Yep, I’ve been shaping and designing surfboards for 57 years. I’ve decided that when I’ve been at it for 60 years, it will be time to unplug the planer, for the last time. That gives me some time to figure out what to do with the templates, and tools, that I’ve accumulated over the years. Hand saws that are 10 yrs old, 50 yrs old, 95 yrs old, and 105 yrs old. Hand planes that range from 10 yrs old, to 110 yrs old. Wood bodied Japanese planes, one of which is over 100 yrs old. One I bought new 52 years ago, and one I made from scratch two years ago. Several others that are less than twenty years old. Next on my ‘‘to do list’’ is to identify and mentor, a much younger fellow, who is committed to hand crafting surfboards well into the future. Using tools that have some history, make every board I shape with them, special in many ways. If there is Mana, these tools have it. Just need to find a worthy successor.
Why Not just keep doing it as long as you are happy. Talked to some people at Yater in Santa Barbara Renny is still making board about 4 days a week. The kid said he thinks it’s what keeps him going.
the tools are impressive, your knowledge invaluable
find someone worthy and pass 'em the torch
whomever you find, make it as part of the deal
they will in turn mentor a chosen one when the time comes, who in turn…
a seed sprouting a tree
Yes it is. How does grilled bratwurst, potato salad, and cold beer sound? If it sounds good, I’ll do the cooking, here at my house. I’ll introduce you to Sophie, the 75 pound, resident Pit Bull. Deal?
Deal ! but it’ll have to be like a Saturday or Sunday…Wednesday wouldbe tough but possibly do-able.
Waste nothing Bill.
Give only to those with the “passion” and respect for board building.
How it began and how to honor those who came before them.
Love to see your collection of “surfboard” tools.
Surely, a great story behind every one.
I’ve always cherished the knowledge you share when we’ve met.
I have always thought of what to do with mine when I’ve finished.
Can we have a viewing? It would be like a funeral but better. Ribs, chicken, beer etc. Have the tools laid out in a coffin type thingy? You could walk around in a black suit.
“Next on my ‘‘to do list’’ is to identify and mentor, a much younger fellow”
Well… there goes that idea. HAHA
There used to be a t-shirt around here somewhere: “Old Shapers NEVER die. They Just Plane On A Higher Level.”
hmmmm… sounds like the search… nice…
each of those are very special tools indeed… =)
Dear Bill,
while I think that setting a date for retirement and following through on that is a great idea (assuming your finances will support what you’ve in mind for your retirement), I’d be careful about equating retirement with giving board-making (and the tools you use for it), away for good.
You say the first thing on your list is to give your tools and board-making equipment away. And then to go find and mentor a younger fellow.
How do you know they’ll have the tools required to shape and glass? 'Kinda hard to show them how if neither of you have the tools to do it with.
And besides, how do you know you want to stop at just one?
For all you know the “chosen one” might have a change of heart a year or two into it and decide they’d rather be working on Wall Street instead. Worse yet, if you’ve given/sold them your cherished tools to work with because they haven’t any of their own, they could quite legitimately turn around and flog them off to the highest bidder on Craiglist to get that first months apartment rent in NYC while they’re hitting up the stockbroking firms for a job. God knows how your tools would end their days then. All that Mana likely gone to waste.
But worse than that, all those 60 years of experience, of trial and error, of frustration and toil and those moments of insight that are your own personal contribution to the art of board-making which you’ve passed on to this “chosen one”. That’s gone too. It’s not going to in turn be passed on to someone else. Gone forever.
Better to have more than one iron in the fire when it comes to ensuring that what you want to pass on to future generations actually happens.
If I were in your shoes I’d unplug that planer and then do whatever I felt like for a year or so. Turn off the mobile phone. Put your feet up. Grab a beer and slowly savour it. Have a snooze. Then head off on a long, loooooong surfari. Do whatever, go wherever, whenever, and at your own pace.
I wouldn’t be surprised if after a while the trigger finger starts to get a little itchy for the planer again.
Because lets face it. As long as you’ve still got a couple of brain cells left to rub together upstairs, the ideas, whether you like it or not, are just going to keep on a-coming. And there’s nothing you can do about that.
