I am shaping a Mini Simmons style board with a deep swallow tail like the one in the photo I attached. I’ve done a few before but always struggle with a few things.
Here are a few questions I would love some help with.
#1 - What tools and techniques do you use to cut a nice smooth even and deep swallow tail? How do you attack it…lay it out…cut it perfectly down the stringer, etc. (especially on a thick board like an old school Fish or Mini Simmons)
#2 - How do you cut your cloth to glass it? Do you end up doing it in 2 or 3 stages with 2 or 3 pieces of cloth. How do you cut your laps and extra pieces.
I am shaping a Mini Simmons style board with a deep swallow tail like the one in the photo I attached. I've done a few before but always struggle with a few things.
Here are a few questions I would love some help with.
#1 - What tools and techniques do you use to cut a nice smooth even and deep swallow tail? How do you attack it...lay it out...cut it perfectly down the stringer, etc. (especially on a thick board like an old school Fish or Mini Simmons)
#2 - How do you cut your cloth to glass it? Do you end up doing it in 2 or 3 stages with 2 or 3 pieces of cloth. How do you cut your laps and extra pieces.
Thanks for any help!
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Just a novice but done more than a few swallows. I'm a jigsaw guy, no handsaws. I tried in the begining but always made a mess of my outlines.
So my steps are shape the entire board except the swallow. Take your swallow template and draw out the swallow on the bottom. Cut out the swallow from the bottom leaving a bit extra away from the line. I try to cut as close to halfway through the stringer from both sides of the swallow to make it even. I use a small block to true the foam to the line. Flip the board over and take your small round micro plane and start cutting into the stringer. I try to get the stringer close to finished depth and foil it to the deck from the swallow crack. The trench that the micro plane leaves serves as a guide to block the rest of the foam away from the crack of the swallow. Once its close I'll take a pad and screen to blend it all in and take out the scratches.
The round micro plane is only so good for that last super tight spot where the swallow meets at the stringer. If you have to get it perfect I've seen where guys have made the round micro plane into a vee to fit that last little spot. I just couldn't see myself folding that tool in a vise for such a minor detail. If your swallow isn't too narrow you can pull it off.
Glassing takes a little trick. You need to make an hour glass shaped extra piece of glass to fit into the area that the lapped glass misses. If you shape your swallow and lay out the glass on your first lamination cut the glass straight down the middle into the crack towards the stringer. If you fold the glass under you'll see that a triangle shaped area will be left on the foam on the bottom side. I'll take a scrap piece and cut it to size. One side will fit the triangle void on the underside and the top side will be just large enough that I can tuck it under glass so that it doesn't fall out during laminating. Kind of hard without pictures, but just imagine a triangle shaped hour glass with one side much larger than the other. Of course this is all non tint clear or on sprayed foam stuff. Once you get into tints and opaques with cut laps it gets more complicated. I'm sure there are some pretty cool tricks to get it all to match but that is beyond my skill level.
The MicroRasp is the perfect tool for shaping the deep swallow. The benefit of using this tool is that it cuts the foam and wood (stringer) at the same rate. Unlike the traditional rasp it doesn’t get caught up on the stringer. Check the video (located under the product description) of Tim Stamps shaping a deep swallow with this tool.
I leave my swallow tail boards as a square tail while I foil and do rails. I do it as one of my last steps before I sanding screen and take down any stringer material. I draw the lines for the swallow, cut it out, use a round surform on the stringer to blend it to the deck, use a flat surform to rough the "rails" of the swallow, and blend and smooth everything out with a medium grit sanding sponge. This is about the only time I ever use surforms to shape with cause planers work best in every other situation. oh, and I also smooth out my outline cut with a sanding block or some sort
to glass, cut and wrap the dry cloth on the tips to see where it'll fall. Depending on your swallow, you might need V shaped slits on the tips. The butt crack only requires a straight vertical cut. If doing a tint, or pigment, cut a little piece of cloth to sit where the foam is exposed. make sure all foam is covered with glass up to the tape line, and cut lap as normal.
this method works for me, but I'm sure someone on here has some cool little trick up their sleeve that's even better.
What i do is i template out the swallow tail, then cut out the outline with a jigsaw making sure to evenly split the stringer so swallow tail looks symmetrical. Then i take a dremel tool with a sanding barrel and take down the stringer before i begin to shape the swallow tail. Once you take the stringer down, you then begin to shape the swallow tail (shape the rails, etc.)
It’s a last step for me, too. I cut it out with a coping saw, removing the foam first. Then I go back with the coping saw and carefully cut the stringer…a little from each side, then bend it back and forth until it breaks. Then I go in again with the coping saw, and cut the taper of the stringer from crack to deck. I finish shape the foam of the swallows with 60 grit, then 80, then 100… I clean up the stringer with a round microplan, then fine tune it with a round file.
I cut min with a japanese pull saw,then if there is a stringer I shape it with a dremmel and the propper sized sanding drum.When I glass them I cut 1 layer straight inline with the crack,the next layer is cut at a slight angle(like this / ) with cuts a 1/4" or so on each side of the crack so all the foam is covered.
