Board #001 In Progress

General Discussion
41

I have! I ended up picking up a Rhyno blank. It’s their K-fish blank at 6’0" in length. With my outline pushed to the back of the blank, the rocker ends up pretty close to on-target.

I really understand what you mean about taking your time early on. Mistakes beget mistakes, with anything I guess.

I owe it to George (PlusOneShaper) for slowing me down, and for a wealth of additional information (including my rocker numbers).

The slower I go, the more I enjoy the process. I’ve become kind of addicted to preparation now. It feels good to spend days dialing in the template, or making tools.

Here are photos of the blank, the outline drawn on the bottom of the blank, and the rocker template I cut out today. I’ll be sighting the rocker template and smoothing it out over the next couple of days… and I’ll be cutting the outline as well.

Tonight I spent some time drawing out rail profiles. I’ve had a mental block about that until now. I’m starting to get moving on it. It feels strange to be thinking about them so late. I guess building something as well-understood as a fish comes with that luxury. In the future I think I’ll focus on rocker and rails before I really know what sort of outline I want.

Sooner or later I’ll start actually, you know, shaping :slight_smile:

Thanks!

42

When you have some rail profiles drawn up, let me know and I can work on getting you some measurements for rail bands, so you have a goal to shoot for when you are shaping them.

Don’t think that you are ignoring the rail profiles. The measurements for them cannot be computed (by me, at least) until you have skinned the blank, shaped in the bottom rocker, and have both deck and bottom decently flat and parallel to each other, and have the outline cut out and the sides of the blank perpendicular to the deck/bottom. Basically, until right before you are going to cut them, because I would need width and thickness at all the points you want the rail band measurements for. Unfortunately, that’s the way my algorithm works, off of width and thickness, and it morphs one rail profile into the other along the board’s length, as quickly or slowly as you’d like, as long as I can model it with a polynomial curve.

If you give me drawings of what you are thinking of for rail profiles, and once you have the steps above done (along with measurements for width and thickness at several points along the board’s length), it’ll take me an hour or two to crank out measurements for them, as many or as few as you want. I do 30 measurement locations (proportionally more near the nose and tail, as everything changes faster there, per the 1977 book), because then I can just connect the measurement dots with tape, sand to the tape to make the rail band, and both sides come out the same, and smooth. Pull tape, make marks for the next band, and repeat. With the tape, you know when to stop, or if you haven’t gone far enough.

After that, it’s just knocking the corners off the bands while finish sanding, and the rails (and hopefully the whole board) come out nice, and symmetric.

The layout of 30 points x 4 rail bands top, 2-3 bands bottom x both sides of the board means you will measure and draw 300+ points on the board. It takes forever, but the results are worth it. I now use an HB9 graphite artist’s pencil, as it’s the softest lead I could find, and allows me to mark with the least pressure, so that the marks aren’t left on the board after finish sanding.

So, I imagine you will have lots on your plate before rail banding time comes along. Good luck, and keep us posted on your progress.

JSS

43

hi Famousactress,

i got my 4 1/2" angle grinder from harbor freight for $13. it’s the

“chicago electric” brand. i’ve abused it for a while now and

it’s still kicking. but, i figured if it takes a dump, at that price, i’m

still ok. as far as validating one for use on the honeydo list, i use

mine for almost every job around the house/in the shop, stripping

paint, cutting metal, etc…

44

$13!!! was it a special? OMG. That’s like disposable razor prices… …just use it till the disc gets dull

and chuck it in the trash, Ha!

What was shipping/handling Chris?

45

Well I’ll be…

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=3150

10 bucks. That’s kinda scary. Is this the one you have? You’re a brave man. I’d be afraid anything that inexpensive that spins that fast would explode in my hands.

That said… there’s no really great reason the other ones are 50 bucks… It’s a single speed motor attached to a grinding disc… nothing fancy about it.

Thanks for the tip. I’ve seen others mention harbor freight. I’ll definitely be checking there first from now on!

46

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=91222

this is the one i got… i double checked, it’s a 4" not 4 1/2" like i had said earlier.

i didn’t pay shipping, there is a store by my house. i also picked up one of these

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=92623

for sanding and polishing glassed boards. i bought the grinder mostly for working

on my truck. as for the sander, i am just trying to get into this surfboard

building thing and figured at $30 bucks i can upgrade later if i need to. it’s useful

around the garage on other projects as well.

the $10 grinder that you are looking at from harborfreight looks like a better deal

than mine. it’s cheaper and comes with extra carbon brushes. i think those are for

the motor.

