I finally got around to playing with my new modified Hitachi planer. I bought a PU blank that was a second, which only cost $20. I figured that this would give me some good practice, and if I'm careful the resulting board would be surfable. NOT!
After about 10 minutes of blowing foam around the room, I realized that I really did not know how to use this tool. Then I thought... "I just wasted f#%$#g $20!" All of the boards that I have made so far have been meticulously crafted by drawing lines, and using hand tools. This was mainly because I did not want to risk destroying my work with the power planer. I think it is now time for me to learn how to use this tool, but how do I gain experience without going broke? I have watched a ton of videos that show technique. I just need experience now.
How many boards do you think it takes before it is possible to use this tool competently? I'm wondering how much money I'm going to have to waste before the quality of my Hitachi built board is better than what I could do with a surform.
Find broken and beat to shit boards; strip the glass then reshape 'em. You don't necessarily have to glass 'em unless you get something you like. Make sure to set the planer so it takes the smallest bite possible until you get the hang of it.
a “half block” of 1# eps from your local construction foam dealer (in Florida) will run you close to US $200. It is 4’ x 2’ x 8’. You can get at least 15 blanks out of it (and I cut out about 4 rocker tables also). Plus, it’s soft stuff, so you’ll really get a feel for what you are doing before you go to the rock hard 2# stuff. You’ll be a pro in no time.
Good idea to get a practice blank, or like pompano says, a bunch of them. Be careful what videos you watch - some of the youtube ones are useless, unless you want to see how not to do it. Skip all that stuff and watch Jim Phillips.
I would assume you started by skinning the blank. Those cuts are made with the tool angled. Start on tail corner, run perimeter of outline to nose. Work towards center, each pass becomes a little more parallel to stringer. Repeat from other side, rail to center.The baseplate rides the previous cut, shoe up on uncut foam. Front-to-back variations of hand pressure control baseplate/shoe weighting. If you work with tool set for about 3/16'' cut, you should be able to do 5 or 6 sets of ''practice'' passes. If the first one has bumps, block 'em out so you start over with a clean curve.
That'll build some familiarality with the tool, soon it will be your friend. Then read Barnfield's rail band thread.
Probably 100's if not 1000's to master the tool. How are you with free handing a routers, or straight cuts with a circular saw? If good with power tools you might get pretty good after 20-50 or more?
Come to think of it, hand tools represent the same problems as power tools except they do it slower. Making an accurate surfboard takes ton's of practice
Not trying to be my usual smart ass self here, but come on, you think your going to get good at shaping with a planer or hand tools in a set amount of foam, and especially something that is quantative like 20 surfboards? everybody's learning curve is different.
It's going to cost you $1,000 of dollars in foam to get semi-proficient, and $10,000 of dollars to get good. Best to buy 5 blanks and shape them all within a weeks time. Make them short boards and sell them on Craigslist for material cost. Some kid will be stoked, and you'll have a new outlook on your planer.
When using handtools, your arms need to provide not only precision but power (to drive the tool through foam). Using a power tool allows you to concentrate on precision only since the power part is taken care of. Keep at it until working with the power planer feels as natural as working with a sanding pad or surform, except much more efficient. There must be a good reason why most experienced shapers say you should do pretty much all the work with the planer. Time gained is surely one reason but not the only one. Speaking only for myself, I have found that the more I use the planer, the better the curves are.
I used to be ok at roughing out a board using my old “click” model Bosch where you set the cut depth and went on your merry way. Slow but you minimize screw-ups. As soon as I started using the Hitachi and its variable cut depth it was like a whole new deal. I had to start all over again. Practice, practice, practice.
I’m still in awe of Greg Loehr. I watched him blaze out a short board in No. 1 foam with a Skil on a couple of saw horses. The blank was flexing all over the place and Greg was cutting both ways all the while blabbing at a mile a minute. He knocked it out in about 15 minutes! Not up to his usual standards but it looked really good to me…
I'm still in awe of Greg Loehr. I watched him blaze out a short board in No. 1 foam with a Skil on a couple of saw horses. The blank was flexing all over the place and Greg was cutting both ways all the while blabbing at a mile a minute.
