Guys, I managed to get hold of the JC video, very informative, cheers. When I come to create the plan shape of the board, would it be best to make some wooden templates, or to map the shape straight onto the blank? Also, for a first timer, would you go straight in with an electric planer? I just don’t want to ruin the blank if I can help it. Peaman
You want to use a template of some kind. Trying to trace a planeshape straight off another board to a blank is a bad idea. Your rockers are not going to match and if the board you are tracing as any type of dome in the deck, it will be next to impossible to get it to lay on the blank without a rocking (rail to rail) motion. And tranferring a planeshape belly to belly is another bad idea. When tracing a planeshape, symmetry is key. To start off with you can use cardboard. A full length template like the one described in the video (half the planeshape) is the easiest to do. If you are doing a longboard or don’t have a piece of cardboard long enough you can make a spin template. A spin template is usually just a little bit longer than half the length of the full size template. You trace the nose curve, past your center point on one side and then trace the tail curve, past the center point on the other side. It is kind of hard to describe, but here it goes. Imagine if you have the board you are going to trace belly up. Trace the left side nose curve past the center point. Then move the cardboard down to the right side tail curve. Start tracing the tail curve at the point where your nose curve ends (where you stopped tracing the nose curve past the center point) and trace the tail curve, again past the center point, and the trace should end right into the point where your nose trace started. So you end up with a trace with the nose curve on one side and the tail curve on the other with the beginning and end of each side meeting each other. Spin templates are good beacuse you end up using less material and they are easy to manipulate (you can tweak them and mix and match tail & nose curves from different boards). When you get your trace, cut it out carefully with a utility knife, then take a small block with some sandpaper (like 180), and litely go over your cut. This will true things up. When you get a few under your belt you can move up to masonite or lexan instead of cardboard.
Guys, I managed to get hold of the JC video, very informative, cheers. > When I come to create the plan shape of the board, would it be best to > make some wooden templates, or to map the shape straight onto the blank? > Also, for a first timer, would you go straight in with an electric planer? > I just don’t want to ruin the blank if I can help it.>>> Peaman I get what you mean Mike. Its kinda reminds me of the French curves, that draughtsman used to use for technical drawings and things like that. Yeah, makes sense to have a firm guide to work from. Cool, thanks for your help Mike, I apreciate it.