ok… so i’m mostly done shaping the board, just trying to do some final sanding… the question is this: how do you clean up the foam around the stringer? every time i go to use my mini-plane on the stringer the foam gets a little roughed up… but if i sand it then the stringer ends up higher than the foam again! how do you guys take care of that? i suppose a sharper blade but there’s gotta be something else to it no?
i’m afraid of sanding much more, though, so i’m wondering if there’s a problem (other than maybe cosmetic?) if i leave the foam a little “holy” there and just go ahead and glass it?
Santiago, You have it right: the blade must be razor sharp, and when you run the plane along the stringer, hold it at a 45 degree angle so it slices the wood better. You can buy a small plane that uses a razor blade. I haven’t used one, but I heard they work pretty good. Some tool stores have them, and I think Clark Foam sells the them.
Also, a little roughness won’t be that noticable once you glass the board, especially if it’s left white. Doug
I take the blade out of a mini plane and round off the edges, you can make it completely convex / circular or round the edges off leaving you a flat of 1/4" or so. I apologize for the bad illustration but it should show you what you need.
I have 2 mini planers, one with flat blade for while shaping stringer cleanup, and one with round for final pass.
also, make sure the bottom of the planer itself is totally smooth. i’ve noticed on some of those little finger planes that sometimes the base is marred or has some funkiness stickin’ out around the corners. i had to search through several packages at home depot to find a smooth one. if yours is a little funky, smooth it down (and beveling the edges wouldn’t hurt either).
in addition, you say that it gets “a little roughed up”. if the image in my head is what you mean when you say “a little roughed up”, then you should be good with all the above suggestions, but if it’s more of a smooth dent or other type of compression resulting from the base of the planer, then a little heat will bring the foam right back to good (it’s like an eraser for compression dents/scratches).
The suggestions so far should take care of it. It doesn’t look too bad through the glass now… but the glass itself is a whole 'nother issue… off to the archives i go.
