Hollow board advice please! Interior rails and router guides

Before I start a big thanks to Paul Jensen for his legendery efforts and guru like instructions on his web page, and to all the other posters on swaylocks. I’ve only just started on my hollow but I’m hooked already!

I’ve got the interior rails glued onto my frame now, and I’m ready to trim off the excess material and get the rail shape. Paul’s instructions for me now are:

‘To cut the excess rail material from the frame, router guide strips are attached between each rib at both the top and bottom…The router guide strips are 1/4” x 1/2"” plywood strips…Hot Glue each strip in place’

The problem is I’m not very good at visualising how to make the router guide strips with all the various curves involved. I’ve used domed cross ribs so the rail curve doesn’t follow the stringer deck curve. Is there an easy way to do this? Or do I have to make a template in the same way I made the stringer but for the length of the interior rail??

Really appreciate any help!

Tom

Tom,

When I built my hollow, I didn’t make any kind of template for the router guides. I, too, used domed cross ribs. Basically, I ripped 1/8" ply into 1/2" strips…eyeballed the curved distance between two of the cross ribs and cut the length of the strip slightly long…then trimmed the excess length to fit snuggly between the ribs. To make the 1/8" router guide 1/4", cut another piece (slightly shorter than the first, I think, to make the fit…but see what works). Both 1/8" strips were laminated together and to the inside of the inner rail. Clamp into place and allow glue to dry. I used wood glue for the router guides. I have a hard time the viscosity of hot glue not allowing me to get the strips of wood close enough together, but I guess it’s just what I’m used to.

Anyway, I hope this helped. It really doesn’t have to be very scientific at all. My router was on the blink, so I trimmed all excess with a Japanese backsaw. Just do what works best for you.

-Seay

Hi Seay,

Thanks for your reply …but I still don’t quite get it! Sorry, I must be really dumb as noone else seems to have had this problem.

Ok, basically I get how the router guides fit the curve of the inner rail, but how do you get them to follow the curvatures of the deck and bottom surfaces? Presumably the finished decks skins have to be flush with - and glue to - the tops of the inner rails and the router guides make that happen.

I’ve got quite a lot of nose rocker (4") on the board I’m making so particualarly up in the nose the router guides are going to need quite a bit of a curve on them. You suggest just eyeballing the curves up, but I don’t reckon my eyes are good enough. You see my problem or am I missing something basic here?

Cheers!

tom

The plywood strips are somewhat flexible, thus you can bend them enough in the less rockered areas…

The nose often needs to be oversized, and simply sanded down to what you want…

Even after all the strips are in and routered, you’ll need to even out the deck / bottom rail lines a bit…

Who said this is easy…???..

Okay, I’m picking up what you’re laying down…I’d go with Paul’s advice. Mine has very little rocker, but I did have to make the contour more curvy by shaping with shureform and coarse sanding block before putting on the skins.

Seay

Hey Tomway

If you are sure that your ribs are level with each other and the rail supports are glued in place, sand the deck side of the board level with the tops of the ribs. Then put the deck on. Once you’ve done this you have the ability to measure each of the ribs to check then sand the bottom of the rail supports level with the ribs. I use a belt sander. When you are sanding you can fell/hear the ribs just as you get them level.

Have a look at http://www.swaylocks.com/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_view_flat;post=156494;page=9;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;mh=25;

Lot’s of info and piccies there.

cheers and good luck with your project.

Hicksy

Ha! I get it! I was getting so hung up on every piece having to be perfectly to size and shape before being glued in… I’ll go oversize in the nose area, use the guides to route out and lighten the inside parts of the rails and get the deck curve to shape after.

Thanks everyone for your patience and advice!

Hicksy, thanks for the link. Can’t believe I didn’t spot that thread before. ‘Ordinary’ tools like clamps are very scarce here in java. Your ‘string clamping’ method would have been really handy, probably do that on the next one. Looked high and low for spring clamps and the only ones I could find were 10USD a pop from a new franchise of ACE hardware that’s just opened up. Ended up using rp4,000 (40c) pliers held closed with elastic bands on the handle end!

Tom

Hey Tomway

Elastic bands and pliers, I love it. Isn’t it funny how innovative us HWS builders are, string, clamps, glues, grains etc etc. Sort of a different world really.

Ask lots of questions if you get stuck, plenty of us around glad to help. Check out the beginning of the thread, up to board number 3 now.

cheers

Hicksy