"10 bucks. That’s kinda scary. Is this the one you have? You’re a brave man. I’d

be afraid anything that inexpensive that spins that fast would explode in my hands."

LOL! i’ve had my $13 one for about 6 months now and have used it on at least 4 or 5

projects where i was cutting or grinding metal and it hasn’t exploded yet. until reading

this thread i had no idea that i could use it for anything surfboard related.

thanks plusone.

also, this thread is perfect on timing, thanks for starting it famousactress. i’m going

out to the garage now to start making my template for my first board it too will be a

classic style fish (hopefully)

47

Thanks for the tip, man. I may order one. I have some old anchors from a torn-down patio cover in my backyard that need removing…

Glad the thread is helpful. I’ve heaps of tips from PM’s that haven’t make it to the thread, also. Feel free to post or message with any questions.

Good luck!

48

Progress is slow but steady :slight_smile:

I’ve cut the outline out of the blank, and skinned both sides. I heeded oft-mentioned advice to resist the temptation to cut the buttcrack until later on once foiling is complete.

I used a pretty normal hand-saw. It was a stanley that was specifically made for fine cuts. It worked like a dream cutting-wise. That said, I had some problem making sure I was cutting perpendicular. Next time I may try the jigsaw simple because it has a flat plate on it that will help ensure me a square rail with less cleanup. I really came close to having to modify my outline or install a thicker stringer with my angled cuts!

During skinning my racks failed me. I glued the lower elbow joints, but apparently not well enough. I suspect glue would work fine (or better yet, pvc cement)… but I wasn’t taking any chances. I ran 1/4"x3" bolts through both sides of each joint. No way are those things going anywhere now :slight_smile:

So far, I’m definitely thinking pvc racks were a poor idea, but they’re working out okay for now.

I’m using hand-tools. I skinned the blank with a plane, and then cleaned it up with the finer of my two surforms and block and paper. I need to get my plane blades sharpened… I tried myself with an oilstone and failed. Miserably.

Once they’re sharp, my plan is to build the rocker into the bottom of the blank, smooth things out… and then take the rest of the foil out of the deck. Is this sound? I’m not sure if there’s a compelling reason (like variable foam density) to take even amounts of foam off both sides of the blank.

My plan is to bring the deck volume to 1/4" within my target thickness… then band the rails from the bottom of the board, around to the deck, blending out the extra thickness to bring the board to it’s final foil. I figure I’ll cut and shape the swallowtail after I’ve gotten this far (so basically, after everything except for final blending and finish sanding)…

Please feel free to tell me if any part of this plan seems nuts!

More pictures on the way. I’ve had technical difficulties :slight_smile:

49

Sorry about the planer blades, but if they are SiC coated blades, they really cannot be sharpened well (at least I have never been able to, unless you grind the carbide off). In my experience, only HSS blades sharpen well over time. The tool for sharpening anything you can imagine is the Tormek. I finally broke down and bought one, had to save for around 6 months, but now I don’t have to pay anyone to sharpen my plane irons, chisels, planer blades, kitchen knives and cleavers, axes, scissors, you name it. You will not believe how well sharpened tools feel in your hands when you are cutting, especially the block planes and chisels. Here’s the site:

www.tormek.com

I have tried, but have never been able to sharpen by hand with a stone, or I never spent enough time doing it to become good at it.

I think there is another machine like it that is made by another company (maybe Jet, the table saw folks) that is a little cheaper, but I don’t know if it is equivalent.

JSS

50

Thanks for the tip. I’m not sure if they’re SiC coated or HSS. I have no idea what those acronyms mean :slight_smile:

I gave sharpening one of the blades another shot and it came out better… still not nearly as sharp as I think it should be, but certainly a bit sharper than it was new. I’m going to swing by a sharpening place tonight and see what results they get. At least then I’ll know what to shoot for if I keep trying it myself.

51

SiC is silicon carbide, or just advertised as ‘carbide’. Not many things are harder than Silicon Carbide. HSS is High Speed Steel. Both have advantages and disadvantages. If I can sharpen it (straight, continuous, accessible edges) I go with HSS. For tools I can’t or don’t know how to sharpen I go with carbide, like router bits and table saw blades. Carbide keeps an edge longer, but I can’t renew it, at least not near as well as it was brand new. For HSS, I can usually hone an edge to better than when I bought it.

I hope the folks that sharpen your blades do an awesome job. You’ll feel the difference.

