what was the biggest mistake you -shapers- did when you started shaping and building surfboards? i think it will be good to know for us the newbies…
I am a new shaper but the dumb mistakes i made on my first shortboard were not foiling the nose enough, not keeping my block plane sharp enough, and doming the tail too much right at the tail block.
spending hours getting everything perfect then on the way to the (storage) racks running into something./ dull lifeless tools make for big mistakes…
I confused 8’ with the big 80 …my first board was 80" not 8’ but 6’8’ as tall as a doorway…psyco space craft with a rochach test on deck …Kevin Seltirich riped on it …ambrose…
while routing out a finbox i was near full depth and decided to check how deep so i took the router out and put it on the board though not taking off the catch one nice big hole through the deck!!!
Not knowing when to quit.
Thinking I could make boards for myself cheaper than I could buy from a real professional. What a retard I was…
I have to challenge Mr. Retodd’s cynisism concerning homemade boards. I suppose that if you have five thumbs on each hand, no imagination, and no technical aptitude whatsoever, than it would be better for you to shell out three or four hundred bucks on a cute little piece of urethane and polyester. It may even have a company logo or stripe included at no extra cost. I saw this as a dismal prospect and therefore decided to make my own board with the best materials available and a creation limited only by my imagination. My current board, (carbon fiber, epoxy, XPS, etc.) will cost just under $200 when completed. Do the math Retodd
Matt, Have some coffee bro…My intention is that this persuit is not taken up lightly. To do the job, and do it right takes quite a bit of time and investment in tools, trial&error, etc. I only mean to say that if you are not in it for the pure joy of your own creation, you need not drop the $$$ to crank out a few boards. When I started shaping, no one held my hand or gave the super advice that is now available here. This meant much trail and error, and therefore alot of money. I probably spent a grand on my first ridable board. That being said, I haven’t bought a custom since and only ride the boards I make or ones my friends make. Having spent years in construction, woodworking, and boatbuilding I don’t think I have any more thumbs than you, maybe my ego just doesn’t need the stroke. P.S. Don’t forget the creamer.
Oh how easy it is to make a decent board these days, my first blank i bought i practiced on, second board is now my favorite shortboard, 50$ extra investment!, thats not a fortune by the way. You can get any rocker you want, there is a surf shop down the street with every nose, tail, and rail shape that one could ever do a half ass job copying, etc. we have SWAYLOCKS, but i STILL WOULD HAVE RATHER DONE IT WHEN IT WAS ALL EXPERIMENTATION DURING THE SHORTBOARD REVOLUTION, may i now say thankyou to everyone who paved the way…
Mainly you should be easy on yourself.This is a handcraft and it takes time before you get to where you want to be.I was fortunate enough to have Jim Phillips looking over my shoulder when I was learning and the boards still sucked.Just make em,ride em and have fun.The wave has no problem with cosmetic issues.
planing around the nose and thinking ‘was that just the tip of the nose that flew past my face?’ look down at the board, yea it was… not measuring twice before the cut - different tail widths on either side of the stringer - but asymetrical is cool right? trying to take out a flat spot by concentrating on the flat spot instead of the area around the flat spot or having a bump and by trying to fix it wind up with a dip - haha. marking the two side fins at different measurements. 1st glasson fin attempt - glassing fins on with way too much resin to fiberglass ratio - resulted in sanding my life away on them because of the huge bulge around the base and then have them crack and break because there was not enough fiber strength. But through the mistakes, you feel out how to do it right and wind up buying or making new tools to help you do it right. Its a great process. You may not be riding the most ‘cutting edge pro’ equipment, but your path with be more rewarding. http://groups.msn.com/thegrasshoppersurfboard/shoebox.msnw
using a router to cut the outline and didnt have the template clamped down well. halfway through the cut I thought the room was spinning but stayed focused and finished the cut. Then I realized that the reason for the disorientation was that the front of the template (whoose line was the center of my world at the moment) was sliding across the board. I ended up with a 5’10" instead of the desired 6’4". Anybody need a 5’10" pintail thruster with almost no nose rocker? Its got a great spray job and Im sure could chop hop seal beach.
Retodd, I’ve drank way too much coffee as it is and I stopped using cream (dentist says it’s bad for the grill!!) I wasn’t trying to sound critical or harsh in response to your earlier comment. I just hate to see people shy away from making their own boards based on a few bad experiences. I am only making my second board. My first one looks like something out of a bad science fiction movie. Try to figure out where you went wrong last time, ask a few questions on this site, and take another stab at it. -Fanatical proponent of do-it-yourself
let’s see - so many mistakes to choose from — knocking over the entire rack with a finished board on top, big gouges (now my racks have more concrete on the bottom)… making a board too narrow because I was fixated on exact symmetry… banging finished shapes into doorways while moving them around… picking them up with dirty hands… kicking over a half-bucket of catalyzed resin while lamming a board… leaving shaped boards around too long waiting to be glassed then finding “mystery dings” on them (who did that???)… making my nicest boards for my friends and keeping the crappy ones for myself (sheesh)… not lining up fins carefully enough (measure twice, glass once!)…I’m still working on new mistakes, I’ll tell you Sunday what Saturday’s was.
Resin drips on the garage floor.
Not paying attention to the position of the dust chute, and getting a face full of foam. Forgetting about the screws that hold my micro plane blade in it’s “custom” holder and putting deep gouges in my first concave. Saying to myself “how messy can it get?”
I was trying to thin the nose with my planer, came in from the rail and cut a 1/2" gouge on one side. Needless to say my board ended up with a very thin nose. Live and learn.
The foam exhaust port is a good one, my planer switches sides for the exhaust with a flip of a lever, it’s my first so maybe all planers do that, but i’ve blasted myself many a time. Is’nt foam dust hard to get out of your eyes in a room with no ventilation.