Hi all, longtime lurker and first time poster. I'm looking to get into shaping and have registered for a class. I would like to get your reccommendations on any shaping books that would be helpful. I've googled some books but with so many to choose from especially for a new b, I dont know which one(s) to look at/purchase. Any and all help is welcome and appreciated. thanks for your time.
So much information on YouTube and elsewhere. It's really a trial and error type thing but the more you know the better. At the end of the day it will still float even if its ugly.
"shaping 101" followed up w/ "glassing 101" w/ john carper (JC surfboards) is a great guide. also, if you haven't read "the ding repair scriptures", i'd highly recommend that as well.
I've shaped and glassed about 8 boards. Not one of them looked like a store bought board but all floated and were surfable. You will learn a ton about design by shaping one, riding it, then tweaking your design. It took me 3 boards before I made one that was really practical as an every board. After that I shaped 3 more that were pretty good and very usable. One thing I learned is that it's easy to make a board that will work well in one specific condition. It's a whole other thing to make a board like the pros make that is good in almost anything. That s where I always thought the skill was and that's what takes all the time to learn.
