Contact cement 36 grit belt to a piece of 1\8" PVC sheet best flexible sanding board ever I use it for templates outlines concaves deck dome…that’s my contribution…
The PVC sheet makes the best templates too so easy to cut and fair but kind of expensive. It gets used for stringers sometimes buts its not the best for that…
Here’s one more trick…to get a decent line from a cardboard template wrap tape over the edge
Contact cement 36 grit belt to a piece of 1\8" PVC sheet best flexible sanding board ever I use it for templates outlines concaves deck dome…that’s my contribution…
The PVC sheet makes the best templates too so easy to cut and fair but kind of expensive. It gets used for stringers sometimes buts its not the best for that…
Here’s one more trick…to get a decent line from a cardboard template wrap tape over the edge
Stoneburner . that fairing board (commonly known as a torture board) is used for fairing hull surfaces …very handy tool , but not the go for fairing flat templates
…I use a flexible spline batten about 3ft long to check for minute flat spots , after fairing in by eye…there’s usually a few that the naked eye doesn’t pick up. A tapered batten is handy for the tighter curves around the nose and tail…a small fish rod blank with a fine tip is a very handy tool…if you cut and fair to a pencil line , its a good idea to check the flip side without the line , because the pencil line can sometimes hide things…but , my eyes are not as sharp as they once were .
Been around long enough…
Yeah like most the templates that have honor are hardened Masonite.
And BT’s “super glue” forged.
My problem now days…
Once I have gone thru the archives to get a new outline.
Ah, that is worthy.
I go with “Ram board” a thick paper used to protect floors during construction
Layout the new outline and cut one half.
I’ll use the planer to clean up.
And a close up finish.
Then, clamp up the Ram board, scribe and cut out (with long tin snips).
Again, clamp the Ram board down and finish, the boards outline and true up the new template.
Flip and move on.
An easy and cheap way to maintain an inventory of “current shapes”.
Sometimes you strike gold
That is, when it is time to go the distance
I’m just a backyard guy. Haven’t made a masonite template in years. All of my templates now are computer generated and printed full length on a blueprint machine. I scale them and re print them as needed. Helps that in my day job I work for a company that is in the blueprint and large format printing business. I have the toys and software at my disposal. One of the favorite boards I’ve made started out as a photograph of a vintage board on a web blog and a friend asking me to make him something like this. The photo was imported into photoshop…the best side of the board was turned into an outline…tweaked the tail, scaled to fit its new owner and turned into an outline printed on paper. Saved it as a ready to go file if I want to make another.
Creative - I like it when people use what’s at hand to get what they need! Well done.
Ditto, the snap line. Always good to check.
draw a straight line or use the edge of the masonite, make reference points for your widths at different stages of the board. Use a piece of tape and eyeball a nice curve connecting your dots. Spray paint over the tape line then pull the tape and jigsaw to the line thats been created by the paint. Hard block to the line and make it smooth.
Great info here, but too much “gnats ass” detail. Harden the tips like Bill says, and pull a string line like Gene says.
My templates are not perfect, but good enough. If you’ll use a hand saw to cut the outline, you will smooth out the minor imperfections and then by the time you smooth out the outline with Greenlights rail tool, shown below, you should be spot on.
I have enjoyed this thread.
The thing that has stuck with me most is that for some of the seasoned shapers, a template is faired before use, but is not ‘finished’ so to speak. It is tried and tuned until it is proven over time.
I am a hack and an equal opportunity offender when it comes to templates: paper, polyester film, and pressboard aka Masonite.
Paper is either letter-sized sheets taped together on a glass patio door or plotted in one big piece at work.
The polyester film gets laser cut at work n 18 x 32" pieces and put together with tape and jigsaw puzzle type joints.
For Masonite I go both ways: either I design it to be lofted by hand with a tape measure and flexible battens or I break it down into 23x23" patterns that can be cut out on my little CNC. These get pieced back together with dovetails and scraps of fiberglass and resin.
I also repair, harden the tips, and make pieces of Masonite longer that 8 feet with a fiberglass and resin band on each side. I have done some messing around with CNC’ing large French curves but have yet to use one on a template.
Pictures: some paper and polyester templates, hand lofted SUP templates, windsurf CNC templates joined with dovetails/bowties (still
needs sanding), large French curve 43" x 19".
I use a Jim P method for truing up my templates. Draw shape, cut with jig saw, Put template into shaping saddle or bench vice… and set planer on zero cut. The planer smooth out the high spot and leave the low spots thus make a prefectly accurate smooth template. All this small handled sander flexible stuff in my opinion is substandard, just like shaping a board, the more you can use the planer, the more accurate the shape will be… A planer does not lie, surforms and small scrubbing sand pads lie. If you are good enough with a jig saw, then all your planer does is clean up the edge and give you a sharp Crisp edge… But you have to be comfortable with power tools.
I prefer using a circular saw to cut out my templates. Set the depth of the saw to be just greater than the thickness of your template material. Then mount the material to a work bench or something that you don’t mind getting cut up, you could even use a uncut blank if you know your depth cuts will be greater than the excess depth of the saw. I have a flat table for this purpose. Then true up the template as Resinhead described if needed. I will also fine tune the tips with a block plane. I find it is easier to get a near perfect curve using this method IMHO.
Well, I have never shaped a surfboard, but I think I have some general advice to contribute.
I have noticed that the ability to detect imperfections visually (it will most likely apply to touch as well) deteriorates with extended periods of concentration on the object. As in: You get tired and start to miss the obvious.
.
After a rest, or a sleep, I sometimes find that imperfections jump out at me, when I had thought it was perfect after straining at it for too long.
.
An example: The bumps No 5, 6 and 7 (out of 9, starting counting at the fin base) are pointing up a little bit, unlike the rest of them. I was unable to see it while working on the design, but it was very obvious the next day, at first glance.
http://finfoil.io/s/3D/ihcweznf3igh4ifuqo4g6efj1pjfw5ej
Sometimes you have to use whatever is available. Masonite is preferred by most because it is easily cut and can be trued with a Surform or Sanding block and 60 grit Ryhno. Tracing the template on to Masonite off an existing board is probably the trickiest part of the process. I definitely like using a flat sided carpenters pencil for that. Lowel
I prefer 5mm (5/32") masonite, bandsaw/jigsaw/circular saw about 1/8" from lines, C-clamp (side light shelf if solid enough) so template is horizontal. Use planer at 1/32 or less holding sideways to go to line with multiple passes. True with sanding block while still clamped. Cut a 1/2" hole for hanging, mark what it’s for.
I’ve made a template or two in my day. Last count was 250. Outlines nes, rockers, fins, rails, etc…
My process is bandsaw, clamp on top of a small blank, planer, flexible fairing board ( just a scrap piece of Masonite w/ 60 grit glued to it). Done
Anyone use the flexible templates from Woodcrafters?
