I’m currently shaping my first board. It’s a fish with intended dimensions of 5’11", 16.5" nose, 21.5" WP 4" forward, 16.5" tail, 13" tip to tip on the swallows, and 7" deep between swallows. I’m at the point where I’ve got the outline done, I’ve planed down the bottom and have been trying to sand out the bottom to my desired rocker (about 1.5" tail and 2.5" nose) and shape (flat for first board). My current problem is that I’m trying to get the bottom perfectly flat, but when I run a straight edge across the board I’m seeing various dips and humps of up to about 1/16" (over areas that are probably 1/4 to 1/3 of the length of the board). I want it to be perfect, but I’m worried about losing too much thickness as I still have to skin and sand out the deck/foil. Should I be worried about 1/16" (as I currently am) or call it good for my first shot at shaping?
a flat bottom is more important than 1/16". if you really want to flatten things out, try using a HUGE sanding block…get a 2’ long pice of wood and glue some 60-grit to one side
Shouldn’t be that hard to cleanup. using a small hand plane, plane the stringer to smooth. Get al flat piece of wood about 12 inches long or longer. Glue a piece of 40 grit along the flat bottom of the wood. Take long strokes working from but not on the stringer and sand the bottom smooth. Take your time.
I am currently shaping a fish board, my first too, with similar dimentions. I too noticed similar irregularities. I caught them before I was finished foiling, but I will offer this advice.
Make the 24" 2x4 sanding block that people talk about here all the time. I took a couple dry-wall screens and attached them to the block with a staple gun. Make sure that the edges of the two cut out dry wall screens meet cleanly on the bottom of the block, so that the leading or trailing edge of the screen does not gouge your foam. If you go slow and work on keeping your block flat, the irregularities will disappear without shaving too much foam.
I am around the same point as you are on my own fish. I am somewhat intimidated by doing the rails, but I’ll go slow and get them to a point that kind of looks right. Feel free to email me questions or interresting challanges you run into on your board. I am using a 6-8P blank, lokbox fish keels, and a buddy is going to do the glass with me. I hope you are having as much fun on your fish as I am.
Thanks, guys. Yeah, I think I’ve been using too small of a sanding block so I’ll go big now.
Gary, I’m definitely having fun and I’m taking my time, too. I started with a 6’8"P also. I’m going to make ply keels and glass them on and do the glassing myself (I don’t have any local resources for real-time help. Just the great advice I get here.)
Are you going to do any color or artwork on yours?
good luck on finishing the board man. the best thing you can do is take your time and try and get everything as close to perfect as possible. a couple of small flaws probably wont ruin the flow of the board but it’snt going to help it.
i may also suggest that you might want to consider a slight vee through the tail. as for glassing i am not sure if you have an experience but if you dont pick up glassing 101, it will be a huge help.
Thanks Turbohog. How much V is “slight” and how far forward should it start? Sanding in some V doesn’t seem like it would be too difficult. Heck, I’ve already sanded in some concave, convex, and some V - just not in any place that it’s supposed to be.
just a tip dont forget about the stringer it will determine the rest of the board…I usually can get a board flat jsut using a planer and hand blocks starting at 40 and progressing to 120 grit
when i did mine i but 3/8of an inch of vee through the last 18 inches of the board. mine happened to be a lot longer then yours though.
if you type in vee in a fish in the search box you will find an excelent thread that discusses vee in a fish more your size.
i to was good at putting concave and vee in the wrong places when i first started shaping too. but its just like everything else practice makes sick boards and good waves.
I am thinking about doing a resin tint, if my buddy is into it. A graphic design friend made me a neato roosterfish lam I may stick on. 6 x double 6 silane gloss & polish.
What did you use to take the thickness out of the blank? Did you reach a point where the foam got too soft? I am taking mine down to approx 2 5/8, but have left most of the deck intact, just skinning it. Have you cut out the butt crack yet? I am going to cut mine out after I foil the blank.
I initially skinned it with a Makita planer that I borrowed (first thing I found out that I had to do was get new blades for it, so now I know how to change those out and adjust their depth), then I went straight to the sanding block with 80 grit. I have a small block plane for the stringer and that seems to be working fine. Didn’t take much to get the bottom close to where I want it. Now I’m just struggling with getting rid of the aforementioned undulations. The foam has not gotten too soft. Once past the skin it’s been relatively consistent in density (seems to me anyway). I did already cut out the butt crack (I couldn’t stand the look of the board with the square tail!). Shaping around the swallows hasn’t seemed all that dicey, but I am being careful. I’m doing 6 and double 6 e glass. Planning on doing a gloss coat, but no color. Next time.