My long suffering balsa has humbled me

General Discussion
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Yes, this just belong under one of the other on-going threads, except for one little tip that either I missed in all the great build a balsa threads, or it ain’t there.

I’ve been shaping for about 12 years and on a mission to build as many different boards as possible.  My biological clock is ticking and I just want to go down with as many as I can under my belt.  On this balsa, I’ve been taking two steps forward and one step back on this thing for the last 4 years.  Made so many mistakes, but recovered from most.  Most. I will say though, that this board has made me a much better shaper and has taught me much about shaping bands and seeing the wireform in my head.

I took a crappy pre-rockered blank and split it 4 times on my table saw, built the T-band stringers out of mahogany and balsa sandwich using a vacuum bag tapped down on my garage floor.  Well, that worked.

But here is the TIP, and what tripped me up on the final sanding.  On foam, when turning the rails, I use a piece of 80 grit sand paper held across the rail at an angle to take down the remaining ridges of the bands.  Because foam is uniform/homogeneous, it works well.  As least for me.  However, for balsa, it is anything but uniform in density and the soft spots cut deeper that the hard spots.  The result is the outline goes wobbly and as most know, you can’t get it back.  I look at it and just fight back the tears.  Alright, that is an exageration.  But it is still a great disappointment.

I’m not sure if I am going build another.   But I will surf it once, before hanging it on the wall.

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Looks great. nice work

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[quote="$1"]

But here is the TIP, and what tripped me up on the final sanding.  On foam, when turning the rails, I use a piece of 80 grit sand paper held across the rail at an angle to take down the remaining ridges of the bands.  Because foam is uniform/homogeneous, it works well.  As least for me.  However, for balsa, it is anything but uniform in density and the soft spots cut deeper that the hard spots.  The result is the outline goes wobbly and as most know, you can't get it back.  I look at it and just fight back the tears.  Alright, that is an exageration.  But it is still a great disappointment.

[/quote]

Greg - first of all, beautiful board.  A few thoughts on the "wobbly" outline.  I have never built a balsa board (yet!), but I've built several redwood boards, and have fought with the same issues.  Wood grain varies in density, even on the same piece of wood, and no amount of sanding will remove a high spot if its hard grain next to soft grain.  You will always end up sanding the soft grain too.

On the rails, that leaves you two choices.  One, glass the bottom, and wrap the rails like normal.  Now, you have a surface of uniform hardness, so you can final sand/shape the rail.  You will end up going through the glass in spots, most likely.  Thats OK, because you will still glass over it when you do the deck, and wood really doesn't require the double glass that soft foam does.  And you will only sand through in places, not generally the whole rail.

The other choice, which is what I did on the lightning bolt gun for Ken, is a lot of work, but I think the best way to shape a wood board.  I shaped the board to 98% completion.  All that remained was the numerous little "wobbles" you described.  Then, I sealed the entire board with an epoxy resin.  After it set, I then sanded the seal coat completely off the board.  I did this twice, but the second time I didn't go all the way down to raw wood on the entire board.  I just made sure I had sanded the entire board well, and there were no more little goofy spots.  Once the board is seal coated with epoxy resin, the surface density is much more uniform, and you can work out the little irregularities caused by the grain.

Then I glassed it, and of course, it required less resin when glassing over a sealed board.

However, I'd also like to add - the irregularities of the grain, and the irregularities of the hand shaping process (as opposed to machine-shaping), are part of the organic character of the materials and the process.  While I can't verify that a hand-shaped wood board has "soul", I will say I find it far less sterile than a perfectly cnc shaped petrochemical byproduct foam board.  And once your typical lightweight foam board gets a few dings and pressure dings, it has as many or more little glitches in the surface than your wood board anyway.  I actually like the little imperfections of "hand-made" goods.  All that sterile looking furniture from Ikea bores me to tears!

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....thanks for posting that , Greg !

 

 that board SURE looks lovely to me .

 

  just remember ... we are [myself included] often our own worse critics !

 

  mate , surf it till it falls apart , I  reckon  !

 

.... after all that work you put into it , like any toy,  it DESERVES to be used [and looked after , too, I may add !]

 

....  then .... when / if it HAS fallen apart ,  build ANOTHER !

Oh , and if you REALLY want 'one to hang on the wall' [why ? .... why NOT ,  eh ?!] , build one 'just to hang on the wall' , too ! [you DID say you wanted to leave this planet with LOTS of boards under your belt , didn't you ?!]

 

so.... good on ya mate ! .... I'm a fan of your work ! [ and , one day,  I would like to make a balsa FIN ,  or two ,  or ??? ]

 

  cheers !

