Hi,
I was sanding to even out the stringer and foam on the deck of the surfboard and also sanding much of the stringer on the bottom to make a single concave. The problem I had was that the stringer wood dust was caught on the foam immediately next to the stringer and made it look ugly. How do I avoid this? Thank you.
Milan
Blow the board off with compressed air - if its sanding dust it will come right off.
I plane the stringer down below the foam then just sand the foam down to it. At the nose i might get a little sawdust I just brush it off before glassing.
First get on YouTube and watch a few shaping videos. I recommend the Ben Aida shaping video by Fiberglass Hawaii. Then go down to the hardware store and buy. A Stanley Mini Plane. What you should remember is to always take the stringer down first and then bring the foam down to it. With a sharp plane you will not get dust. An air compressor and a nozzle is used to blow off the Blank. When The Blank is shaped the last thing you will do is take down the stringer with the Mini Plane. Spoke shaves are fine but most novices can’t use them properly. Lowel
Vacuum the blank before you glass it (or paint it), use a brush attachment on the vac. Never blow compressed air straight into the blank when shaping either, it’ll just embed the dust deeper.
I had so much trouble making my first board. Can’t think where to start. When i received the start up kit, one bottle of epoxy was spilled in the box. Stringer in the tail area completely soaked, blanks were completely soaked. Fiberglass was not in the box. They did replace the bottle and send the fiberglass. I tried to salvage the stringer by cleaning and drying. It wouldn’t dry. Rub some hardner on it and that helped a bit. Glue job was not good as the gorilla glue expanded and left some gaps on the stringer. Maybe i should have clamped it but i just put weights on the top foam as clamps were not available.
Shaped the board, fill the small gaps between the stringer and the foam with epoxy Q cell. at this time I had the saw dust visible as described earlier. Vaccuum and air blowing did not help much. Maybe i over did it with the sanding. So i applied spackle hoping the spackle would conceal it but it was still visible as brown spots on the spackle. I bout a liquitex sprap paint and sprayed it.
Glassing job was not much trouble.
Had some trouble with fin installation but the guys here helped me out. I just finished hot coat but it wasant a perfect job.
BTW, before i hot coat i just realised thenthe center find were not perfectly straight with the stringer. Just ordered a new set of center fins and hoping to get it right.
I want to build another board, hopefully will be better. Next one, I will try and shave the stringer with the mini planer and sand the foam to the stringer. Thanks guys.
Good thread, we all struggled with our first few boards, I like to say making surfboards is not hard to do, but it is hard to learn!
BTW the mini spokeshave I mentioned is mainly for the deck side of the nose rocker where the mini block plane has a hard time fitting - but if you keep the blade sharp you might enjoy using it for other parts too.
Got any pics of your first board?
Turn it upside down and beat the crap out of the opposite side. This will shake the dust loose. Or get an air compressor.
Looks good for a first board. I like the spray.
The key to all this is having the right hand planes and MOST IMPORTANTLY, knowing how to properly sharpen the blades, and then KEEPING them sharp.
Get two hand planes… 1. A high quality Low angle block plane… I recommend a Veritas, or Lie Neielson… or the oproginal Stanley 60.5 for half the cost. 2. A small convex Japanese plane.
Then do your research on how to sharpen plane blades. I use the sandpaper method as opposed to the waterstones. Much cheaper and simpler. You’ll also need a good honing guide.
I’ll sharpen them after every 2-3 boards. Makes all the difference.
Hey McDing…Who is Ben Aida?
Your foster daddy. You know the guy with the dueling banjos!
Haaaa!
See even the great McDingle Berry makes spelling errors…
Haaaa!
See even the great McDingle Berry makes spelling errors…
