Hand Plane No.1 Done

I used my time after work yesterday to wrap up a few outstanding projects. I switched my 300 grain intermediate fly line from one reel to another, including switching out the backing from the chartreuse I used to use to the orange I've switched to. I used the remainder of the spool of orange 20# I had - turned out to be 628 ft (about 209 yards). That's just at the critical point to stop a double digit bonefish. But I don't like packing my reels too full so I can have some play in getting the fly line back on the reel during a fight, so this all worked out well. I also finished off the hand plane I've been working on. I got the foam pad in place and the strap tied on. Now to get some time off to line up with a fun sized swell to try this thing out!!!

First Hand Plane Coming Together

Here's the first of the set of three I had lined up in the hopper. This one is way out in front of the other two (so don't hold your breath to see the others any time soon). Here it is after the Sharpie artwork (High '5' Octo) and the first coat of polyurethane. I hope to be able to get this in the water by the weekend. I still have to put an FCS plug in for the GoPro mount and fit in the hand strap nuts. We'll see...

New Tool Experience and Progress

More shaping on Sunday - worked on the first of three handplaces. I started off with a hand block planer. Really slow going but controlled and steady as ever. Mind you that was how I shaped the paulownia boards I have (paipo and kick board). Charlie highly encouraged me to use the belt sander and then the electric planer. I have extensively used a random orbital palm sander, but never a belt sander. After a few minutes, the belt sander and I were friends. Then I tried the electric planer. I've used this tool before, but with a sanding barrel attachment (no blades) and on foam blanks, not wood. This one took a little longer to get used to, but afterwards I actually got very close to the finished shape on the hand plane. A few more tweaks and this one will be done. Charlie put some time into the paddle he is making for Amy. Maybe next month I'll start on my paddle. Working on boards and with tools again made me really miss my own gear.

Cutting Out the Handplane Templates

Got some new jigsaw blades and went to town!!! This was on Saturday before Charlie and I went window shopping (which will be chronicled in the next several posts).

Enjoy Handplanes at Honolulu Patagonia

I had a few minutes to kill before meeting an old friend for dinner. I decided to stop into the Patagonia shop here in Honolulu. These "Enjoy" handplanes are really something. Nice, well built tools for wave shredding. And I really like how they've gone full bore into fabric laminates. Gives me some ideas for my own builds.

Next Step on the Hand Planes

After fishing on Saturday, I hung out at Charlie's and took the next step on carving out the hand planes. I sketched out the template on a piece of cardboard and carefully cut them out. The problem with using cardboard for templates is when you flip them, you don't always get a mirror image (since the pencil interacts with the cardboard edge differently). Next up is cutting out the blank from the spoils. Something for next weekend.

Paddles, Hand Planes and Tools

Over at Charlie's house - He's making a couple of paddles. I'm making three hand planes. Work on the weekends for the next few weeks or so. STay tuned.

New Hand Plane

This was a Christmas present from Charlie Bisgard - I've seen him working on these hand planes and a bunch of standup paddles in his garage over the past year. I gave him a Mark V Diver being chased by a huge octopus print by Thor from Hawaii. I can't wait to try this out (but the water is going to have to get a lot warmer first...)Or maybe I can take a trip out to Hawaii...

Final Steps towards the New Surfcraft

The weather is getting colder...

So there is more time to get these two new mini sleds dialed in. I'll be cutting the strap slots and drilling out the T nut holes tomorrow. After that, a little epoxy, some curing time and I'll be waiting for the Spring thaw.

Number One Done

The Hand Plane is essentially done. I won't seal it until the kickboard is finished.

Back to Work

Not "work" as in "bringing home the bacon", but work as in labor of love -

Here are the kickboard and the handplane templated out.

A bit on the unconventional side and not as aesthetically pleasing as they could be, but ultimately paying tribute to the ubiquitous lunch tray and the simmons plan shape.

Lindsay Lord Two-Handed Plane

As I am writing, the snow is coming down and we are enjoying a slow Saturday at home. I looked at the weather forecasts last night and started to recalibrate any plans for going flyfishing at Kent Narrows, bike riding or other temperature/weather dependent activities. Before settling in, I brought in the back half of the paulownia alaia from the garage. If you recall, I took the front half and made it into a blunt-nosed paipo earlier in the summer - now it's time to work the back half. The first 14-16" is going to be a contemporary hand plane - lots of surface area for guaranteed stoke in crappy East Coast surf. Right now I'm thinking 8" wide, but that will work itself out with the plan shape. The remaining 30" is going to be a 0.4 length to width ratio belly board (smaller than a paipo) equipped with handles. There has been a lot of buzz lately about Lindsay Lord's naval architecture book and the EPS foam boards that have come of it and this chunk of paulownia is going to pretty close to the final shape - blunt nose, fairly straight parallel rails and with a 12" width, plenty of surface area to get on a plane fairly quickly. I'm going with three handles (at least right now), one up front that would work for the right or left hand, and one on each side of the back half of the board for the trailing hand (determined by the direction of travel - turn right and the left hand is the trailer - we'll see when it's time to op test it).

Slowly Getting There -

I am slowly getting back into surfcraft (living 3 hours from the Ocean could have something to do with the speed at which I am proceeding). The length to width ratio on this one is hovering between 0.4 and 0.5 - I plan to carve out a pretty deep concave through the middle and shape out some full but sharp rails the whole way.