 

     ben

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I don't do wood, but do you guys clean up the outline with a planer?

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ASTEVENS, yes I use a planer and on this board also used block plans.  The outline was near perfect until I took the sand paper to it with no hard backing.

Huck, you are clever.  Great ideas.  I haven’t put the Upol spay coat on it, so I could conceivably sand some more and reglass the rails.  Gotta think about that.

Chipper, yes we are.  That’s why we are here.  ha.

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Mr. Tate, I don't see the beef. The close ups of the stingers at the rail looks great. I mentioned this to Huck but don't know if he tried it but using a cabinet scraper might be of help. The scraper will hit the high spots due to it's ridgidity. When it feels like it isn't cutting as well just run a hardened steel (like a screwdriver shank) across the edge to create another burr. In your photos, your board looks great, probably a fun ride. Surf the heck out of it, take care of it and when you want to retire it, it will be easy to re-gloss it and it becomes a beautiful wallhanger. I really like that outline as well.

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Nice work Greg. I’ll echo ‘tblank’ and recommend a good cabinet scraper to even out those soft/hard spots. I also have taken to using a ‘trimming plane’, which is a small hand plane. Does the trick. Give us a ride report when you get’er in the water. 

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[quote="$1"]

I could conceivably sand some more and reglass the rails.  Gotta think about that.

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I didn't want to say it, but that's exactly what I would be doing if I were in your shoes.  BTW, cabinet scraper is a great tool, I use them for furniture building, but not really a rail-shaping tool for me, but to each their own.  I would love to build a balsa board someday!  Meanwhile, I have a stack of redwood 2x6's from a deck that got tore out on one of my jobs, so I guess my next 4 boards are gonna be redwood LOL!

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By way of historical perspective, in the ''Balsa Era'', the shaping tool list was:  Draw Knife, Block plane, Skil 100 Planer, Sanding Block, 36 grit, and 6o grit, sandpaper.   Sometimes I would pour boiling water over a shaped balsa blank, to raise the grain for a second round of sanding, prior to glassing.   Depending on the weather, drying time was one or two days.   You'd be surprised how much the various pieces of wood would change, after contact with hot water.   But, the extra work, and time, produced a much more refined finished shape.   The one other tool that was desired, but hard to find on the Mainland, was the large wood bodied Japanese Plane.    It would cut balsa like butter.    Warm butter at that!    The blades would hold a superior edge.    The best shapers, of that era, had them and used them. 

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Hey Greg, 

Nice work for a first balsa. I do hear you though - it can be a great disappointment to see those bumps or dips in your finished shape. Shoot, I had a balsa single that just fought me all the way just earlier this year.

For what it’s worth, you’re probably much more critical than anyone else will be. Still, if you decide to do another, one trick that I’ve learned over a couple of dozen balsas, as many wood railed compsands, and who knows how many alaias, is to stick to your blocks! I use a big Makita that Balsa kindly gave me years ago, and do most of my work with that. Then a razor sharp hand plane to take down the ridges left from that. Then a stiff backed block with  50/60. An all balsa block with 80 to take down any edges and start getting rid of my paper marks. Then 120/220 with a thin-foam over balsa block. All of my blocks are pretty long and wide - maybe 10" minimum by 3" - that seems to help from allowing them to get into those soft spots and minimizes the risks! Hope that offers some help.

It seems that Bill had offered me some great advice, as did Richard McCormick, a while back (2005?) - I’d have to go back in the archives and check.

The stringers look great, as does the glass. I’m sure the board in person is a beauty.

 

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big thanks to all ya’ll, as we say in the south.    never fails, this where you come for expert advice.  maybe I have one more  balsa in me.

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Greg ur da men…  that board looks awesome.

From my oppinion to make a balsa board is like making a UFO starship.

 

Good job mate

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The one other tool that was desired, but hard to find on the
Mainland, was the large wood bodied Japanese Plane.    It would cut
balsa like butter.    Warm butter at that!    The blades would hold a
superior edge.    The best shapers, of that era, had them and used
them. 

Bill Thrailkill

 

Maybe here:

http://www.japanwoodworker.com/dept.asp?s=JapanWoodworker&dept_id=13609

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Nice work Greg !.....bet you had some fun sanding around those stringers...........a tip  = if you get a flat spot after fine sanding , 2 layers of soft cotton cloth and a steam iron over the top of them will raise out the grain.......same thing as Bill Thr said with the boiling water.....the iron is good for smaller specific areas.....then let the wood completely dry out before another sand......