Woodworking 101 thread. Beginner needs help!

Thank you, Teddy.

This sound very reasonable. The ply arrived with 6.5% moisture content and it's 78% relative humidity (@92 degrees) inside my building. The humidity is 98% outside the building in the mornings, so I am thankful to have a fully closing building here!

I think maybe you are right that the warped edges resonate or somehow helped cause this. I'd be going along nicely and things would just "catch."

So maybe I will go and buy a belt sander now?

I wonder if they'll take the power planer back? The power planer does seem to be the tool of choice for rounding out the keel section later on in the build though... so maybe I'll just keep it.

 

you can finish it with a hand plane,
YOU CANNOT RUSH FINISH JOINERY

 

keep the planer, when i build a boat, the planer is like my right hand

 

the jig Im refering to is just a big thick piece of plate steal with a rectangular cut out
fits over the end of the piece of ply
you don't have to custom make it or anything if you just have make one to fit a full sheet
but its heavy as all hell

think of a big rectangular piece of flat steal with a rectangular hole in it four feet long by say 12 inches
its basically just a router guide

use a collar on the router and a straight shank carbide bit
not sure if you are familiar with a router guide but thats all this thing really is

your going to need a base plate that spans the hole in the template but thats just another piece of flat steal with the appropriate cut out and drilled for the screws that hold it to the router

the template goes over the end of the sheet of ply at an angle

just but up one side of the cut out against the end of the ply and let the other side rest on top

the one we used to have weighed a ton and would hold the ply flat on a bench no problem

clamp all down and start routing

only have to set the depth right and its brainless

perfect scarf every time

best of luck
B

 

A hand planer! That sounds like a good idea and like something very useful to have in general.

I'm not looking to rush, but the guys on the video from the designer make it look like a monkey could pick up an angle grinder and grind in perfect scarfs. It's a lot more difficult than I had thought, although I did do some perfect scarfs making the mold. It just wasn't in 3mm plywood.

Question: Won't the hand planer catch as I plane down the stack and pull pieces off like the power planer did?

 

angle grinder is not a wood working tool at least not in my book
if I saw some one bust out an angle grinder on one of my jobs he'd be down the road in a heartbeat

chisel that thing or use the template
if you like dust go for the belt sander with a 40
but loose the angle grinder would be my take

hand plainer is a must have anyway so ya
pick one up soonest and fix a few doors in the house just so you get used to it

best of luck
B

 

You could also get a piece of 3/4" ply the size of a sheet of sandpaper(or half size longways, 4x11) , screw some handles to it, rubber glue on some 50 grit sandpaper and finish it up by hand.

You probably still have room to maneuver on your ply, depending on how long they need to end up being. How long do you need the sheets to be?

What is it you're making with 36 sheets of thin ply?

 

Ok, angle grinder is off the list.

The template sounds like a lot of tooling for a one time project, however, if it's the only way to do it...

Maybe the belt sander will be the way to go with 40 grit. At least it can't catch and pull off parts of the ply if I hold it carefully.

Question: Could I *get by* using an orbital, just for the end of this particular scarf set, then go and buy the belt sander for the next set?

Comment: I was also just thinking that maybe switching from angle grinder to power planer may have caused a problem. The planer normally cuts into fairly even wood, right? The angle grinder left it far from even. Maybe the uneven surface caused the planer to catch on some of the high spots too hard and tear them instead of slicing them? Just a thought.

 

So a long board? That would come in handy later for fairing hulls.

My ply needs to be full length - 4' x 8'. Actually, it needs to be 8' x 8', but that's yet another scarf along the 8' edge I'll be putting in.

I'm doing this:


(A Picture of Charly's Build That Uses the Same Techniques)

 

the jig can be made from 3/4 ply

 

I find a low angle block plane to be one of the handiest things around.


When you use a plane, it helps to have it turned slightly so the cutting edge moves forward at an angle and gives a shearing sort of cut. That helps to stop pullout, as does going at an angle with the grain of the wood. So on your pile of ply, you would go from top to bottom not straight down but at a slight angle, while also holding the plane at a slight angle.

 

I agree. It will be much more forgiving once you get the hang of it.

 

Troy2000 did some nice looking scarfs with a router. See flat-bottomed canoe thread.

 

A short long board/big sanding block.
When you do the 8' edges, you will have touchier problems with the bottom veneer not cooperating and staying attached and maybe the top one also. You might want to practice on some inexpensive ply that is similar in veneer thickness and get a system down. I'm thinking with such thin veneers, you might have to watch out they don't overheat too much while beltsanding or grinding.

 

I would not worry about these. They are cosmetic only. The finish will hide them.