Belt sander,planer,micro file,surform,spokeshave,hand plane,sandpaper&block?
I was being a tool and tried agave rails on this board first.
Agave is not humanly possible for mere mortals to shape,like oak and balsa in the same stick.
How does Linden do it?
I am about to go to town on bender ply & cork rails.
Suggestions-stories please,
Razor sharp block plane, with a polished bed and a little WD40 for lube; it should just peel off. If you grind Agave try to attach a dust pick up, good dust mask, gloves, long sleeves, hood…etc. Ive gotten contact hives on my arms and between fingers from just jig sawing it.
Here’s what the shaper of the worst rails in the world does…
Hand plane, belt sander and a light sander belt cut and glued to a 10" x 4" piece of 4mm ply with wood block handles at each end to finish shape them. I’ve only ever done cork and ply rails. As suggested already, make sure your plane blade is freshly sharpened.
Peace!
i laid up my cork and ply rails like this. heaps of overhang, then roughly cut off the overhang with a jig saw.
then i used a planer, then a belt sander to get it boxy, like this…
after that, i just finished it off with a belt sander. first with 40 grit, then 80 grit.
it shapes quite well. because its hard, you cant stuff it up too easy!
have fun.
WOW, that’s the most beautiful cork rail I’ve ever seen!
Hi Shifty, that is lovely work. I always make the mistake of trying to keep the weight down in the rails and getting some shape into them by layering it up into a hollow rail form…and always stuff it up.
Did you start a build thread for this board? If you did point me in the right direction if you will, I’d enjoy a read through your process.
Peace!
Shifty that rail looks so clean!
Good stuff guys.
Any body know how to use or set up one of these.
I got it for my birthday a few years ago.
I glued up my rails first using the board as a male mold then trimmed and attached them to the board.
Thought about routing a groove in the rail to save on weight but chickened out.
Ian, I’m definitely a hand-plane guy too:
I like the Japanese planes. You have to use the sharpening stones, though, and you really have to have the angle right. The sandpaper thing that works with US/English style block planes won’t do it. 4 or 5 stones, minimum, and definitely use them wet. To adjust the blade, you tap on one end or the other of the block itself. Mine is a nice big flat block, ash I think, that’s awesome for truing up doors but I’ve never used it on surfboards. Your curved-base one is for chair seats and the inside of arches. Probably useful to concave an alaia if you go there 
Shifty that rail looks so clean!
Good stuff guys.
Any body know how to use or set up one of these.
I got it for my birthday a few years ago.
I glued up my rails first using the board as a male mold then trimmed and attached them to the board.
Thought about routing a groove in the rail to save on weight but chickened out.
If that’s one of the small, curved Japanese planes, it’s used to shave down the stringer on the deck side, near the nose of shortboards with rocker where a regular plane has trouble fitting. As far as setting it up, I’ve tapped the blade down lightly with a hammer to achieve the right depth. I’ve never had to sharpen mine, so I can’t recommend a good way to remove the blade for sharpening. These planes make shaving the stringer so much easier on shortboards.
You shouldn’t tap on the blade itself. That can drive the wedge iron too deep and your blade will get stuck.
The way the plane iron, wedge iron, and pin work together is a perfect balance of friction. You should use a light hammer (a small wood mallet is traditional) on the ends of the wood block of the plane itself. Hold the plane horizontally. Tap the back end, and the plane iron goes upward (shallower cut). Tap the front end and the iron goes deeper. The angled throat of the block & the position of the pin make it work.
I like to use the surform shaver and the stanley 102 block plane they work well on cedar
Pierre at Linden’s shop told me that Gary had started doing agave rough shaping outside because he was having respiratory issues. Pretty much killed my desire to work with it at home. There were several stalks nearby my house I was going to try and use. So be careful.
hey fatbaslardass,
i wanted to try layering up the rails like you said, but chickened out!
if you get it right its bound to cut the weight down heaps. maybe next time.
i did start a thread for that board.
sorry. i still cant work out the link thing. i could before i installed leopard…
anyway, you also might wanna see my second attempt.
http://www.swaylocks.com/forum/gforum.cgi?post=352819;#352819
and here…
http://www.swaylocks.com/forum/gforum.cgi?post=358093;#358093
heh. Well, this is all very offputting. There’s one place I know that has a nice agave stalk almost ready, but it’s a superfund cleanup site. Agave, lead, and arsenic all in one stalk …
Hey Shifty, just checked out the threads cheers
I’m sure I was welling up on seeing those stuff up shots, man what a recovery! You do incredible work. Makes me want to go and clean my garage and start something…but I’m off to bed with another glass of cabernet instaed.
Nice dog man, we have a 6 month old Jack russel bitch called Molly, she’s nuts.
Peace!
You shouldn’t tap on the blade itself. That can drive the wedge iron too deep and your blade will get stuck.
The way the plane iron, wedge iron, and pin work together is a perfect balance of friction. You should use a light hammer (a small wood mallet is traditional) on the ends of the wood block of the plane itself. Hold the plane horizontally. Tap the back end, and the plane iron goes upward (shallower cut). Tap the front end and the iron goes deeper. The angled throat of the block & the position of the pin make it work.
Sound advice. I don’t recall mine having a pin. I haven’t shaped in like 8 years, so I’ll have to dust it off and take a look.