JSS

52
Quote:

…my plan is to build the rocker into the bottom of the blank, smooth things out… and then take the rest of the foil out of the deck. Is this sound? I’m not sure if there’s a compelling reason (like variable foam density) to take even amounts of foam off both sides of the blank.

definitely take more foam from the bottom of your blank. the deck is much more prone to knocks from feet, knees, body, elbows etc. once you’ve skinned the blank, remove as little foam as possible from the deck.

anyways, i’m enjoying this thread. it’s nice to know there’s someone out there in swayland who’s as slow as me at shaping! maybe slower! lol. take your time friend. breathe easy, relax, enjoy. making beautiful surfboards is never a race.

i look forward to following your progress, fa. you’re lucky to have someone like plusoneshaper mentoring you along the way. all the best mate.

53

Thanks Oldy, I’m glad you verified that… I had been headed toward the opposite. Last night I drew up thickness and deck-rocker lines and measurements… I’ll flip the blank over, bring the deck to it’s line, and then foil up from the bottom.

It’s occurred to me that I’m even slower than you :slight_smile: I can relate to your pace completely. It’s the folks like Benny that pound out a board in a matter of 2 or 3 hours including glass that boggle my mind! I wish I had that kind of focus. So far I’ve found that my best work gets done during the first thirty minutes or so of opening the door to my work area, when I’m filled with anticipation, a calm-energy, and patience… So I’ve pretty much been building this thing 30 minutes to an hour at a time :slight_smile:

George (PlusOneShaper) has been amazing. I’d be lost without his advice.

54

Ahh…but famous, don’t look too closely at my pupe board. :slight_smile: Now that its done, I’m seeing all the unsanded scratches in the foam, the planer mark across the stringer right under my chin when I paddle, the air bubbles in the lam…

You’ve gotta understand, I’m completely obsessive-compulsive. If it weren’t for making stuff like surfboards & furniture, I’d be walking around flipping light switches in palindromic ryhthms and counting the number of letters in street signs. The funny thing is, you probably think I’m joking :).

All said - 1.5 hours of shaping, 2.5 hours of glassing, about half an hour to set the finbox, about an hour to grind it down & sand the board, another hour to rattle-can gloss & then wetsand 400/600/1200/1600… and half an hour to apply 2 bars of wax into perfect little bumps (I tape off my wax jobs like they’re cutlaps - I told you, obsessive!).

Yours is sure to be better from a QC-point of view. Sometimes I wish I could slow it down & enjoy the ride more, but I’m kinda not wired like that. Ever watch Monk? :slight_smile:

55

Okay… taping off to wax the board is definitely on the extreme side! I imagine it’s a great way to get really good at taping cut-lap and pinlines though. In fact, now that you’ve mentioned it, I think before I get to that stage on my board I’ll practice on one of my existing boards… nice! I’ve even got one without a pinline to cheat with.

I’d like to see the furniture! For some reason, since I was around six years old I wanted to build furniture. Never managed to commit to it enough to get together the money and the space for equipment. Serious woodworking comes with a pretty high barrier to entry!

At any rate, it’s definitely that old interest that got me obsessed with the idea of building surfboards. I hope this one is the first of many.

Thanks.

56

I don’t wanna sidetrack your thread, though. :slight_smile:

I was lucky enough to inherit skills, tricks of the trade, and (ultimately) shop tools from my grandfather who was a furniture maker.

I designed & built everything in this photo made of wood - the side tables (from old fir sheathing from my crawl space) the oak bench (including upholstery) and the remillled ‘matchstick’ floor. :slight_smile:

57

Incredible craftsmanship, Benny! Thanks for sharing!

58
Quote:
So far I've found that my best work gets done during the first thirty minutes or so of opening the door to my work area, when I'm filled with anticipation, a calm-energy, and patience.. So I've pretty much been building this thing 30 minutes to an hour at a time :)

i can realate to that fa. i often work like that. sometimes, though, i find myself suddenly on a roll & i work into the night & find myself doing something like setting fins or pinlining at two in the morning.

59
Quote:
(I tape off my wax jobs like they're cutlaps - I told you, obsessive!).

whoah! i thought i was a perfectionist. lol.

i like your furniture benny. what a beautiful gift to have been passed on from your grandfather.

60

In regard to your hand tool sharpening problem… look in the resources, one of our pro wood working contributors posted a GREAT article on how to sharpen tools. I’ve been using the process every since and it is fast, easy, cheep and it works GREAT!

Les