: My apologies Malcolm, if that sounded like I was criticizing your
: method.

: That was not my intent. When I post here, I'm always thinking in
: terms of
: answering broader questions for everyone reading on this BB and not
: only
: responding to a specific question or person.

: All the best,
: Rob

No worries Rob,

Actually I agree with your points. I guess I should have clarified- when I'm using figured woods and tropical woods like Mahogany, the varied grain often causes thin strips to naturally bend and sometimes it's difficult to plane a straight edge. The shooting board allows me to push the small strip against the board to keep it flat for planing.

The double-sided bevel is for very tight radii- more often this happens on surfboards and paddle boards on the rails. Sometimes I end up almost making a triangle out of them for really tight curves which can have radii less than 1".

As for not walking around the shop- totally agree. That's why I have a building table under the workpiece, and a bench on either side. My tool chest is on wheels and my most-used tools like the thumb plane, 1" chisel, and glue bottle, I have two of each and keep them on either side of the workpiece.

I also wear a shop apron, but must admit I have a horrible habbit of laying stuff down. The other night Amy and myself both looked for five to ten minutes for a plane that I was using and it turned out to be right there on top of the workpiece. To my tired eyes it blended in with the clamps next to it.

By the way the next build is going to be a kayak I promise. Surfboards kind of have taken off lately. My lawyer is accepting a kayak as payment for establishing an LLC and doing all the legal work for the business. I love bartering! I have some of the bubinga, peruvian walnut, and tiger maple left over from this build for some insane accent stripes.

Best regards,

Malcolm Schweizer
Schweizer Surfboards
www.schweizersurf.com