Me and John Henry or Shaping the Foils

John Henry, legend has it, raced a steam powered drill in a contest to see if man or machine could drill a tunnel faster. John Henry won, only to die with his sledge hammer in his hand after he broke through the far side of the tunnel ahead of the steam drill.

After today, I believe the days of hand crafting a foil are numbered. A CNC router has GOT to be faster and more accurate. It's 8:30 pm and I am going to go pass out in bed w/ my hand planer stuck in my clenched fist!

This was one of the coolest parts of this project. Here's the story:

Laminate a blank big enough:

Glue the paper templates on to thin ply:

Shape the template to size:

Admire your templates:

Tack the templates on the end of your stock:


Use a skill saw or router to cut channels to the appropriate depths:

Use a hand plane or electric planer to take off excess:

Stand back and admire your finished foils:



Actually, before I go pass out, I need to back out the garage and admire my rudder one more time.....it's just too cool! Too bad John Henry never got to admire his tunnel.

Tomorow I do the keel.