I've decided I'm going to build a board

the quiet flight "stingfish" is shaped kinda like that..only a little more refined. It's fast and turns great, but paddling not so good. Depending on how much you surf/your paddling, maybe try to get a little more balance between the front and back of the shape.

 

wow 17 pages huh? has anyone said SWAYLOCKS.COM yet?? best site ever, do some searches, read to forum, it has everything you could think to ask..

 

^^^^ pagination is the bane of the internet. Check yo settings and download autopager for firefox or chrome too.

 

Your getting a lot of good advice...I'll throw this in.

You dont need a lot of tech to shape your first board.
The first four boards i made were all shaped out in the sun, and glassed outside. All four of the boards shaped and glassed that way served me well for years. Was there a bit of waviness in the rails and bottom that better lighting would have pointed out? Yes. But they rode good to me, and to other relatively good surfers who tried them out multiple times.

Then i built a shaping room with the good racks and lighting, etc. After maybe a two or three boards your shaping skills are to the point where the better racks and lighting are something you will appreciate.

Advice: Get a close tolerance poly blank for your first shape, glass it in your garage COMPLETELY out of the sun with UV Cure polyester laminating resin so you can take your sweet time. You will need some styrene surfacing agent for the hoat coat. Get John Carper's Shaping 101 and glassing 101 and watch them over and over until you pretty much get all of the steps down and making sense.

 

idk, seems like getting a close tolerance blank, then hacking down that much might defeat the purpose. You might be biting off more than you can chew on this first board.

 

Extra length has nothing to do with shaping rails...thats width. U.S Blanks makes a couple of 6'8" to 6'9" poly fish blanks that are like 24" wide. That would give you more width than you will ever need to deal with your rails.

With that said, i dont recommend using the blank for "practice". Educate your self about how to cut a clean template, bevel, screen and finish your rails. Then just go do it. Its an $80 hunk of foam, and theres a learning curve. Get good instructions such as the Carper videos, watch them closely and repeatedly, and ask someone whose shaped a board before to help you get started if thats possible.

Using a 7'3" to build a 6'8" will result in a slightly flatter rockered board than using a 6'9" blank. Its not a big deal if thats what you want. If you decide to go that route, and cut maybe 2" off the nose and 4" off the tail (or 3" and 3") you'll be fine. But the part about the longer blank for rail practice tells me you need to do more research before you buy anything.

 

The board will tend to pearl dive on steeper waves due to lack off entry rocker. If you are planning on only riding mush waves, it's no big deal. BTW, what is everyone on this thread smoking and can I get some? It is soooo flat right now.

 

A 6'8 groveler... is not something you see every day.

Anyway... racks look good. You're off and running, now. Go down to your local recycling center and see if you can find any blocks of EPS used for packing... or go to Home Cheapo and buy a sheet of EPS foam to cut into strips... glue the pieces together to make a the "rail" of a faux blank to practice on. You'll have to clamp it to something to work on. Once you've tried out your skills, go buy the right blank for your shape. The right blank means everything... from ease of shaping, to cost, to rocker, to durability. Don't buy an oversized blank.

 

see if you can find a usblanks 6'0R if your looking to build a groveler. really good small wave rocker. it's a machine blank (for cnc cutting) with extra thickness in the rails, which will hopefully keep you from over-shaping it. the really close tolerance blanks for hand shaping have lower rails. better to practice rail bands the first time on something thicker.

 

Hey, you should try and shape a handplane first. I shaped a couple and it was a really good experience to understand how to do rail bands. Better to mess up an $8 wood blank then a $100 foam blank. Plus its good practice on how to do rails. I figured since you have the block planes in the shop it shouldnt be too much of a problem. After I shaped a couple and got comfortable with it only then did I try my hand at shaping an actual board.

 

Get the right size blank. Skin it and fin it!

 

looks like an elongated baked potato with a pointy nose. it'll work, but a rounder nose might help you paddle a little easier