how do you draw the board and cut it???

[laz]

how do you guys draw the boards edges so perfectly on wood or plastic? and then how do you guys cut it out so perfect, what tools do you use for cutting out a simple lightwind board. do you guys just use a jig saw? since when i tried using a jig saw it wasnt too perfect a curve and had lots of little bumps and stuff in it, do you guys just sand the hell out of the boards edges untel they look smooth and perfect or what.

oh and how do you give a board made from flat plastic a rocker?

[laz]

and with the bottom of the board do i want it to be flat or do i want it to curve upwards towards the edges so that the board has kinda a rocker but width wise and a rocker length wise too. or do i want to carve out a tiny bit of the center of the board parellel from tip to tail so that that the dead center of the board is higher and thinner then the boards edges or do i want the edges to be higher up and thinner then the center of the board so that the board could wabble from side to side width wise. if you understand what im trying to say at all lol

[bay surfer]

Hand Planes man, use a battan to lay a curve line on your board. Battan is just a straight bendable thin peice of wood or metel. a long metal ruler will do nicely. figuire your edge bend the battan to the curve you want lay your line.
Then cut your board out dont try to cut it close. Use the wood plane to shave down to your line. Then sand your edge to what you like. You could do this with a belt sander but its not as fast and belts cost money.
Rocker and Concave is bent into the board at layup on a Composite/glued board. You can put rocker into a wood board by wetting and bending the board with wieghts, but this may take weeks. Concave and rocker can be put into a board fast with a steam press but this is a huge piece of industrial machinery.

[TomW]

I draw mine in simple CAD program then plot them out full size, glue em to a 4mm masonite board and cut close with jig saw.

If u cant do that, use battens and objects to draw them onto a thick paper and glue that down. If u have a big room u can use long strings, a nail and a pencil to draw big radii (circle sections). One trick to make it symetrical is to draw only one half and use that as a drawing template, flip it over to both sides.

Then i use a rough rasp, and LONG movements, looking closely at the line and shave it down. Clamp the template edge up to your work bench and WALK the rasp along the board edge. Use your legs and all our arms length.

With practice it is perfect. U may make 5-6 before the template is right and you train your eye. But then u got this skill for the rest of you life. Its a very useful skill.

Make your board without concave. It is much simpler.

Length wise rocker should be about 25mm over 135cm length. Make it constant.
U can do this by gluing 2-3 thin layers of ply together with the rocker put in while gluing.

If u use a foam core u can laminate it and put the rocker into it during this process.

Put some thought into what u are planning to do. write down a work plan, from start to finish. Look it over a few times and try to visualise what each step is. U can make a small sketh of each step to help. This will help u make a good plan. Talk over your plan with someone who has more experience than you, or another person that is interested.

Then go into the shop and follow your plan. If it doesnot work, think it over why it did not and revise your work plan..learn by doing!

Have fun. TW

[Tom183]

For rocker, just flip the board to see which side has a little rocker and use that side - that's all the rocker you need for a light-wind (or even a medium-wind) board.

I use a 1/4 outline (one corner), mark centerlines on the board and then use the outline to mark each corner and make the board perfectly symmetrical - for bigger/smaller boards, just mark lines parallel to the centerlines and use those to position the template.

Then use jigsaw to cut it out with about 1/8" extra, block plane to even it out and shape the edges (I usually flip the tips to ride chop better), then sandpaper - you could use a power sander to even it out but a block plane really straightens it out better.

Drill holes for T-nuts, slap some epoxy on it, and 24hrs later you can add pads/straps.

[laz]

what types and thickness of wood can i use. i want it to have thin edges. since itll be for light wind in kinda choppy water. should i use a real thin piece of wood and put epoxy all over it. if i used more then one layer would i need to vacume bag it? i dont have alot of cash so i want to do it right? if i used plastic how would i give it rocker. or if i just made it from wood how do i give it some rocker.

thanks for all the info
-henry

[bay surfer]

Vacuum bagging is really for Foam/composite construction, But can be used for fiber glassing the outside of a wood board.
Wood laminating takes clamps, screws and a table, I prefer drywall screws personally just fill the holes with flour and epoxy. When using some foam for a core on a wood board, Duct tape works well, but why use foam on a wood board, foam will just make a wood board weaker.
When putting a epoxy finish on a wood board bagging is also not needed, paint the epoxy on both sides, that takes 2 days, Wet sand, then lay a thin coat of epoxy. Finish wet sand, the board will shine, then a coat of autowax, for a perfect glossy shine.
But when you put epoxy and glass on the outside of the wood board you really need to bag, or you'll end up with a heavy board, because you'll have to fix all the imperfections with more epoxy.

[tstansbury]

do you just use stainless t nuts for inserts on wood boards how do you seal them in?

[blowhard]

I make a pattern of a half-hull on heavy paper with drafting equipment