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CS17 #370 Peggy-O


LennieG

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I suspect the main reason the 30/100 grit leaves a dark shade is so much of that is very fine grind. The 20/30 grit is clean and mostly just the coarse shell. It does not stain much.

 

Yet another alternative I've tried is the non-skid paint additive System 3 sells to go with their paints. Grain size is about the same as the 30/100 grit walnut shell and is clear. This is a plastic, so isn't so hard on edge tools.

 

Amount to use is around 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon per single pump (30 = 15 = 45 ml). It does not take much.

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Yup, I use black walnut. We have a lot of black walnut trees in Missouri and at least one large processor I know of that processes them for the nut meats and shells. Actually, the shells may have as much or more value than the nut meats. They are used as an industrial abrasive, mainly as a blasting media.

 

A secondary benefit, in addition to acting as a spacer, is once the lamination is clamped tight enough for the spacer affect to kick in, the sharp edge of the shells tend to lock the lamination pieces together, greatly reducing the tendency of the pieces to slide around.

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Would welcome everyone's thoughts what plane you recommend to best to take the 1 1/4" stock down to 1 1/8". I am in the tool buying mood......Jack Plane, smoothing plane, bench plane or electric model? I have a great low angle block plane (Stanley 60&1/2) but don't think it is the right tool for the job.......thanks

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I left a bit more width to plane when I was at that step. I started with my cheapo hand power planer to get close and then spent a LOT of time with my cheapo Stanley bench plane. If I was smart, I would have found someone with a good depth planer and had a good flat blank in about 5 minutes.

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Dave-

I don't see my table saw working for this. It is 15" wide, taking 1/8" off top.not a difficult task but as one reads about various planes (jack, bench, smoothing etc ) one of them is perfect for the job, others will do but cumbersome. I want to pull the trigger on the right one....thanks

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Lennie:

 

Once you get to a width of 15 inches, the power tool options drop off pretty fast. Most thickness planers are intended for the rough boards themselves (or in this case, the staves before you glued them up). Most of those can't handle anything wider than 12 inches. My dad has a 30 inch drum sander that would do the job and leave you with a dead flat surface to boot, but you are into cabinet shop tools at that point.

 

If you are careful with it, a 3" or 4" belt sander might work for you. Unless you keep it moving, you can dig yourself a hole (litterally) really fast, but with increasingly finer grits, you can slow down the rate of material removal. Same tool will come in handy for you later on when you need to shape the board. A related tool that I also use is a hand held power planer. It too will do an awesome amount of damage in a hurry, but you can remove coarse material with it in a hurry.

 

But if you don't have one, an older Stanley #4 smoothing plane and or #5 jack plane would be something to consider. You can use those for a lot of things other than shaping and smoothing centerboards. Find them on Ebay. The key to making those work right is being able to get them sharp. Hair popping sharp, and keeping them that way. That gets tough to do when your glue is epoxy.

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There is another way. 

 

Check out these videos. You can use a router and surface bit or just a 1/2" end mill or similar and setup a simple box jig to surface a long wide board. But while you were at it, I might just go ahead and cut the foil into the board with a slightly more elaborate jig with the foil section shaped into the jig. 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxOsFTaRu_M

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqhQutXvyDM

 

-Alan

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Howard and Alan -

Great info. Thanks, I have a belt sander I bought from a storage room guy for $5 and a craftsman electric planer ( hand held) I picked up at a pawn shop last week for $30. (Trying to manage my tool buying habit :)) both work well.

Been eyeing the Stanley # 4 lately new from Home Depot as well!

I may go ahead and build the jig and use my router. I have the MDF left over from the temp bulkhead. It looks like a great method and will help with the other aspects of the center board foil. I like the idea of jigs and built one for my table saw which gets used often.

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I posted his before somewhere, but I made a simple jig and used my router to do essentially what you want to do.  I also used the router and an edge gauge to cut lifts for the foil shape.  Then did a lot of sanding with 60 grit in an orbital and some hand sanding, and some work with a small drawknife and chisels.  And used some very thickened epoxy as filler (like Bondo on a car) when I needed to make a gouge disappear.  Pretty happy with the whole thing.

 

And, hey, speaking of kits, I wonder if it would be a whole lot easier and maybe even stronger to have the CB laminated out of three pieces of 3/8 ply, then shaped like the rudder.

 

Here's the router jig. I actually made it with some of the pine Graham used in the shipping crate for the kit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The last board I made, I used a jig to cut the foil shapes too (picture above with foil shaped guides for the router base). I changed the sections, compared to what the plans suggested with a transition through 3 different shapes from root to tip. I made a set of foil shaped router guides and plowed across the chord. This required three different sets of guides and left a transition zone between each, but it worked well. I roughed in the transition zones with a power plane and finished with a hand plane and DA.

 

If I was to do this board again, I use longitudinal guides, rather then chord wise guides. A little more setup, but the whole blade can be done in a single pass.

 

Plywood boards are about 2/3's as stiff as solid wood boards and don't have nearly the longevity either.

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Lennie,

 

You have been given good advice. On the centerboard page, there is a note that says that 1 1/8" is a nominal thickness. After the board has been shaped, the flat area above the foil just needs to be flattened, you adjust the thickness of the king posts to suit.

 

As for planes, I have three #4 Stanleys which are my favourite, one of those plus a small block plane and a rabbet plane are more than enough to build any boat. The jackplanes etc. are nice to have but not necessary.

 

Beth gave me a Stanley block plane recently to replace the one that went missing, it is nowhere as good quality as the older one. I was in Lowes last week and picked up one of their Kobalt brand # 4's, it was a piece of crap and priced at $40. Alan picked up an old Stanley on Craigs list for less than that. After cleaning up and re-tuneing, it was far superior to the Kobalt. Students bring in their Chinese planes fo me to tune up for them. We typically have to file parts true up the backing iron, flatten the sole, re-work the cam lock etc. before it can begin to plane.

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I drive flea market merchants crazy when I ask to take their planes apart before considering whether to buy it or not.  They say it is worth more if I leave it alone.  When they find out I want to clean it up they tell me I am nuts.  When I tell them I have to, or I can't use it they just lose it completely.  Seriously though, this is the best way to buy a good plane.

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