These pictures showed up on my feed today from 6 years ago. One of the favorite boards I ever made. This was the first board I made just for him. He wanted it SpiderMan themed. Prior to that he'd been riding his brother's hand me downs and a soft board. The board had just been hot coated and hadn't been sanded yet. Now he rides a quiver of SharpEye boards. If you have kids....time goes by so fast. Seems like yesterday. Kid now surfs circles around me.
That board is from a BlendingCurves template. Its this template downsized to a 5'0 https://www.blendingcurves.com/outline-templates/short-a
Nice stuff guys. I thought about using some premade templates but i was having fun doing my own thing. And Mitchell i really like that shape! It's awesome to see the seasoned vets work! Inspirational guys. By the way, this thread resurfaced just in time. Went out over the weekend with my buddy who i shaped that 2nd board for. Well dude takes off on a wave, i look back and am like "damn he's flying! Oh wait, i shaped that stick!". I honestly forgot, i was a bit hungover. He was going considerably faster than anyone else. Was really cool to see someone ride my board. Especially since i made it for him built around going fast. Down the line and fast. He's loving it and it's his new favorite. Was just cool to know/see it actually does go FAST and the design worked. Going to be ordering materials for the next one this week. Excited to get back to it
Was supposed to build my next board over spring break. But that came and went, and I'm still "considering" it.
Just got started on Mr. Bs daughters board today. Only glued up the blank, got the outline on the blank, cut it out and started trueing it all up. I used a new method. No template. I draw my designs on graph paper. So what i did was just mark the blank up and referenced the graph paper drawing. It worked out really well. I feel like when i make a template things get skewed just slightly. This time it's spot on. It's a bit tedious, and i don't have a template to use again if i wanted. I really dig the shape. Don't know why but every board i shape has that retro single fin feel. This will be a thruster. Next board I'll broaden my horizons some. I'll post pictures tomorrow when i finish blending all the curves and get everything true. Wasn't going to do a play by play on this one but Mr. B thinks its a good idea so i will. Im stoked on it. His daughter is going to flip. Mr. B is a super awesome dude who i consider one of my best friends even though iv only know him a short time. Just a genuine guy. And his daughter is equally as awesome. Puts some extra pressure on me to nail it but im crazy excited at the same time. I met them last summer at my local break. Right off the bat we hit it off and felt like iv known them forever. Now they get to come back and brooke gets a surprise board. Which i can't imagine she'd be expecting. I might be more excited than Mr B! Pictures will be coming tomorrow!
Brooke is going to be over the moon. And the special aspects of this bort are going to be what she’ll remember the rest of her life. That’s no lie. And for that I’d do anything. Anything. So when Bass says it’s a big deal, it is huge to me and I’m stoked and honored to have him do it and share it here with a bunch of strangers I consider my family. As far as how he thinks of me and my daughter, that’s just because of who he is. Those of you here who know him, you get it. To those of you who don’t, you should. He’s worth knowing. And it seems to be a theme here that I’ve expressed with a long term Swellie recently: there are a a lot of different types on here and a lot of different personalities ... and it works. It works because underneath it all there are a lot of good people here. We gravitate together because of the ocean and the wave; and we do it broken, strong, lost, found, sick, healthy. I for one am lucky to know all Of you “morons” And I cannot frikken wait for this bort!!!!!!! It’s gonna be EPIC
So got back at it today. Man what a treat it is to mow a 3in blank to 2 3/4 rather than 2 1/2! I filled Mr. B in, i am having a bit of a medical scare. Long story. The short of it is life punched me in the nose and I'm not feeling my best. Got close to finishing the shaping process today but stopped due to not feeling great. I was able to foil the board, shape the rails and bottom contours. Bottom is a single into a double. I tend to go deep on bottom contours as alot of what i ride (not shaped by me) is shaped that way. But i found on my last board that there is a limit. The thing is fast which is good, but it's pushing the limit and close to being too fast for my buddies ability level. With that in mind i kept these contours very subtle. As far as the rails they are just your standard rail. My first board i followed measurements for a "boxy" rail and wasn't happy with it. Second board i used measurements for a "knifey" rail but made adjustments based off feel. Rails came out nice and not what i would consider knifey. So i did that with this board as well. When i called it quits i was in the process of blending the rails and making those last little adjustments before calling it done. Still some work to do but this is where I'm at so far...
Some of you fellas have good skills. I shaped once about 20yrs ago. Looked like crap, rode worse. I leave the board building to others. Note: I do my own ding repair. I would classify my capabilities as functional (fixes are water tight) but not aesthetically pleasing!
Its real important to start with a fair outline and then keep everything in long passes. Avoid focusing on one area like the nose or one rail otherwise things will get wonky. The more methodical you work the more fair your curves will be and the more symmetrical you will be on both sides of the stringer. Just some tips to help you out.
This is actually why i like that i didn't use a template. Everything came out pretty spot on. When i do the rails i do get wonky and have to be slow and methodical to fair it all out. Bad habit of focusing on one spot rather than doing nose to tail passes. I will say, if you look at the picture the nose does look a bit off. But when i measure it's spot on. And when it's on the rack it looks good. Weird light in that room. When i get back at it I'll double and triple check. Totally need better light. Throws me off and don't know what to trust
A suggestion for if you are not going to use a template: Do your outline on the bottom of your blank on one side only and get it perfectly fair and to your liking. Get all the kinks out. Now use paper and trace your outline so that you can create a template for the second side.
Thanks for the tip. This might sound weird. But i actually don't like the whole one side then flip thing. Not saying i don't trust you, just that im weird. For instance with a template i have trouble visualizing it "whole" when i look at one side. My first two boards i used templates so I'll get used to it. To be honest i just didn't feel like grabbing masonite so i did it this way. It worked way better than expected. The outline was perfect. Shaping not so much but im working on that. With that being said, i don't plan on ditching templates. This was probably a one time thing. Unless im in a pinch or somthing.
Got more work done this weekend. Cleaned it all up, sealed the board, and cut out the holes for the FCSII plugs using the jig. Man, what a treat it was using that jig. Anyone who followed my first and second board knows i had fin box whoopsies. Both were merely cosmetic whoopsies that i was able to salvage. Crappy bits, cheap harbor freight router that changed depth mid cut..... still got my pos router but the bit that came with the jig is nice. The jig itself was a breeze to use. Couple that with the versasquare which made all my in from rail and toe in measurements simple. Plus not having to cut out 12 inches of stringer. Didn't fully install plugs yet. That's tomorrow's job then im on to glassing next weekend.
By the way, question for the vets. I don't have dummy fins. I can either use FCSII fins or grab an old pair of orginal FCS fins and cut notches to make my own dummy fins. Which is the route I'll probably go. But the cant is built into the boxes. If your cut is flush, the cant is already set. Do the boxes tend to "float"in the hole? Seems unlikely as the cut is a tight fit with the jig. I guess my point is this. What's the point of dummy fins? Is it just to keep the boxes in place while the resin is curing or is it for getting the right cant? Id imagine it's the former since like i said, cant is already built into the boxes.
