incidentally for really tight butcracks ( gotta love those tight buttcracks aye) i use a japanese pull saw i can cut an accurate v notch in a stringer with one. they have a kerf of .5 mm . and it requires very little if any finishing.
Yeah, freshwater, surfers in some parts of the world apparently have frikkin' enormous feet! ;-) (The rest of us think its B.S., but we're not going to resolve that debate here.)
Anyway, nice job, look forward to seeing the next one.
Tim
Ha Ha! Agreed silly that day the surf was junk. When I said the average was 3-4 feet I meant the average over the entire 2 weeks was 3-4 feet, and I was basing it off the 12" foot. That day was quite small, but it still worked well!
Edit: Can I pick up a microplane from Home Depot? What do they run at price wise?
Wheres that spot your surfing, is that in Maine?
It is indeed in Maine.
I use a coping saw to cut out the swallows and stringer. I be sure to cut the stringer on the angle I want so there’s less to do with the next tool - the round microplane blade. Mine is a small tube shaped blade, perfect for buttcracks and wings. That gets me to the shape i need, with the top corner rounded off. I finish the stringer with a thin, round file. Start with tinly little strokes to get a little cup-shaped depression in the wood, then lengthen the strokes once the curve is deep enough to guide the file. The foam around the stinger comes down with a narrow block wrapped in sandpaper, then finished with a 3M SandBlaster Flexible Sanding Pad, which are a new discovery for me. They’re awsome, and last a LONG time.
You can get a a microplane set from Rockler woodworking, or other hobbyist/woodworking stores. I don’t think HD has 'em. They’re about 18 bucks.
http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=10759&filter=microplane
For DIY'ers I like the idea of the coping saw. Always good to practice on an offcut or scrap when trying a new tool.
Microplane blades/tools are a specialty item not widely sold. They're worth searching out if you're doing production or just want the best in tools.
Pros have other ways of roughing out swallows but they involve large brutal tools. (''kids, don't try this at home'' kind of stuff)