If you don’t have the tools to make something that’ll see if those ideas work or not, well they’re going to be an itch you just can’t scratch.
Sure you could mention it to the “chosen one”. But there’s no guarantee they’ll put them to the test - they’re young and they’ve got their own ideas to play with. And besides, even if they do give them a try, there’s no guarantee they’ll do it the way you think it ought to be done -> itch still not scratched, and probably even more irritated now.
Nope, only way to know for sure is to do it yourself. Do it right and make your own call on the matter.
What’s more, in getting rid of the tools, you’ll be getting rid of your best means to earn a dollar in the future, should you happen to need to.
No matter what you’ve got your retirement savings in, the truth is (no how unlikely it may be), it’s never truly totally safe; stock markets crash, retirement funds tank, property markets go sideways and sometimes even down. Whatcha gonna do if one day you suddenly find yourself in need of funds and facing having to get back into the workforce again (even if it’s only on a part-time basis)?
Sure, you could always go out and buy a new set of tools. But you won’t know them. They’re going to be different from the ones you’ve got now. They’re going to have their own little eccentricities, their own things that they can and can’t do and ways of getting them to do the things you want (that you already know how to do with your current tools) which you’re going to have to learn and spend valuable time in the process of doing so. You’ll also make mistakes during that process of learning. And that’s going to cost you money.
Assuming that never happens though, that your savings stay nice and secure; it’d still be a good idea to hang onto the tools; having them available will also allow you to make a few little “upgrades” to your lifestyle in retirement as and when you decide you need them.
For instance; say you’re planning a little jaunt down to Costa Rica.
Make a few boards beforehand for some customers who you know will treat them right and give them a good life, and you can use the proceeds from that to bump yourself up to a First Class ticket for the plane rides there and back again.
Now you’re up front, enjoying some gourmet food and a couple of single malts, and then putting the seat into “full recline” mode for a good nights sleep afterward. Who knows, you might even have that celebrity rock star, sports star, movie star, etc that you’ve always dreamed of talking to, sitting right there in the seat next to you.
The alternative being that without having made and sold those few ad-hoc boards, you may well have been riding back in cattle class playing “sardines” in your seat row with a screaming two-year-old insomniac and it’s parents who point-blank refuse to excercise any discipline with the child.
'Bit of a difference there as to how the whole “experience” of the trip goes for you eh?
Lastly, it seems to me you care about board-building and the tools you use to do it with.
So why stop? Why throw away what you love?
To get back to my original point; to me, retirement simply means to stop doing something for financial survival, and to start doing whatever you want instead.
That’s it. That’s all.
If you like building boards. Keep building 'em. And now you’ve got the freedom to build them however you want. No customers to answer to or who will try to influence you, if that’s what you want. They can be all just for your own pleasure and satisfaction. In your own time, your own way and on your own schedule. No rules except what you decide them to be, and you can change those rules to whatever you want, whenever you want.
Have fun.
Fun. If I had to sum up my idea of retirement in one word; that’d be it! 
And like I said earlier; the ideas are going to keep on coming. How do you know that your best ideas, your best boards, and the things that you’re most proud of doing in your life, aren’t still ahead of you yet?
Mind you, you’ve still got a good three years ahead of you to make your mind up about all of this. To decide just what it is you want to accomplish, and how you’re going to go about it.
I’ll be interested to see what you come up with.
Cheers Bill,
L.I.T.
Hey bill, been off sways for while whist I’m settling into the new house. Just started building the new workspace which will see a shaping bay and adjacent glassing bay. Hoping to really sort out my workspace…then I can get back to the dream…I will of course be creating new storage for all the precious tools I’ve thus far accumulated…needless to say there will be room for even the smallest of your tool collection should I be able to prove my worthiness before you throw in the towel…hope you are keeping well. The 7’10" replacement will be the first board I shape for myself in there when I get through a small backlog of orders. Cheers rich
Aloha Rich,
I hope when you do the 7’ 10’', you will also do a build thread, and a ride report on the board. You are one of very few people that have had the experience of riding that particular template. And perhaps the only one on Swaylock’s, to have done so.
PS: You are worthy.