wars’ Style of design until recently but I’m sure I could scale it up.

I took the black handplane out all week and I’ve never been that fast on a wave except on a surfboard so Im  trimming that design down even more  to see what happens next.

I’ve currently got the same submerged area as a thruster fin setup but only holding it with one hand so there’s a lot of hold and drive and it’s a little scary at times. Traditionally you bodysurf by taking off, get a few seconds sortof surfing and then get flogged but with the extra drive it drags you forward through the sections and the steeper sections give better drive so I’m getting hauled along by the wave. It’s not rocket science, horizontal surfaces give lift and vertical surfaces give drive.

One of the ideas I got from your handplane tangent is similar to Sparx45’s and that’s making a bouyant ,maybe even foam and glass version of my foil and trying it with no board, but alas ,no shop at the moment.

Wow, sorry I checked in late on this thread, cool stuff!

I’ve got lots of carbon…I might try Bretts idea but at a “cubit” micro paipo size… The feedback re; speed across the wave face really intrigues me…just gotta make the edges less dangerous !!..i really do think that you’re on to something for sure.

 

Spx

Heres a few more pictures Surffoils…still trying to figure out how I want so seal the wood. I’d love to use something I could rub on but I want to get max durability an I’m not sure a rub on finish will cut it. Can anybody enlighten me on finishing wood for use in the surf? Thanks.