Re: Smoothing Fillets

Yes, much easier to trim when green, but NOT gummy.

Joe T

--- Inbolger@yahoogroups.com, "Myles J. Swift" <mswift@...> wrote:
>
> My last two jobs I cut those selvages off with a razor when the epoxy was
> still green. Kind of a doh! Moment.
>
> MylesJ
>

I like to use a spoke-shave or small plane or chisel on tape edges when cured. Taking the selvage edge off entirely (Myles) is a neat idea. If you’re going to varnish, this might make a visible scratch. My view in general is, it’s a chump’s game to try to smooth things completely in tape construction. Too much labor for no purpose other than cosmetic. Best to mask or otherwise give ourselves good lines to lay the tape to, do that step neatly, take down high edges, and let the tape be obvious. By the way, one obsessive friend studied hard to find the best tool for making fillets and decided that various sizes of plastic scoops beat all others.

JoeT,

 

My last two jobs I cut those selvages off with a razor when the epoxy was still green. Kind of a doh! Moment.

 

MylesJ

My tool of choice is a Stanley Surform Tool:

http://www.staples.com/Stanley-Surform-Shaver-Regular-Cut-7-1-4/product_596948?cid=PS:GooglePLAs:Cleaning_/_Facilities_/_Safety:Safety_Supplies:596948:680-21-115

I works especially well on the selvage edges of FG tape. On the inside I just knock off the high spots and apply the final coat of epoxy. I don't mind if the tape shows a bit. Just shows it's stitch & tape. Might smooth the outside chines a bit more though.

Joe T

--- Inbolger@yahoogroups.com, "Christopher C. Wetherill" <wetherillc@...> wrote:
>
> I don't know if this technique has come up before, but there has some
> discussion in the past about the smoothing of the filled epoxy seams in
> stitch and tape. i was looking at using several pieces of 60-grit and
> no little elbow grease when I decided to see if I could find a tool
> suited to the task. I looked for and found a carver's rasp
> <http://www.woodcraft.com/product/2005073/4458/carvers-rasp.aspx>. This
> works really well. I smoothed the ripples and lumps out of two 12 foot
> interior fillets in Payson's Pirogue in about 5 minutes.
>
> V/R
> Chris
>
The technique I learned decades ago in high school wood shop was to make up custom sanding blocks with the desired radius and then glue on various grits of sandpaper. I made up two more this afternoon, a couple of scrap pieces of two-by-four planed and sanded to the appropriate shape, and then that wonderful green 60 grit 3m sandpaper glued on with tite-bond II held in place with lashings and blue tape until the glue sets. I use lengths of dowel for shaping fillets when the epoxy mix is wet, and then the same dowel with sandpaper glued on to sand them for painting.

A tapered wood sanding mandrel shaped on the lathe with sandpaper glued on and chucked in a drill makes a great shaper for holes that will then be plugged with wooden disks shaped using the same lathe setup.

Very simple, old techniques that I learned from 1960s wood shop teachers, rest their souls.

My dad showed me by example that if I spend as much time making tools as building boats, I can build the boat in half the time...

Rick

--- Inbolger@yahoogroups.com, "Christopher C. Wetherill" <wetherillc@...> wrote:
>
> I don't know if this technique has come up before, but there has some
> discussion in the past about the smoothing of the filled epoxy seams in
> stitch and tape. i was looking at using several pieces of 60-grit and
> no little elbow grease when I decided to see if I could find a tool
> suited to the task. I looked for and found a carver's rasp
> <http://www.woodcraft.com/product/2005073/4458/carvers-rasp.aspx>. This
> works really well. I smoothed the ripples and lumps out of two 12 foot
> interior fillets in Payson's Pirogue in about 5 minutes.
>
> V/R
> Chris
>
The power tool which I found really helpful for interior fillet sanding is the Black and Decker "dragster" belt sander.  It has a flip up guard on the narrow nose that allows it to access interior corners.

http://toolsandmore.us/black-and-decker-ds321r-belt-sander.aspx

On Thu, Aug 2, 2012 at 4:16 PM, Christopher C. Wetherill<wetherillc@...>wrote:

I don't know if this technique has come up before, but there has some discussion in the past about the smoothing of the filled epoxy seams in stitch and tape.  i was looking at using several pieces of 60-grit and no little elbow grease when I decided to see if I could find a tool suited to the task.  I looked for and found acarver's rasp.  This works really well.  I smoothed the ripples and lumps out of two 12 foot interior fillets in Payson's Pirogue in about 5 minutes.

V/R
Chris


I don't know if this technique has come up before, but there has some discussion in the past about the smoothing of the filled epoxy seams in stitch and tape.  i was looking at using several pieces of 60-grit and no little elbow grease when I decided to see if I could find a tool suited to the task.  I looked for and found acarver's rasp.  This works really well.  I smoothed the ripples and lumps out of two 12 foot interior fillets in Payson's Pirogue in about 5 minutes.

V/R
Chris