I am about to embark on the construction of my first board. My question is this; Would I be better served doing it without the aid of a planer? Past experience with building anything has taught me that power tools can be more of a hinderance to beginners because of the ease of material removal. Any advice would be appreciated.
you’ll get by without a power planer as long as you have a reasonably sharp hand planer(s) to get you through the ‘skin’ of the blank, and to continually take the stringer down as you remove foam. beyond this, you can do the rest of your shaping with a surform, sandpaper, and a variety of sanding blocks. a power planer shouldn’t get you into trouble if you take your time and contemplate each pass.
I agree with Ramon on this. I had not tried to shape a board for many years and today’s blanks are much closer to shape and if you spend a little extra time choosing the right one you will end up with a better shape. First board or otherwise there is something to be said for keeping removal of foam to a minimum. The $75.00 I spent on a planer in the beginning would have been better spent on a couple more blanks. Good luck! Tom Sterne > I am about to embark on the construction of my first board. My question is > this; Would I be better served doing it without the aid of a planer? Past > experience with building anything has taught me that power tools can be > more of a hinderance to beginners because of the ease of material removal. > Any advice would be appreciated.
On my first few boards I used a router to skin the board. The stringer was set at an 1/8 inch for the first cut. I then skined the rest of the board at 1/16 inch depth. The stringer is cut deeper so that you bring the foam down to the stringer. It is all hand tools after that. My first planer was cheap-o Black and Decker that did low depth cuts. This planer kept me from making big mistakes because it would take so little off. My present planer a DeWalt will take a board down to nothing flat. I use it with great care.>>> I am about to embark on the construction of my first board. My question is > this; Would I be better served doing it without the aid of a planer? Past > experience with building anything has taught me that power tools can be > more of a hinderance to beginners because of the ease of material removal. > Any advice would be appreciated. http://www.viser.net/~anthwind
Thanks for the advice guys…probably go without the planer for the first board.