Reflections after shaping my first board

General Discussion
1

I think it turned out almost exactly as I planned, thanks to this website no doubt. Not to pat myself on the back, but I am really surprised how well it turned out. I’m sure a pro could shred it apart, but I don’t care. Any concern I have with the finished blank will be easily rectified during glassing (hard to soft rail transition) which hasn’t been done yet. Here goes anyway:

  1. The electric planer has the most vertical learning curve of any “hand tool” I have ever used. Mind you I used to be a machinist for many years (porting heads was my bread and butter), have a garage of tools already and have also spent many years doing wood work (some framing and deck building), but wow what a nightmare. I just went for it and started with small cuts and just kept going. The e-planer is the devil and measuring twice and cutting once doesn’t apply. I know, give it time.

  2. There has got to be a better way to cut out the initial board outline than with a hand saw. I was close to square but luckily I went a little outside and surformed down. I’ll be building something strictly for doing this.

  3. The surform is my favorite tool of all that I bought for the shaping task. You could easily do a whole board with one.

  4. A 23" 2X4 with a 80 grit sanding belt glued on is my second favorite tool. The magic of making things flat!

  5. When in doubt sand.

  6. Making the rails wasn’t nearly as hard as I thought either. I found the center thickness and made a mark drew three bevel lines (center for reference, top and bottom) the length as I thought the board would cruise through the water marked the deck at how I envisioned the contour. I even used the dreaded planer.

  7. Shaping is all about symmetry, but I knew that right?

  8. These shaped blanks are really really really fragile and anything coming into contact will cause more shaping to commence.

  9. Don’t use the board as a shelf (see number 8)

  10. Sometimes barely any light is better than lots of light.

There are more, but I('ll leave it at that for now).

A many thanks to all those that have contributed to Swaylock’s. What an awesome reference.

Before you start watch this. http://www.costaricatravel.info/shaping.wmv

Too bad I saw it after I finished. Next Time I’ll have a better idea!

2

I agree on that video. I watched that over and over before I started…Got an pics or are you gonna finish it before posting?

3

I’m going to get it glassed first, then I’ll post. Thanks for asking. Gotta buy some more blanks!

4

Great post!!! Those wobbles and flats in the outline won’t make a whits difference in the water, but on land it’s the difference between a craftsman and a hobbiest. Welcome to our addiction…

5

Dirthead, you nailed my experience as well. Great post!

Careful now, though. As another friend (who’s about to shape his first board) just said to me, “I’m imagining dimensions and rail shapes all the time…in the car, at home, at work…I think I got bitten pretty hard.”

6

hey dirt…

  1. If Im using a Clark blank, I dont use an e-planer at all, just hand tools. If I need to take out more than 1/6 thickness I use one.

  2. For me using a handsaw is very easy…cut, sureform, 40 grit sanding block using long fast strokes at the end. An alternative is to use a e-circular saw with a graphite masonry disc but you still have to true it.

7

based on Jim Philip’s advice (Master Shaper dvd) I use my power planner to clean up my template cutting wobbles. The planner does find the high spots on it own. Found it to work really well. Yes the planer had a learning curve, but also I Jim’s suggestion I relied on my planner and hardly used the surform at all. I’m glad I spent the effort to use the planer. I think it really helped keep these smooth and flowing.

my $0.02