First time builder question!

[Noklin]

I built a 3 station cradle this last weekend on casters. I will be building a CS 20 in a garage that is 21

[capt jake]

Uh... why not make your kerf on the outside of the layout lines?? Then you won't have to change anything. I may get chastised for this, but I always watch the blade and the cut rather than the guide.

Seriously, make the kerf on the side you want it to be.

[Tom Williams]

I agree with the Captin. I usually give the layout line about a 1/16" clearance and then plane to the line. The Okume plywood is soft and is a breeze to plane.

Get the blade in your plane nice and sharp. It's going to be one of the most used tools in your shop when the boat is done!

Good luck!

Tom

[Charlie Jones]

From a guy who builds boats as a job-

DO NOT> DO NOT> DO NOT > cut the line. ALWAYS cut outside the lines and plane down to them.

You CANNOT accurately cut a line away- you'll somewhere, sometime jig INSIDE that line and then things won't be correct.

Trust me on this - I've been building wooden boats since 1976. I can't cut that accurately and you can't either.

And yes- try hard for that degree of accuracy ( you won't always get it) If you don't, the slop will be cumulative and later on into the project things will start to not fit correctly. In a tack and tape boat, the shape of the panels is most carefully laid out, nowadays with computer drafting. Changing sizes and shapes with sloppy layout and or cut out can have VERY ill effects on your boat, at least in the way it looks, if not in the way it performs.

Some one else mentioned keeping that block plane sharp. I'd add - keep it SHARP. No- SHARPER than that When I'm doing a good bit of edge planing, I keep 4 or 5 block planes right to hand so I don't have to stop and resharpen when one gets a tad dull. But then I'm working by the hour

[Howard]

I seem to recall Graham telling me once that in his Spindrift classes, the first thing he teaches the students is how to sharpen plane blades. Once they know how to do that, it solves lots of problems.

Having said that, I must admit I've never been to happy with my success in sharpening blades. So what is the best way to do it?

[Charlie Jones]

The simplest answer is to google "scary sharp" and start reading. That's just one method, but it's a good one. Uses varying grits of sandpaper on glass. There are numerous other ways, but that one is cheap and it works. I use it often myself.

I also have a diamond stone and some very fine carborundum stones , plus a leather with compound on it that I keep on the tool bench at all times. That way I can quickly and easily touch up an edge. If you do the touch up as SOON as it starts feeling "not sharp" then you really don't need to do much.

Once you get your plane irons (and chisel blades) really sharp you won't ever toerate a partly dull one again

Of course, I must admit to being a plane junkie Here's the ones that live at the shop. There is another almost full set that lives at the home shop.

And by the way, that spoke shave up front is a highly useful tool also. Takes a tad of learning but it does ply edges where nothing else will reach- like inside cutout's. Same for the bullnose in the left front.

[capt jake]

I love a sharp plane, but have to admit that I had mine sent out and sharpened last time. The down time is hard to swallow. I need to spend some time this year and learn how to get it done.

Another favorite of mine for compound curves and concave surfaces is a sharpened paint scraper. That is how I finished the inside of the gunwales on the Mini.

[Designer]

I could not ditto Charlies comments more if I tried. No one gets past the door of my boatbuilding class until they have had the plane sharpening and tuning lesson, they are then expected to demonstrate what they have learned throughout the course.

There is no faster more accurate way to remove wood than with a plane. Most people try a dull plane and when it won't work they resort to some kind of sander. Various sanders will hog wood off in a hurry but at best they round over the surface and they cannot fair, you just end up with a wavy line.

While it would be nice to have Charlies plane collection you can do most of your work with just one plane. If I could only have one plane, it would be a Stanley #4 contractors version. They sell for $40 - $50 but I bought my third one at a flea market for $3, it was along side a bad chinese copy also for $3. Once you get hooked you can get a block plane, a rabbet plane and a spoke shave and I guarantee that you will enjoy your boat building a lot more.

Until you master sharpening they will be just worthless junk.

The picture shows a student planing his first scarf using a #4 plane. Notice how straight the glue lines are.

