My brother’s asked him to make him a little fish. I’ve swiped a template from Blending Curves and have ordered the blank, but like all good porn stars, I’m a bit worried about the buttcrack!
I’ve got a little stash of cash put away for new tools, so a microplane rasp seemed like a good idea (after I make him one, I think I’ll make myself one as well, so it won’t be a one-use wonder). I’m wondering though, which one should I buy? There are two main candidates - round blade and square.
What’s everyone else used and which one do you think I should get?
Hi Cass
I’d save yourself the cost…I’ve always used a hard pad to sand in a series of facets (like rail bands) then switch to a soft pad to blend in. Where it gets tight in the crack I switch to a plastic rule with a length of sandpaper folded over it. I trim the stringer down with a coping saw then finish with a thin chisel. Easy!
However, more recently I’ve switched to doing it all with a small hand held rotarty sander…but that requires a touch more confidence and a steady hand…
Cheers
Rich www.thirdshade.com
the round rasp is a great tool for this task. it comes in a large and a small size – I have one of each, but use the small one more often. Relatively cheap for such a useful tool.
Hey Rich, thanks for the feedback. I was intending to use sandpaper for the foam, but it was the stringer that I was mainly concerned about. I’m sure your method works really well and would for me too, but it’s actually cheaper for me to buy the microplane than a coping saw and a narrow chisel, let alone a small handheld rotary sander…
Keith - I’m glad you included the bit about the size. I’d seen that there were two and wasn’t sure which would be better. I was angling towards the longer one, because I’m a bloke and size matters, but I might just swallow my masculine pride, save myself a couple of bucks and go for the shorter one.
Yeah the micro planes are the best small round or larger will other work
Rich I used to do it the same way as you and always hated doing the butt crack all I can say is get a micro plane it makes it so quick and simple!
There are a couple of places in Europe that sell them
Micro planes are good , you can get a rounded one that tapers out towards the handle which works ok.
But i reckon the best is a Dremel with a round small sanding bit on it, much quicker and cuts a nice round curve which you can continue down to the bottom of the crack where it meets the bottom of the board so its easier to glass too!
Hey Zack, that’s where I got the idea from, but they’re out of stock at Shapers. I’ve found them on other woodworking sites though. How do the non-microplane versions stack up?