I’m working on my first shaping attempt – thanks to all providing guidance so far. I have a zillion questions but I’ll stick to where I am in the process. After templating, cutting and refining the outline I used a small block plane to skin off the hard outer shell on the bottom. Next I used an 11" sanding block to smooth out the bottom. I’m not trying to change the rocker, just going with what the blank has in it. Before proceeding to work on the foil I just happened to think to check with a straight edge to see if the bottom was flat along the entire length. Looked flat to the naked eye. It isn’t and I have a vee, most pronounced in the mid section, but pretty much along the entire length. I’m guessing this is from running the sanding block along each side (with full runs along the length) but the stringer resists and I ended up taking too much off the outside edges. The blank seems flat from stringer to edge, not rolled. When I lay a straight edge across the mid section of the blank, there is about 3/16” of air on each outside edge. Perhaps the blank comes with a vee through it? Doesn’t seem right. It’s a Clark 7’3" for fishes and eggs.
So my question is this: Should I take my really small block plane and shave down the stringer the entire length (to keep my rocker flow) then sand down the middle of the board first to flatten it out, keeping away from the edges? Any other methods to flatten it out without using a power planer?
You’ve answered your own questions correctly…use the small block to take the stringer down. Keep checking with the straight edge until it is gone (if you want a flat bottom). Don’t trust your eyes at this stage of shaping. Use calipers, rocker beams, straight edges, rulers, everything you’ve got. The more boards you shape, the better your eye will get but for the first hundred or so…measure twice, cut once.
Make yourself a 18-inch long sanding block…that’ll help keep the flats flat.
I thought of making a longer sanding block, but where the heck do I get sandpaper that is 18+" long? I guess it is OK to just put two regular sheets on there and butt them up together as close as possible and staple them on the back to keep from slipping…
Those belt sander sheets are expensive, and I didn’t even look to see what grits they have - I just assumed they’re all pretty gnarly and would gouge the foam too much.
A belt sander belt will last a long time. Get 50 grit 24 x 3 belt, cut it and spray adhesive glue it to your 24 in block. Make sure you radius the block so the sander belt has nothing to catch on. Don’t worry about it being too course on the foam, you want it to be able to level and take planer marks out of the blank without too much work. Once you get that done then you can move to the 80 grit screen on a medium foam pad
Better yet, get a 24"x3" 50 grit & a 24" x 3" 80 grit& glue them one on each side of a 23"x3"x1" piece of wood. Curve the paper 1/2" up each end so there’s no corners. You’ve got both grits on one tool & it’ll last pretty much forever on foam.