Creating Hull Planking

[fnkershner]

I would like to add this topic for discussion. I will list in detail the steps I use to create planks for my hull. I would like to hear comments on these steps. Are there other ideas out there and have you had a different experience.

 

Step 1. I select a piece of wood of the right specie with tight grain that is not too large for my Jim Saw.

 

Step 2. I determine the size of plank I want to make and the number of planks needed. For this example I will be creating Walnut planks that are .6 mm thick and 5 mm wide and 640 mm long.

 

Step 3. I first set up my Jim Saw to cut a slice of wood that is 5 mm by 640 mm

 

Step 4. I then change to my slitting blade (I have a .020) I don't want to was too much wood

 

Step 5. I now cut my planks to the thinnest possible thickness. I find that the thinnest I can cut is about 1.2 mm and still get uniform sizes.

 

Step 6. By the time I have finished Step 5 I now have about 20 or so Walnut Planks. These Planks now measure 1.2 X 5 X 640 mm

 

Step 7. Its time now to turn to the Thickness Sander. I use Jim's thickness sander. I use one plank and insert it in the sander and turn the thickness gauge until the plank is snug. Of course I start on the coarse side of the sander.

 

Step 8. With each pass of the planks thru the Thickness Sander I adjust the thickness control 3 gradients (the white marks on the wheel). I use my micrometer to measure the final thickness. I should also mention that I try to flip from 1 side to the other with each pass.

 

Step 9. Repeat the above until I get to the approx. thickness desired. At this point I switch to the fine side of the sander. and go 2 or 3 passes to reach the desired thickness.

 

So what is your experience? I am finding that with Walnut I am getting a feathery edge to my planks. What is your experience.

Edited October 10, 2013 by Floyd Kershner

[Ulises Victoria]

Can't answer your questions Floyd, but I will follow this thread with interest, as getting a Jim's saw to make my own planks is what's next in my ship building learning experience.

[mtaylor]

Floyd,

 

On step 5... is the plank being cut off between the blade and the fence? Or on the free side of the blade (where the fence isn't? Using a zero-clearance insert?  Not sure why you can't get any thinner. Since you're thicknessing anyways, a bit of ripple or non-uniformity won't hurt but overall might get you a few more planks out of your slab of wood.

[Alex M]

Hi Floyd,

 

I know probably what the problem is: too thin blade. What is the diameter of your? I have some .020 (0,5mm) 50mm diam, but use they only for small stuff, or cut thin sheets of wood. If you have 63mm or bigger, use thicker blade, min 1mm. You will have much less wood waste, and nearly zero tolerance planks in any thickness...

 

Reagrds

 

Alex

[fnkershner]

Mark - This is why I use the forum. Such a silly thing as which side is the cut. The resulting plank is between the blade and the fence. I will give your idea a try. Part of the reason I did it my way is from long experience with a full size saw. If you want the resulting planks to be the same size you use the same settings. It eliminates any errors. Doing it your way I guess I would use the Micrometer tool on the saw to adjust the fence. What is the thickness of planks you have cut?

 

Alex - I am not sure I understand how a thicker blade helps? Too me that just creates fewer planks and more saw dust.

 

And yes to all I am using a zero clearance insert.

 

Any feedback on the fuzzy edges after sanding?

[Alex M]

Floyd, thin blade go quickly hot and cut zig zag, and you have plank with different thicknes. I also do cut all planks as you do (between blade and fence), no problem. I think, that 1mm blade don't produce more dust than sanding down from 1,2mm to 0,6mm ...

 

Alex

[Chuck]

Thinner blades will bend and warp and cause deflection as the saw works its way through the sheet.  This creates an inconsistent thickness when you cut your planks.  I only use thin blades like that when cutting sheets that are 1/32" thick or 1/16" thick.  For all thicker sheets I will go up to a .032 blade kerf.  Yes... you do loose some wood with each cut but you will have fewer bad planks and it ends up being a wash.  It is also super important to make sure you have a squared up sheet before you start.  If the edge that is against the fence is a little wavy initially,  it will take several cuts to even it out.

 

Chuck

[fnkershner]

Thanks Chuck. What is the thinnest plank you can cut with your Jim Saw? I will try the other blade. So far I haven't had too much trouble with the 020. but I get the point. And it is harder to cut something that is almost 1/4" thick with the 020.

[Chuck]

I have only had reason to cut 1/32" thick planks.   I usually use thicker planks on a model and scrape and sand them in place.

 

Chuck

[mtaylor]

Floyd,

 

I can't remember where I saw it, but in one of your table slots, fit some wood with an "adjuster" such that it is the distance from the blade of the plank you need ot cut.  It should be set such that's in front of the blade.  Put the wood to be cut against this adjuster and move the fence over.  With each succeeding plank, just reset the wood and move the fence.  It works very well.  I think it was garyshipwright or EdT who showed this in one of their builds.

 

What I'm using are two featherboards.  One in the normal mount on the fence to hold the wood down.  The other is distance from the blade to the featherboard.  The plank comes off, I move the fence and wood to the featherboard and cut another.  Very repeatable and very thin strips can be cut.  The pic at the bottom is my setup.  YMMV.

 

What the others have said about the thicker blade works a treat.  If you're not sanding each plank, waste is minimal. The kerf is part the game as such and should be figured into the calculation when ordering stock.  I figure about a 50% yield for 1/16" planks for ordering.  Yield is higher depending on how quickly I can dial in the featherboard distance.

 

[fnkershner]

Mark are you left handed? I know it will work but I hardly ever cut with the fence on the left. And your Jim Saw is showing its wear. But I understand what you are saying and it is a good idea.

[mtaylor]

Floyd,

 

Yes, I'm left handed.  That's not a JIm Saw unfortunately.  But, give it a shot even if you have to set it up backwards. 

