How would you go about putting on a tail block to the shaped blank.
Thanks
have you built your block yet? depending on the type of foam usually attach with resin before completely shaping the blank so the deck, bottom, and rails will match perfectly. this also applies to any inlays you may put in the deck. if you’re making a composite block (layers of different woods)and one or more of the layers are balsa take your time and be careful-it sands easier than other woods and you’ll have lumps and valleys between the layers…ugly and very discouraging. but nothing dresses up a clear finish board better than wood! well worth the time and trouble.
verrrrry simple,i think i’ve put at least tailblocks if not nose on all my boards lately (makes them very easy to sell).most hobby shops carry balsa,walnut,and mahogany in, say,2" wide x 1/8 or thicker x 36" long strips. buy alternating colors,laminate them together with out cutting legnth yet. use appropriate adhesive. clamp together the entire legnth as one piece until completely dry(in the future have extras made up ahead to save time). when this is done, cut a section a little wider than the squared-off blank. attach to blank with resin, hold in place with tape until very dry. then pull out your favorite tool of choice(planer, belt sander,something you can machine straight lines with) and start shaping. just remember what i wrote earlier about the balsa. also balsa should go against the foam and the other wood on the end for protection(it’s harder than balsa).
thanks alot for your help
regards,
chris
Nysurfer,
Shape your board, saw off the tail, use 60 sec. epoxy to glue on your rough block (not shaped), angle grinder (24 gt.) for knocking it all down to rough shape (careful), hand sand with 60 grit glued to small wood blocks and sharp block plane for final shaping, finish and sand out your board to feather it all in. Foam much softer than the wood, so when sanding watch out for the “oops” on the foam or you’ll start reshaping your tail (wouldn’t want to end up with a pin tail). Use basswood instead of balsa (white and dense). Enjoy the ride.
One added thing I’ve found that helps with the installation: Shape your blank to about 95% finished before you glue on the tailblock. Cut off the foam in the tail that will be replaced by the tail block, then hold the unshaped wood up to the tail and trace the outline of the foam. Next, shape the wooden tailblock with a belt sander and/or files and sandpaper to about 95% finished shape.
Now glue the block to the blank and you’re almost there.
Finish shaping foam and wood together. The advantages that I’ve found in this method are that you save a lot of time on the wood shaping part of it, and you help avoid the tendency to overshape or gouge the foam next to the wood. Doug
Here’s the REAL way, shape completely, trim it close to finished size and install with 5 minute epoxy, with a good grade of masking tape, mask off the area NOT to be touched by the sander or blockplane, sand down to the tape, your done
Doug,
Just a side note or perhaps a personal preferance…I’ve tried the trace to the board and finish shape the block first thing, but I’ve found that it’s far easier and quicker to shape the block once glued to the board than it is to try to mess with it on the band saw and in the vise, constantly turning and not seeing its profile clearly etc. With the disc grinder, the shape goes to roughed in and ready to sand in only a few minutes. Same process for nose blocks. I do it the same way J. Phillips does except no tape. The tape thing is a good idea, afterall he’s done more than any of us over the years.
Shapers who haven’t done blocks take my blocks and assume they can throw them on and shape them as they shape the board. I try to explain my method each time I sell them to a novice, but they act like they know better. Later they call, state they’re having problems and ask how the frig to get them on and shape them, or they don’t call and I see a crude job on a board that vaguely looks like one of my blocks. Or they just tell customers who request them they don’t do that dated look old school retro thing which is arabic for… I can’t get em to come out right. Go figure.