On April 15th Bill Thrailkill lead a design workshop that I attended. Bryant hosted us in the FCS warehouse, which was very cool. I ended up buying a long board blank (PE), and asked Bill to help me out in drawing the profile on the blank. I wanted to make a nose rider. He tried to discourage me from going with that style of board, but finally agreed and drew a nice looking outline onto the foam.
Yes… it’s true. I have crossed over to the dark side (or maybe it’s the white side). In the past I have only done wooden surfboards. This is going to be my first foam board. Initially, I decided to buy the blank, so that I could get some practice using the electric planer. After Bill drew the outline on the board for me I decided to take the project more seriously. I ended up using the electric planer for only a few cuts. The rest I did with hand tools to ensure that I wouldn’t mess it up.
Here is a shot of the blank before I began cutting. You can see the outline drawn on it by Bill. The length is 9 feet, and the widest point is 22.5 inches.
Per Bill’s suggestion I made sure that my stands were level before I began working.
Here’s the saw that I used to cut out the outline. It is a Japanese cross cut saw the cuts on the up stroke.
I made my cut a little over 1/4" outside of the line, so that I could come back and clean up the face with the planer. Here is my planer set up. This is how I cleaned up the rails when I built my chambered balsa board. It works well. I was able to get a nice smooth curve that was perpendicular to the bottom surface. I planed it right down to Bills original lines.
Next, I started to skin the top layer of foam off with the electric planer. I quickly realized that I really suck at using this tool. Luckily my cuts were shallow. I put down the planer, and picked up a 12" surform. I proceeded to grate the rest of the hard skin off of the board with this tool. You all a probably thinking that this must have been a slow agonizing process. I’m used to sanding down balsa and redwood, so to me the foam felt like I was cutting through butter. Eventually I got down to the white foam, and then used a big sanding block to flatten it all out.
Oh, yeah. I know that it sucks. One of the things that I learned is that it sucks to have a planer with the exhaust port on the side. I attached a vaccum hose to to it to keep the mess down. I share my shop with the washer and dryer. Anyhow… the stupid hose was dragging over the board, and messing up the foam. If I buy a new one it will definitely have a dust port that points upward.
Anyhow… the stupid hose was dragging over the board, and messing up the foam. If I buy a new one it will definitely have a dust port that points upward.
Set up a pully system to suspend your hose in the air. Put an elbow (90) on your exaust port. That planner will work fine. Just modify it. The hose is not supid!
I started out by drawings some lines on the board to guide me as I shaped the rails. My first set of cuts was with a Fred tool. The Fred tool was easy to use, and made consistent cuts. I couldn’t do the whole thing with the Fred tool, however, and ended up switching to the surform. I found the surform just as easy to use as the Fred tool, but was more versatile. I don’t think I will be using the Fred tool anymore.
Per Bill’s suggestion, I’m going to install a 10" fin box. That will give me the greatest range to experiment with positioning. I already have a couple of longboard fins, so I’ll try them out first.
Who knows where that other fin template will show up. Now that I have cut my teeth on this foam board building thing I might have to see if I can come up with a board design for it.
Not sure if you’ve seen Bill’s double fin setup, but I’d suggest you think about doing that if you’re building a “Thrailkill designed” board.
I put 3 boxes in a board side by side and have been riding it as a double fin. I can’t find anything negative about it, so I haven’t bothered trying the board as a single fin. I have sidebite locations marked, and haven’t had a reason to add those boxes either.
A guy saw it one day after I came in and asked how it rode, I said I thought it rode well. A friend I was surfing with said it looked like it worked pretty good.
Just a suggestion if you’re doing something “Thrailkill designed”.
FYI… I use a cheap planer that exhausts from the side and had similar problems with the hose. You have to suspend it above the board or it can mess you up. Make sure you suspend both the vacuum hose and the power cable. Something that can move back and forth as you do is nice to have if you can’t hang it from high up.
I’m glad that others feel the same about the Bosch 1594 as I do. These
are a superior planer than the Hitachi since they already have an
adjustable vac port, are very aligned (shoe-baseplate), good motor
housing clearance on the sides, better blades, better motor, better
bearings. I’ll be on that kit immediately after the Hitachi one is
done. Despite the Skil’s I have, I must confess that this Bosch is my
favorite.
Bill: That’s a good point. Perhaps Pete will offer a double bladed barrel as well? The Bosch is a good tool and worth the modifications. I plan on adding one to my collection.
I just ordered brand new Tungsten Carbide Tipped Skil 190 Planer Blades through American National Knife for my Skil 190. Wheeeeehoo! I checked out the ones Josh Hall ordered from Tool Depot in Sandy Eggroll, and I was impressed enough to order some… $62 including tax, shipped to my door, priority.
I would love to have the Skil 100 7.5 AMPS - I bought 2 one time and found out they were stolen so I gave them back to the orginal owner and lost my cash.
I was afraid of bad KARMA. One presented its self to me for $600.00 yesterday. I have two Clark Planners the Big one and the Small one. They both work so well that I just couldn’t see letting go of $600 bucks for a 5.0 AMP Skil. Maybe when I’m richer?
Your lucky to have such a great tool I really like the way they feel.
I agree. I am thinking about selling my Hitachi, because most likely, I will solely use the Skil from here on out. I bought mine when they were first being modified by Clark Foam. It has a low production number and is in the same condition as when I bought it.
