About 3 weeks ago I was hit with some bum news that I had herniated a disc in my neck. With the tropics lighting up and my surfing horizon looking dry for a month or two I decided I needed a project to keep me busy and to keep my mind off the waves I'll be missing. I decided to shape my own board. It's something I have always wanted to do but never really had the time....well unfortunately now I do. So far, I've just built my shaping stand and glued up my blank. It's a greenlight 6' 2" Fish blank. The plan is to shape a 5'8" twin-fin using an outline template from greenlight. Any comments/suggestions is much appreciated as this is my first build! (Sorry about the fish-eye on the pics)
I really like the stand. I built my stand like that with the U shape out of 2X4's. The only issue I had with it over time was that the U shape gets kinda loose from all the shaping pressure. When I build my next rack I'm gonna put the 2X4 uprights right onto a 4X4 that way the board will be snug and straight upright when I'm turning the rails as apposed to an angle. Believe it or not the pressure of shaping the rails can leave a dent on the bottom where it leans into the top of the rack when on it's side.
take the time to make a template out of cardboard or panelling and spend a lot of time on this step....more time than you think you need to... trace out the template on the very carefully using a thick marker a bit wider than you want. Cut the blank slowly and carefully trying to avoid wiggling the saw AT ALL. Follow the outside of your line cleanly and evenly. You will still have flats and bumps...so... use coarse grit sandpaper wrapped on a 12" scrap of 2x4 and slide it back and forth on the edges over and over gradually sanding the outline down to your template line you drew. Pull the blank off the racks and look at it from every possible angle looking for bumps in the outline or flat spots. Keep sanding until the flats and bump are gone. This should take you a long, LONG time but it will result in a perfectly curved outline.
You should look into taking the surfboard design class at brookdale college. I dont know if your close to there or not, but I just took it last week It was really good.
I got the rough template cut out on the blank. I wasn't too confident in my sawing capabilities so I cut the template out about an 1/8th inch outside my template line then used some 40-grit to sand down to the line. I used a combo square to make sure the rail cutout was at 90 degrees. I see no bumps or uneveness in the rails, so I think I did a bang-up job for my first time, but Mitchell was right, it took me foreverrrr. Next step is to shape in some rocker and do the rail curves...
I herniated two disks in my lower back 6 months ago. Still not 100% but I'm surfing again. My advise is some level of chiropractor and yoga from now on. Forever. Never forget your back is f****D if you think it is better and you don't stretch before and after surfing IT WILL LET YOU KNOW. It has helped me greatly when I really felt I would never drop down the face of a 10 footer again. Also good luck with the board. And keep it even if you don't ride it anymore. It will be something you can always be proud.
Today i shaped the rocker in, shaped the rails and cut out the tail. I ran into some trouble while cutting out the tail. I cracked the stringer instead of getting a clean cut through it, but I think I salvaged it. Shaping is pretty much done, now I got to figure out how to glass this thing...
Board looks awesome way to go. How did you like working with greenlight's materials? I've been debating picking up the beginner set and giving it a try.
next time get yourself a round surform for cutting out the buttcrack in the tail, it will make life a whole lot easier
nice looks great man, be sure to sign the thing and put the date and all that down too. Are you using polyester resin or an epoxy system?
don't take this the wrong way, but your buttcrack looks just like mine. When i did my greenlight fish, the swallow came out the same way. the blank is super thick. a little bit of time with the dremel tool and a round file got it in shape. any little imperfections in the foam will get covered up when you seal your blank with spackle. If you are glassing using the bamboo cloth, be aware that doing the tail will be a pain in the butt. my bamboo cloth blew out when a huge bubble formed at the buttcrack and i had to dremel it out and lay a blowout patch on it. so far so good! keep it up!
A round surform is exactly what I needed for the buttcrack, but I guess I'll know for next time. It's an Epoxy glassing system that I'm going to be using. I was thinking about putting a tint on the board. Any chance I could screw that up? I'm trying to keep the board as simple as possible but putting a color down on the board seems pretty simple, just mixing some dye in with the resin right?
You can take your chances with all kinds of "dyes," but I would recommend epoxy pigments only. Greenlight might have them, or just go to West Marine - EPOXY pigments, not polyester pigments or tints. If you do color, make sure you cutlap. And make sure you seal the blank with lightweight spackle... otherwise, every little divot will be a dark spot. Start with light colors on your first few.... like yellow. Get your surface nice and smooth. You could also cheat and paint the blank before you glass. If you don't have a round surform, you can use a coping saw to get the bevel in the buttcrack, then shape down the foam to meet it with 80 grit.
have fun with this. whenever you get frustrated,and you will, step away from the board and come back to it later. and never get rid of this board no matter how good or bad it turns out. its always nice to look back and see how well you have progressed with your shaping. good luck and keep the pictures coming. oh yeah, take care of your back too.
Hey Shacked Looks great. You can wrap some 60 or 80 grit sandpaper over a tube or fat marker to round your buttcrack out. Seal with DAP Fast N' Final Lightweight spackle and you're good to do some resin tints or paint the blank. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about glassing Like Brasco said. Have Fun! ~Brian www.greenlightsurfsupply.com
Graphic If you any graphics printed on rice paper from a local busisness i can point you in the right direction just let me know.
