I got hold of half a blank glued a stringer of ply in it and have been practicing shaping .My question is when I use my planer I get ridges in the foam is this able to be flattened out with the wide sanding blocks.Also should a new blank be shaped minimal on the bottom close to the hard outer shell as much as possible to increase strength and then foil the deck to the shape wanted.
Thanks again for any advice.Frederick
Frederick,
You can use your sanding block to remove the ridges or a surform with a light hand. You want to take most of the thickness out of your blank from the bottom, not the top. It’s better to have the denser foam where you stand on the board.
Frederick we made a special two handed sanding block to get the bottom nice and flat. From that point you can do whatever you want. Rooster is right. take excess foam fromt he bottom not from the deck. Think of all the boards you have seen. Where do you see the pressure dings? The deck. You want the deck as hard as possible! If you would like to see a picture of the two handed sanding block just let me know. It works the heck out of you put works great on the board.
Id like to check out that sanding block.
I have some 100 grit blue glued on the bottom. I overlapped the sandpaper so it gives a little flipped up edge so it doesn’t catch. Like I said it works the heck out of you but gives you a perfectly flat bottom. I can’t take credit for the design I think I got it from Paul Jensen or Jim Phillips I just tweaked the design a little to fit what I wanted it to do.
Ive got something similar but made out of masonite so i can curve it to conform to the deck curve also. I use 36 grit on one and 50 on another.
I thought about making another one out of thinner plywood so I could curve it and use it to do my concaves. How does the masonite one work? Does it flex too much? Does the edge catch?
I’ve tried this technique, and it is hard to not get a vee bottom or deck for that matter. Any suggestions?
I’m not sure why you can’t get a flat bottom with this tool? If you continually shave the stringer after every few passes with the sanding block, and then finish once more with shaving the stringer, I don’t think you can get a flatter bottom, or deck. Most of us are no way near the finished shape perfection with a planer like a Jim Phillips, we all rely on heavy grit sanding blocks in some form to take out the planer ridges. The beauty of the 23" sanding block is you can sand the bottom contours flat all at the same time, no scrubbing at the foam. I’ve got one thats flat, and one that 23" wide with a concave, and one thats 23" with convex
-Jay
Sounds like I might sand to long before catching up with plane. Thanks