[ricardo]

Charlie,

Scary (sharp) collection you got.

Can you name me a source for those tiny trimming planes?

Thanks,

Ric

[Dale Niemann]

Back to the boat carriage.

I thought I would post a photo of my portable building frame. You can see the supports under the boat that were used when the boat is upright.

Hope this helps.

[Frank Hagan]

I love a sharp plane' date=' but have to admit that I had mine sent out and sharpened last time. The down time is hard to swallow. I need to spend some time this year and learn how to get it done.[/quote']

I'm an abject failure at plane iron sharpening also. Even thought about spending $400 on one of those Tormek sharpening systems, but can't bring myself to do it when I used to watch my dad sharpen everything on a single two sided Arkansas stone (I thought it was a magic stone, but alas, I have it now and I know the magic was not in the stone, but in my father's hands.) No jig, no motor, just his hand and his eye.

Now that my dad's plane irons are dull I reach for the ROS or belt sander like Graham mentions. I have tried the scary sharp method, with an angle jig, but I never get to sharp. I need to send them out, too.

[mustangermatt]

I would reiterate Rays remark about longitudinals.

It seems like slight errors that you wouldn't notice along the keel joint will turn into puckers. Especially where the 3/8" meets the 1/4" on the bottom.

Like Ray I spent about a week fairing this

[capt jake]

I'm an abject failure at plane iron sharpening also.

Well Frank, it looks like we won't be attending andy classes very soon now will we? I really will give this more attention this winter. Tying up some other things at the moment. My 'professionally' sharpened block plane lasted nearly through the building of the Mini, though it is in need of sharpening again.

[Charlie Jones]

Richardo- those little trimming planes have been with me for a LONG time, so I don't know if they are still the same, BUT-

One of them is a Stanley, H101P

The other is a Craftsman, 187.37057

Good luck finding them- I use those for trimming veneers and light edging when I'm working on furniture.

[Howard]

Turns out I had some 220, 400 and 1500 grit 3M wet/dry paper.....no plate glass but a piece of plexi....so I gave that Scary Sharp method a try. Dang if it doesn't work! In about 5 minutes I changed a mediocre Buck Bros plane from Home Depot into a useable tool. Cutting better now than it did new. Can't see me running out to buy $1,000 worth of planes as Charlie has, but now that I can sharpen them, a larger selection may be in order. Stanley from now on. Hmmmmm....that Princess just got smaller!

[capt jake]

Well I haven't read up on 'scary' but if it only takes 220, 400, 1500; well I have all that. I have the plate glass as well, it was used to true up the necks of the two guitars that my son and I made. It already has the 400 on it.

[Charlie Jones]

Glad it worked well for you Howard.

Bear in mind - that plane collection got started back in about 1963 or so. At least one of those planes was purchased way back then, is stil in use and the collection has been added to ever since.

One was a gift from a friend- belonged to his late father and since he didn't do woodworking he thought I'd like it. I do.

Another one was a plane MY step father owned- his only one. I keep that for special jobs - on boats only.

The largest one is a Bailey #7 joiner- I was delivering some furniture to a customer and saw it in the dirt under the house. Asked her about it and she told me she didn't know anything about it and if I wanted it, take it. It cleaned up pretty nicely

Just keep looking and when you work wood as long as I have you'll have a great collection also

[Howard]

Interesting era....1963. That's about my first recollection of having seen any tools...and I remember seeing a plane. I was in the 3rd grade. My 82 year old father still has it and if and when he is ever done with it, I'm sure it will be mine to care for. I also still have a True Temper Rocket....my 16 oz claw hammer I bought while in high school. I notice I get awfully concerned when anyone touches that these days....even to the point of telling them I've had the thing for 35 years and to be careful with it. A hammer! Funny how good tools become trusted friends.

As an aside....in a former life I was once an insurance underwriter. In total fire losses, the investigators always looked for family photographs, firearms and tools. If a fire is set....they always remove those first so they don't lose them. If these things are missing....arson is suspected.