Hi, I tried searching for answers but was unable to. My question is how do you round the deck with a power planer? I understand the method of skinning the blank and have tried it but I am not too sure about rounding the deck. Do you apply less pressure as you work towards the stringer?
One simple way is just to count your passes working from the rail to the center doing more passes at the rail with progressively less passes toward the center. Then you just blend it in with a sanding block. You wont want to take your passes all the way to the center as that will effect your thickness. Pick a spot about half way between the center and the rail to be your stopping point.
Search for Bill Barnfield’s post on rail bands. When you get your head around that, it all becomes clear.
…hello, you now have the privilege to use close tolerance blanks that also have domed decks, so you do not really think hard and just get rid of the crust and done.
Bingo ! Exactly right.
Looks like OP is using sled-cut EPS, nice picture of the project on the other thread:
https://www.swaylocks.com/forums/gorilla-glue-stringer
Thanks guys. I got a little confused after warching Greg Lahore dvd on shaping. He says now to roll tge deck and he goes about doing it without any specifics. When i hand shaped, i would flatten the blank to desired thickness, Shape the deck rail bands and work my way up towards the stringer to toll the deck. I was hoping to do the same with a power planer. But Greg Lahore shapes his deck roll before rail bands.
I learn shaping on clark foam “close tolerance” pu blanks with dome deck in. Then i start making my own blank in eps bloc. So for long time i start by making the roll deck with planer then with hotwire tools. When deck roll was turn i cut rails band and turn them. Now i cut all band, 2 for deck and 3 for rails each side, and turn all in same time.
On this photo you can see 2 deck band and first rail band, hotwire cut, then i cut two other rails band with surform and turn all with sand paper.
1 look at blank bottom for wobbles, bulges, flat spots and diviots
2 straight those out with planer
3 get thickness necessary for project
4 cut template
5 do bottom contours
6 do top skin
7 band rails for 70_80%
8 Flip board and tuck edge
9 blend rail top and bottom
10 final sand all board
If you shape hot wired EPS this is a must.
I do this the same way on all foams, Drop in the top rail band with the bottom edge where you want the rail to start. It is then a continuing series of passes from edge to the stringer, feathering out as you approach the stringer.
Shallow passes remove way more material that what it seems like, 2-3 series of rail to center, feeling how the crown is as you go. You can always cut more, but you can’t put it back on.