That *!%!#!! stringer

I plane the stringer down and then try to smooth the nicks in the foam that the planer makes - Every time I try to smooth out the foam the damn stringer frays if the sandpaper/screen just touches it, and I end up with these little vertical shivs of wood that stick up straight - if you press them down they won’t stay, - if you pull them out they rip a long slot in the stringer along the grain. Two questions. 1 - after I plane the stringer flat to the deck (for the last time) is there a way to sand out the roughness in the foam around the stringer without making the stringer fray? The grain seems to change direction as you progress through the nose and tail rocker - so it’s pretty hard to stay with the grain in these areas. 2 - I now have a few ripped up sections of stringer where there are gouges taken out and I’m thinking they should be filled somehow. Any suggestions? Many Thanks, Eric J

my solution for stringer problems was switching to spruce. planes easier and cleaner than basswood. sounds like your baby block needs a good sharpening.

I plane the stringer down and then try to smooth the nicks in the foam > that the planer makes - Every time I try to smooth out the foam the damn > stringer frays if the sandpaper/screen just touches it, and I end up with > these little vertical shivs of wood that stick up straight - if you press > them down they won’t stay, - if you pull them out they rip a long slot in > the stringer along the grain.>>> Two questions.>>> 1 - after I plane the stringer flat to the deck (for the last time) is > there a way to sand out the roughness in the foam around the stringer > without making the stringer fray? The grain seems to change direction as > you progress through the nose and tail rocker - so it’s pretty hard to > stay with the grain in these areas.>>> 2 - I now have a few ripped up sections of stringer where there are gouges > taken out and I’m thinking they should be filled somehow. Any suggestions?>>> Many Thanks, Eric J Eric, my words exactly, wracken frassen, I had a small knot blow out on the rough basswood, down about 1/4" into the foam. It took about 20 passes with my blockplane to get to the bottom of the hole. For the problem of tear out, you need to set your plane as shallow as possible and still get a cut. It is important to have several planes, all set to different depths. I grind my blades with a curve to them, the outer edges lower than the center, this keeps the outer edges from plowing into the foam and doing exactly what you have described. Also the sharper they are, the less tear out you will experience.

Thanks for the help Bruce and Jim. My planes get ground this weekend. And I do have several small planes, but the best is the really tiny hobby plane I bought recently, about 2" long… the others just don’t work as well. I don’t have the option on this board to plane the tearout sections out - the thickness is where I want it now. I’ll finish off as well as I can and fill the tearout sections of the stringer with resin - unless there are other better ways of tackling this(?). I was planning opaque colors on the board anyway, so it will be covered. Best, EJ>>> Eric, my words exactly, wracken frassen, I had a small knot blow out on > the rough basswood, down about 1/4" into the foam. It took about 20 > passes with my blockplane to get to the bottom of the hole. For the > problem of tear out, you need to set your plane as shallow as possible and > still get a cut. It is important to have several planes, all set to > different depths. I grind my blades with a curve to them, the outer edges > lower than the center, this keeps the outer edges from plowing into the > foam and doing exactly what you have described. Also the sharper they are, > the less tear out you will experience.

Several ideas have been posted on this. You can use: Drywall spackle (I like Lighthouse lightweight spackle) Foam dust and elmers glue (mix it so the consistency is crumbly, more foam dust than glue, in other words)- This came from Herb. I tried it and it worked well. Or Sugar and laminating resin (posted by Mr. Phillips). Not sure of the ratio (probably about the same as foam dust and glue, more sugar than resin), if you want to go this route I am sure someone will post that ratio for you. If you are doing an opaque glass job, I would go with the easiest, which for me is spackle. You can get a small container for a couple of bucks. Good luck.

i tried a bunch of those patching methods and for me the best solution has been to just leave any dings and let my glasser deal with it. i found all the various fill mixes like spackle etc. either look crappy or are a pain to work with(took forever for elmers glue to dry). if you’re using a pro for glassing show him/her the ding and they can prob take care of it with better results.

Thanks but this is not a ding in the foam - this is a problem with tearout in the stringer. Part of the stringer is ripped to about 1/4" below the deck line. I could spackle, but since it’s a stringer I figured that resin might lend some strength. Maybe I’ll use a peice of roving to fill and add strength. It’s about a foot of the stringer that is affected, on the bottom where the nose rocker starts to blend into the mid-section. I’m going to glass this myself so I need to take care of it. I did use lightweight spackle on a few holes in the foam and it seems to work fine. I’ll be careful with the color work over it - maybe paint the board white to start to eliminate the variations in the surface that the paint contacts. Details, details… EJ>>> i tried a bunch of those patching methods and for me the best solution > has been to just leave any dings and let my glasser deal with it. i found > all the various fill mixes like spackle etc. either look crappy or are a > pain to work with(took forever for elmers glue to dry). if you’re using a > pro for glassing show him/her the ding and they can prob take care of it > with better results.