#001, Part 1...

Ok, after almost two months of talking, I'm finally gonna make this happen. It took me way too long to get here, but I've finally begun shaping my #001. I decided that I'd use my practice blank and turn it into a real board. That being the case, I needed a template and so I cut out the outline of my 5'10 JC SD3 onto a piece of cardboard from the box that my KingMac blanks were delivered in. I know that cardboard isn't the best material to use, I would rather use masonite, but I couldn't be bothered to be too picky at this point. In fact, it was rather convenient because I cut the template in two which made it much easier to transport on the subway. Maybe next time I should try making a spin template?



Anyways, back at the shaping bay, after taping my template back together I was ready to begin. I took my "practice" blank and measured the thickness. It was just over 2.5" thick but I decided I wanted to take it down to about 2.25" when all was said and done. I also made some lines across the board and compared thicknesses at various points to see how the thickness compared from one side to the other.


Having my new exhaust system plugged in and ready to go, I turned the planer on to start taking the thickness down. After a few passes, I realized that the exhaust system had one slight drawback - as I stretched, tugged, and pulled against the exhaust hose, it resulted in my planer tilting and planing crooked. Deeeaaamn!! Well, at least there was no mess on the floor, instead the mess was on my blank, check out these nasty lines and ridges...



With all due respect, I don't care what Jim Phillips says in his Master Shaper videos, as a complete newbie I needed the security of a crutch tool....my trusty Surform. With crutch tool in hand, I proceeded to Surform my way out of trouble. Learning from my previous mistakes while Surforming my practice blank, I made certain I would not catch the Surform edge thus tearing the foam (didn't matter...I still made the same mistake anyways). After about ten times the amount of time it took for me to create the problem with the planer, I Surformed the mistakes out and was left with a respectable result. Now it was time to find the "true" center line (not necessarily the stringer) to use when aligning my template. This I did by snapping a chalkline down the middle just like my old friend J. Phillips suggests. Sure enough as you can see, the stringer wasn't perfectly straight...



After aligning the template, and tracing the outline, it was time for the only tool with which have any prior experience - the handsaw (not that my prior experience helped any). At first the saw skipped and jumped, but after relaxing my grip and taking longer strokes (ahem, get yer mind out of the gutter) the saw cut like a lukewarm knife through lukewarm butter - albeit crooked...



At this point I noticed that my shaping rack was too wide and the board kept falling into the gap between the uprights. I had to balance it on one side of the rack to prevent my saw from hitting the "T" part of the uprights. Guess I'll need rebuild the damn things. Grr!!!

Again, I depended on the Surform (this time the little one) to clean up my crappy outline cutting job. I tried using the planer, but I couldn't get the board to sit steady on the rack (see previous paragraph) so I didn't risk it. I also took this opportunity to knock down the stringer with the hand planer. Dunno if its just me, but why does it feel so satisfying to use the hand planer to cut the stringer down resulting in those curly wooden springy shavings?...


Next challenge...bottom contours. Stay tuned.