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LOL. The ''sawhorse shaping demo''. After you do 25 or 30 thousand it gets a little easier. Cutting both ways is normal, backwards is best for some things.
balsa's got it right too; the planer is not only the most time-efficient tool, when used properly it cuts the truest lines. I clearly remember getting done with all my surform work (30 years ago) and having Jim Phillips take his planer, set on zero, and run over my blank. You'd hear the ''nick, nick, nick'' as it hit the high spots. Jim would then say, ''That's why you use the planer''. Some tools will lie to you, the planer speaks the truth.
I have shaped with a planer for the last 20 years off the blank. Self taught, so my style might not suit some experienced shapers, But you are welcome to pause it on certain parts to see how im holding the planer.
Keep in mind when your doing your passes with it Not to dig in the leading edge of the machine, As you will be always be holding it on an angle, keep a low cut and solid stance and…well, practice. ha.
I'm still in awe of Greg Loehr. I watched him blaze out a short board in No. 1 foam with a Skil on a couple of saw horses. The blank was flexing all over the place and Greg was cutting both ways all the while blabbing at a mile a minute.
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LOL. The ''sawhorse shaping demo''. After you do 25 or 30 thousand it gets a little easier. Cutting both ways is normal, backwards is best for some things.
balsa's got it right too; the planer is not only the most time-efficient tool, when used properly it cuts the truest lines. I clearly remember getting done with all my surform work (30 years ago) and having Jim Phillips take his planer, set on zero, and run over my blank. You'd hear the ''nick, nick, nick'' as it hit the high spots. Jim would then say, ''That's why you use the planer''. Some tools will lie to you, the planer speaks the truth.
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''That's why you use the planer''. Some tools will lie to you, the planer speaks the truth."
So true! Then like all things in this industry the learning curve is not cheap.Except it and learn what you can from the ones that are willing to share on this sight.
Trust me me I am no sage with the planer and I only started shaping this past summer. I however shaped my first board using a planer and have done all 7 so far with one. This last board, #7, was the first one where I felt as though the planer was dialed in. When I first started I use to try and get fancy with adjusting while I was planing and I ended up having to go back over it several times with the surform. On this last board I started off just skinning the board at one set depth, top and bottom and it was unreal how much easier it was to then go back with very minimal depth to fine tune the nose and tail. I also found that a a slight tightening of the front end helped get a more controlled and even pass. Don’t get me wrong, I still used the surform but the blank was in a much better state to start the fine tuning process. Judging by your “posts” total you have been at this longer than me but just thought I would offer some humble and maybe helpful tips.
Also, Do you have the prada video? If you don’t let me know, I live south of Escondido on the 15 and you are more than welcome to come by and borrow it. I found it to be the most helpful video for shaping with the planer.
Thanks everyone for all the tips. After the MikeD mentioned watching Jim Phillips, I remembered that I have Jim’s 101 video from Damascus Productions. I just watched it again twice, and it answered some of my questions. I felt so confident that I went down to the garage, and grabbed the Hitachi. My current project is a 10’ balsa retro gun that Bill Thrailkill helped me design. I probably shouldn’t have let the Hitachi touch this project, but I was at a little bit of a stand still. The right side rail of my blank was thicker than the left, and I didn’t really know how I was going to even it out. Jim showed how to do this with the planer on his video, so I figured I would give it a try. I first took a couple of passes at zero depth, just to get comfortable. I held the planer like Jim did. Next, starting at the right side near the tail I went along the edge and gradually turned the knob to make a little cut. I ended the pass by returning to zero. I turned around, and made another pass overlapping my previous cut. I turned the knob until I just heard it starting to cut, held it until I got to the tail, and returned it to zero. It felt pretty good. I played it safe, and took lots of light passes. The end result wasn’t that pretty, but it achieved my goal of evening out the deck, so the rails matched. I finished off the deck with a sharp low angle block plan, and then with a sanding block. Later, I’m going to attempt to make some rail bands. I’m a little scared to do that. If things get out of hand, then I’ll probably fall back on using the old faithful belt sander.
The reason Jim's so good is that he learned from a guy (Tinker West) that came out of the balsa era. With balsa's density variations, any sanding can produce proud spots, so you want to take the board as far as possible with the planer. If you could see what Jim's balsa boards (or foam) look like when he puts down the planer, it's amazing. Finish work is a formality.
Definitely do the rail bands with the planer. I guarantee you if it you do them with a belt sander, and then run the planer down them, the planer will find the bumps you can't see.
Nice sharp block planes if you get nervous, instead of the belt sander (IMO).