Went to mark out the template on my 9’3" Excell blank this afternoon and noticed that after tracing both sides the pencil line on the left was almost an inch closer to the rail of the blank than on the right. I went back and measured the width every foot or so and marked where the center should be. It’s about 1/2 an inch of the center. Usually I wouldn’t think anything about it and just go ahead and shape it, but the blank’s molded domed deck are going to be a problem and the rails won’t be an even thickness.
Any ideas on ways to fix this or get around it? I thought about just snapping a chalk line but I don’t like the look of an offset stringer.
I’m certainly no one to give advice but every shaper that I’ve talked to who has had this problem said they just snapped a chalk line and went off that. I’ve heard Walker blanks frequently have this problem.
If you are using rail bands to shape your rails you should end up with the both rails the same thickness.
Just about every LB blank that we shape, the cut is not in the centre of the blank, or perfectly straight for that matter.
As long as you get your width from the blank it doesn’t really matter if the stringer is not in the dead centre. Edit ( before you cut out your plan shape that is.)
The other option would be to use the stringer as centre and shape the larger half to match the smaller one…
I dont know how to describe it…
shape the blank to symetry?
leave the smaller half exactly how it is so you can take templates/check measurements as required and shape the other half to match as closely as you can. Once this is done the centre has been reset and you can start shaping.
Or if its an option take it back to the supplier and swap it for a centred one? might be a pain but time spent shaping as above will be similar… at least youre playing with foam tho
So long as you keep your rail bands the same angle throughout then the excess foam “should” be removed. The reason being is that the planer should cut deeper into the deeper side (more foam poking into the blades as you go around the rail). Likewise for crowning the deck. Keep an eye on the depth of the template band as this may be a good guide to check the thickness on both sides of the stringer. But the ideal solution might be to just send the blank back as this should not happen in my opinion.
