Foiling a 6" thick block of eps foam with a planer

kazumakinoshita... Ultra thick block foam is a nightmare to work with and there are a few things that I do to prep my blank to get myself a starting point that I can get accuracy without fighting the foam. 1) Getting a true outline on 6" of foam would take an hour alone so I do a quick and sloppy rough cut of the outline first with the intention of really outlining it after I get the thickness of the rails thin and closer to finish. 2) I shape down the deck foil and rails before I do anything else 3) then I do my true outline with a thin and manageable rail thickness that I can accurately cut. 4) then my real shaping starts using a closer to finish block of foam using my true and accurate outline.

[@ccduncan]

When planing the deck and bottom you get these perfect depth cuts. Mine turn out like my barrel is off and it isn't. They turn out all uneven. What might be I'm doing wrong? I finish with a sander and sure forms and it's fine but what do you do to get that nice even cut. Love your videos, they're to the point and no BS title lead in. Much respect to your skills. Mahalo.

[@kazumasurfboards]

There are several reasons for that. 1st it could be your planer, some have the belt housing so low that it is hitting the uncut blank and cocking the planer off level. 2) planing straight nose to tail, holding at a 45 degree angle (or similar) helps tons 3) not cutting deep enough. Shallow cuts are harder to cut level, the planer with blades likes to cut deeper.

[@ccduncan]

@@kazumasurfboards I checked the belt housing and it seems fine, I do the 45 degree thing but I'm a little tentative on the depth and didn't know that about planers. I will try that. I'm using a shapers barrel which I love, so the next board I'm going to just have at it. Thank you so much and have a great day.