[rtropp]

Hi all,

had a question about cutting your own strips.  Do you start with a  "chunk" of wood or do you use pre cut sheets?

 

Thanks,

Richard T.

[fnkershner]

Richard - As I describe above I go to my local specialty lumber store and buy what ever they have that fits my need. More often than not that is a 1 1/2 inch by 1 1/2 inch by 36 long piece. With 4 inch blades I can't cut much larger. Also we all want tight grain and anything larger is likely to not have the best grain for my needs.

 

In the example I list above I took a piece of walnut of these dimensions and I cut a slice off that was 6 mm thick and 1 1/2" wide. I then used that slice to cut my planks. If I needed more planks I would cut another slice.

[rtropp]

Thanks Floyd,

I saw your detailed posting on how to cut but was not sure whether you were cutting from large pieces of lumber, i.e, lumber yard, or using sheets that were pre dimensioned from specialty lumber suppliers for models.  I guess I should have realized from the thickness sanding step.

 

I appreciate your laying out your steps for creating planks. For instance, I did not realize that the planks are individually thickness sanded after they are cut from the sheet.  I always thought that the sheet was thickness sanded was before cutting the final plank then just finish sanding to smooth. 

Your steps are another set of procedures for my model building notebook. 

 

I will have to start looking at what is available at the local lumber stores.  I suspect that it would really reduce the cost of wood.  I would have to consider buying a thickness sander in addition to a table saw, but given the price of pre cut wood, that might end up paying for itself... if I learn to use them correctly. (along with the Proxxon scroll saw and wood lathe I just got at an estate sale.) On the advice of many on these forums I am saving up for the Jim Byrnes.  The cost of the two tools would be about $1,000.  From what I have seen, that would be about the same as buying one precut lumber set for something like a complete Naiad. If the cost of wood from a lumber yard is low enough the tools could pay for themselves... and provide more enjoyment of the hobby. (I am really frustrated with the wood on my current kit.) I will find out more as I continue to look at wood sources.

 

A real concern would be the sawdust.  I converted our sunroom to my workshop but for some strange reason, my wife still considers it part of the house! Do you use the vacuum attachments, and if so, how well do they work?

 

Again, Thanks

Richard T.

Edited October 13, 2013 by rtropp

[fnkershner]

Richard - Let me try to answer your questions in sequence.

 

First I would love to do the thickness sanding before I cut the planks. But there are 2 problems. 1. My thickness sander is not wide enough. & 2. When you are trying to get planks down to the thicknesses we use for modeling it is hard to cut a sheet that is .5 MM thick. It does get rather monotonous going back and forth with the thickness sander. And when you have to do this with 20 planks, well think of ratlines.  

 

The piece of Walnut I describe above cost me $15, and there is plenty of wood for several models. I am not sure I would do this for the cost savings. I may get there eventually. It is more for the flexibility to do what I want. I also have the advantage of being the president of our local club which has agreed to pool our funds to buy some of these tools.

 

As to Sawdust, Well I live at the pleasure of the Admiral. And she despises sawdust. She even hates the smell of fresh cut wood!  So one of my first purchase was a shop vac. And there will be no sanding inside the house thank you! I have rigged an adaptor from the shop vac to the tools and it gets turned on before the tool.

[rtropp]

Floyd,

The sanding sequence makes sense.  You make a good point about flexibility.  I have found a couple of shops that will supply a considerable variety of woods but at the prices of pre cut it gets expensive. The lumber yard cost seems to be a lot less.   While I am able to afford much of this now, in a couple of years I will be watching costs so now might be the time to invest.  (Can't help it, part of my background is value analysis and it still rears its head.)

 

I have a shop vac that works pretty well with the proxxon tools.  I even use it while hand sanding and it keeps most of the dust down.  Sounds like the shop vac also works with the table saw and thickness sander.  That would keep me indoors in bad weather.  Otherwise, I will have to work out on the patio under an awning.  While Georgia is not to bad, it does have bad weather in winter and hotter and more humid than heck in the summer.

 

Thanks for the info.

Richard T

[fnkershner]

Richard, I am blessed in that I have access to all of Jim's tools. And Jim being the thoughtful guy that he is. He has designed all of them to have the same fitting for the shop vac. In my case it didn't fit. But for about $10. I went to the local H/W store and found a fitting that did fit and 2 hose clamps and a short piece of Plastic tubing of the right diameter. So now one end fits all of Jim's tools and the other end fits the hose for the Vac. Now all I have to do is remember to turn the Vac on before I start the tool. Now if you are really crazy for about $40 you can get an outlet that turns the Vac on when you turn on the tool and keeps it running for about 30 sec after you turn the tool off.

 

Like you I am also thinking ahead to a time when my income is less. so I use that as the justification for buying the fine quality tools. I know they will last until I finally can retire.

[tkay11]

Mark mentioned in an earlier post that he had forgotten where he saw the advice about using a side featherboard for cutting very small thicknesses of wood on the outside of the saw blade. The discussion he was referring to was the one called 'Microlux Tilt Arbor Saw Problems' and the relevant posting was at http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/2470-microlux-tilt-arbor-saw-problems/?p=68483. In that post he provided a link to a pdf of a file called Milling Scale Lumber by Bob Sorenson. Unfortunately that link is no longer active. However as it is such an excellent article I did download it, and anyone who would like a copy just let me know.

 

I made a simpler version which you can see at http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/335-hmc-sherbourne-by-tkay11-–-caldercraft-–-scale-164-1763-a-novice’s-caldercraft-sherbourne/?p=71149. I found this to be a real game changer when it came to cutting thin strips.

 

Tony

[WackoWolf]

Thanks for the link Tony. I know others here will find the information very useful in working with wood.