No matter how hard I try, or how clean my templates are, I always seem to get a wobble here or a bump there at some point along the rail line. I end up trying to fix them, and then my entire outline will change (just a little) because I end up having to blend it in. I’m sure this is happening when I actually saw the outline, as I get to some points where there is very little foam to saw between my drawn outline and the edge of the blank, so I have to go “off” and then come back “on” to the shape, if you catch my drift…I suppose using a jigsaw may be easier, but do you have any othe suggestions? Thanks.
That was one of my big probs as well i usually cut about 1/8 off of my template line yhen put my planer on the lowest cut (clark planer still cuts a little on 0 cut) adn run it down the rails you will hear it hit the high spots then the next i stop when i get a comntinous cut all the way down but dont go past ur line
What I’ve been doing is skinning the bottom, drawing my outline by eye (ok, just kidding), then cutting the shape with a handsaw, try and true op the outline, take the bottom down roughly with a sureform, then move on to the top. For instance check out this picture…Everything looks good to me, and then taking a picture and looking at it really makes me see inconsistencies. This one looked good to me except for the last 5" of tail on the left, it still needs to be pulled in a bit…this is a 7’0". Oh, and I’ve been making my own masonite templates using different boards and curves that I laready have (professional shapes)…
…i m sure that you dont have good templates (pure curves)
so, its not possible to obtain a good outline…this is the problem…
anyway
…after you draw the outline, the best way is to clean up with the electric planer…, with the cut near minimun, run all over one side at a time…then put the blank about 45 degrees and check with the ligths… the ligths tell you with contrast of shadows where the problems are., clean these mini bumps with the surform, check again, then with a block and a 50 grit sandpaper, finish the job…
Thanks. I’ve tried cleaning up the rails with the electric planer, but it just seems to keep cutting the board down. If I take the electric planer to clean up the rails now, I know it’ll take everything in a bit, but do you think it’s possible to make this outline totally clean that way at this point? Just keep ging down the rails until there’s no cutting?
…from the picture i see the rigth side more straigth than the other side(in the middle)…
…no, i told you about a planshape, now with the board already cut, is not a good idea…
…may be you can use another template with other measurements and put onto this blank…so,
…if not, check measurements in both sides and mark and clean the errors, then put the board onto one rail and see the contrasts, then mark and clean with a file (ligth touch)…
With a sanding block, make long light full board strokes…at first you’ll feel the bumps and waves…after about a couple dozen strokes it will feel smooth. An e-planer with a 90 deg fence attachment is best…it all takes practice and most hand shaped boards have some little errors here and there…just surf it.
Oh, I’ll surf it for sure! These things just P!SS me off, that’s all. I got it much cleaner now, but it still isn’t perfect, oh well. Thanks for the tips.
With a sanding block, make long light full board strokes…at first you’ll feel the bumps and waves…after about a couple dozen strokes it will feel smooth. An e-planer with a 90 deg fence attachment is best…it all takes practice and most hand shaped boards have some little errors here and there…just surf it.
This is a pretty good tip… similar tothe way I did it.
I use 1/2 templates so I know the 2 sides of the plan shape are identical. Procedure is:
Draw 1 side of the templat eon the blank.
Flip the template and draw the other side. (Ensuring the flip points are not compromised, I mark both sides of the template at certain points and also mark the stringer on the blank)
Once the full plan shape is on the blank, I measure certain points using a square… I measure from String to plan shape line at about 6 spots to ensure the shape is symetrical.
I then cut the plan shape about 1/8" outside the line
Bring it in closer to the line with a surform ensuring edge is 90 degrees to deck and bottom.
Then with a long sanding block, I run along the edge of the cut shape using long strokes… you feel the bumps as you go and you can also feel when they are gone.
Be sure to get the sawing, then surform then sanding block as close to 90 degrees with the top and bottom of the shape as possible. Anything either way will throw the shape out if you flip the blank and compare one side with the other. If you get the sawing angle wrong (assuming not too wrong), it’s easy to fix when you start the Surform step. Make sure you have your angle right by the end of the Surform step.
It uses an old rule my Wood Work teacher in high school taught me… “You can always take wood off, but you can’t put it back on”… I know it’s not wood but the concept is the same.
I forgot to add, scrubbing or working on one area just makes your problem worse… you get the bump out of that area but then create a new bump or dip at the begin and end points of your strokes on the area you worked on. The key is consistent end to end strokes.
I try to use this rule (where possible) when I’m shaping the rocker, rails, deck etc. also
I struggle with the same issues as Tenover. My problem is usually when I start using two or more different templates to make a new curve. I stopped using the surform for cleaning up the planeshape because it tends to tear foam. I use 60 grit on a sanding block. Big long strokes. If its a bit off it tends to get worse when I try to fix it. Mike
Hey Tenover…you are too much of a perfectionist.that’s a good thing,.I have seen big name brand boards that where way way worse…
At that stage here is what I do to correct something like that. When you go to do the blending of the bottom and the top rail at that location (the right side that looks slighly off - inward ) go easier there on the most outer most edge than the on other side and it should come out just fine. just be super conscious of the dip and go easy…I hope that makes sense?. sometimes it’s easier to do something than having to explain it… good luck.
Edit: A tip when templating the blank: make sure you hold your pencil at the same angle for both sides and make sure your templates edge is square… you never know!
