After reading surfboard design and construction, and also lots of posts on this site, I was naturally inclined to shape my own surfboard. So far its been coming along well, but when I started using my block plane (Stanley low angle), it was not really taking off foam in nice sheets, but instead “tearing” it off. Anyways, I went and searched the archives for “planing technique” and “block planes.” One reply semi implied that the tearing was ok but i could never find a post that came out and straight said it. I just wanted to know if the tearing was ok and if I could use my surform to clean it up and it would come out alright. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks,
Without seeing what you got going on could be a few things. 1) If you are trying to skin the blank with a small hand block plane there is going to be a lot of chatter, or skipping because the plane doesn’t have enough weight. Better to use a bigger plane, like a door plane about a 12-16 in shoe…nice and heavy, i.e. Record, or Bailey #19 I think. 2) if your getting the tear out after you have skinned the blank? a few things come to mind, a) your blade is dull and it needs tuning, b) you trying to cut too deep, c) you have a sharp radius on the blade edge that is dragging across the blank and tearing it. Shaping takes time, unless your a master like Jim Philips your going to have all sorts of lines and marks in the blank before you get it to the final sanding phase.
It’s not ok to tear the blank, you should be able to make smooth cuts with the hand plane, it should feel like scissors cutting paper. A hand plane and a spoke shave to finish the tight nose area should be all that you need (and strong roter cuffs for all the shoulder work) Best thing to clean up the blank is a series of foam pads in different densities, 80-120 grit 8x11 dry wall screens, and a 2x4x24" with 50 grit glued to it. Use the big door plane to get the flats flat. The planer wont lie, but a surform will screw you over if you use it for the big work. Better yet, buy a power planer, and leave the hand planing to the Amish.
Hey, one other thing, it will be a lot easier to hand-plane heavier weight foams, such as the Clark classic-weight, than any of the light ones, such as “superblue”.