on all of my boards my stringer gets too high and when i use my mini hand plane it digs into the foam. how do i make a flat surface, is there a different tool to use? or is it just more practice
#1 - make sure the blade is sharp.
#2 - make sure it’s set to a very shallow cutting depth
#3 - round off the edges of the blade, make it sort of like a crescent moon if possible. This way it will cut the wood and not catch an edge on the foam and gouge it.
Go slow, as soon as you feel your sanding block or pad riding on the stringer, stop and take it down again with the plane.
Hi HoopaBros
Everything Ted-G said. And…
Remember that wood has a grain. Sometimes simply planing in the opposite direction will do the trick. Be careful regrinding your plane iron. Don’t let it get hot or it will screw up its temper. If you put a radius / crescent on the iron, keep it very slight. You don’t need much and a radius cut iron is much harder to sharpen. If all this seems like too much work, go buy one of the planers that use the disposable razor blades. They are cheep, easy, work well on narrow stringers and always “razor” sharp. Have fun.
All of the above and one more thing: Hold the planer at a diagonal to the stringer as you make the pass. It will slice the wood better.
And by the way:
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Make sure the blade is razor sharp.
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Make sure the blade is razor sharp.
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Sharpen the blade so it’s…well, you know.
A quick, and easy way to get the blade sharp is to use a bench grinder with a white sharpening stone on one side and a rag-wheel on the other. Grind the top of the blade evenly, then buff it (top only) for about 5 seconds with red rouge on the ragwheel. You’ll be able to shave your arm with it and it takes about 30 seconds.
Doug
spoke shave
There’s another way to go -cheat!
I’ve been using a little trimming plane to get the first layer of a perimeter stringer flush with the deck and bottom of a board (my first). Easiest way I’ve found to keep it from digging into things I don’t want it to is to cover most of the base of the plane with a strip of blue tape, leaving only enough of the blade exposed to do the job. Would work with a spokeshave too.
It also helps if you polish out the foam with a high grit abrasive, especially if you’re doing EPS.
And… do keep going back and forth from the block to the plane, not letting the stringer get too high. When you plane, focus on holding the tool level until you get a feel for it. When the stringer is too high, there can a tendancy to “fall off” the wood to one side or the other, digging into the foam, if you’re not paying attention.
Finally…some guys like to do short, scrubbing type strokes. I do better with long, even, firm strokes with very shallow blade depth.
How do you know if the blade is sharp enough?
An old master woodworker I worked for told me to test it on my finger nail. If I could get a shaving off the nail it was sharp enough.
“How do you know if the blade is sharp enough?” That can be a little subjective. I like my tools sharp. Easily shaving the hair on my arm is my typical guide. However I was talking with Rich Harbour about plane irons a while back. He set a plane on the foam of a blank (#2 EPS) pushed it with one finger and shaved off a nearly translucent strip of foam. The freakish thing was how little effort it took to push the plane. Mine aren’t that sharp by a long shot. Do they need to be… no. But to each their own. It was pretty cool to see though. Not to mention Rich is just a really cool guy to talk to.
Check this thread out- esp. note Rich Harbour’s comments and photos:
http://www.swaylocks.com/forum/gforum.cgi?post=359482;guest=17483919#359482
Dale
Thanks for re-posting that thread. I had a hard time trying to find it a while back. Eric