home shaping

lowes or Home Depot sell foam blanks there like 15 dollars I think dependin on lenght

 

If i were you i would just go with a normal surf blank, home depot/lowes sell epx foam but even that is 30 bucks for a 4 x 8 sheet about 1 1/2" thick, so you would have to double it up glue in a stringer and then put the rocker in all by yourself, which depending on your ability level could be a pain in the butt!! With a normal poly blank they are pretty much take a lot of the hard work out because most have pretty close to the rocker template that you may need. So all said an done it is not cheaper nor even better to go with something other than a blank. Try to find one locally so you don't have to pay shipping there are a couple backyard shapers that would probably sell you one.

 

check out this website: http://www.foamez.com/index.php they have a ton of stuff on there.

 

talk to doc at ocean atlantic. he has a few clark foam blanks laying around. i bought one last spring and made a pretty nice stick. also, talk to blair at chauncey's. he has access to ice-9 blanks. even though they may cost a little bit more than getting one online, you save shipping and have kept your money local.

you can also look into a kit or blank from greenlight. nice fella there, too. real helpful.

 

greenroom board co in wilmington nc have marko foam blanks good prices too
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vaporizer review

 

it would certainly be more time consuming than using a close-tolerance blank. but looking at the surf-cam, it looks like you have some time on your hands.

i was able to 'obtain' a sheet of the green styrene used in building foundations and plan to do just what you propose as soon as it gets warm enough to work in the garage again. my plan is to laminate the two halves together and create the beginnings of a rocker by laying the halves on top of some 2x4's and weight 'em down with bags of pellet stove pellets. after that, cut the blank in half and glue in a luaun stringer. that should yield a rockered, rectangular blank 8-0x24"x4". shaving the excess down will take lots of time--even with a power planer.

since i didn't have to pay for the foam, i won't be as p.o.'d if the project turns into a clusterfoink.

 

talk to your local shapers, alot of times they can sell you discount or reject blanks if you want just something to practice on.

 

home depot route

 

i picked up a blank and glassing supplies from greenlight a couple weeks ago. Brian at greenlight has been extremely helpful. And depending on where you live you could just drive to his shop to pick up the blanks to save shipping. I thought about going the home depot route but just seemed like too much of a pain to get the rocker right.

 

jay howd you do that and whats the price

 

Doc at Ocean Atlantic on 34th st sells blanks. At least i've bought from him in the past...expensive, but cheaper than have 1 or 2 blanks shipped. And you can get some good shaping advice from him at the same time.

 

layered up a bunch of the insulation foam from home depot with glue and tape and weighed it down over an existing surfboard to match the rocker more or less. i probably put about $200 into the project, but next time it will be less now that i have the resin tints and a few of the tools i didn't have. it was fun

 

Hey jay if you got anymore pictures of the building process maybe you can start a thread on how you made your blank and board.

You could show what tools are needed and any related info on material .

Alot of guys wanna shape there own boards but not everyone has the cash to get blanks or dont want buy a expencive blank only to screw it up .

 

Jay,

did you use any heat when you bent the foam? Did it hold its rocker after you took the weights off? Just curious, I did something similar last year and found that at room temp the foam wouldn't hold the rocker. Then I tried it with portable heaters underneath the foam for a day or two, cooled it off, and the rocker seemed to hold better with the weights off. BTW, i didnt use a surfboard as a rocker template.

 

Jay, couple questions
*Was it stringerless?
*What did you use to cut it cout
*What resin did you use
*What are those sheets called and where in home depot can they be found
*They make insulating foam that long?
*Most important; How does it ride and hold up in the water?
-If you can make a thread it would be a lot of help, or possibly create a blog on your whole experience

 

I think a thread should be started The Home Depot Surfboard Build

 

I build my last 2 boards out of a piece of foam I found in the dumpster behind a lab. It looks like it was used to pack some scientific instruments or something.

Before-


Shaping-


Ready to bag the skins on-


You might have noticed that the board has no rails. They will be layered cork and balsa and glasses with 4oz after the skins are bagged and trimmed.

Lesson learned- you can build a board out of pretty much anything. Lowe's insulation, dumpster foam, or a quality Clark blank. Just make sure that if you use Lowe's foam (or any other EPS for that matter) you use Epoxy, NOT poly. It will eat your board.

And you cant go wrong talking to Brian at Greenlight. He talked my through some problems I had with ProBox early on. Great guy, dedicated to helping small time shapers. If you want any more info send me a PM.