I was told you cant really call yourself a shaper untill you've shaped 1000 boards. just wondering what you guys are on? "shapers" and everyone else!
Btw, im on 3! :)
…if you follow that premise you ll never be (sadly) a shaper cause the machine is the shaper in most cases in the last 10 years and there s no work for new ones (except sanders, good glassers, etc) so very difficult to hit that mark for a newbie without the aid of the machine.
only demand for long stablished shapers
that by the way are few in most surf Countries
4 boards from scratch, 3 are hws. And I don't call myself a shaper. But after 996 more I'm gonna!
I was told around 100. Then sell them for what they’re worth. Ie, market price. But, I do it for fun and to amuse myself and nobody else. I’ve made about 70 and consider myself a complete novice. I admit some bias against computer shaping in that I don’t consider it shaping, but designing. I really think anyone handy with a computer can scan and shape a board. Doesn’t make you a shaper. The old guys who have shaped thousands by hand are shapers in my opinion even if they now produce boards using computer shaping machines. I think in the end they may end up out of work in that this technology is available to everyone now including noobs. Mike
for me, if you have only made 10 boards and they all go well and do what they were made to do then you’re entitled to call youreslf a ‘shaper’, even if you’ve only made 2 and they work well then the same thing goes.
if you ‘shaped’ it out of a hunk of foam with your hand skills then why would you be calling yourself anything else? sculpter maybe?
some big name ‘shapers’ that have made 5000+++ boards are still out there making boards that go like junk and not giving the customer what they were asked for,
are they the craftsmen and idols of surfboard making? surely if they’re not making guys ‘magic’ boards on a regular basis then they’re just a tradesman doing a normal job that just happens to be making surfboards.
the accolade of ‘shaper’ used to have some huge mysticism surrounding it, until machines and asian mass production and the explosion of surf culture took a lot of it away, heck you can get a walkthrough of how to make a board from A-B by searching youtube now. mysticism removed to a degree.
I have also made over 100 and sold all but 2 (1 of them will never be sold it was my first). In my little world when I walk out to my shaping room and shape a blank, I am a shaper. I am also the team rider and sponsor for my boards. I must be. I buy the materials, pay the rent, pay the electricity bill, pay for the garbage pickup, pay for the gas to go buy the materials, and ride my own boards.
Life is GOOD!
Bobbins hit it exactly. And after only 3 posts. Kind of like shaping!
I think evryone with a a sureform in his hand is a shaper!
even if it's his 1st board.
a good shaper is one who can design a very good, flowing , clean board.
a production shaper is one who can actually copy a board at a certain % of precision. meaning he really knows how to use his tools.
and a master shaper as I see it , is not only all the above , but also a master artist , someone who really changed somthing in surfing on both the big and small scale. , someone with a vision .
I know about myself that all my boards go really really good, I can definatly shape a very clean board, and have an avarage ability
of shaping the same board over and over again. I also try to change somthing in all my friend&customers attitude .
I consider myself a good shaper growing fast into the level of a production shaper and doing my best at behaving like a master .
although I'm so far.
btw,
I feel quite natural with the planner but I still feel like I have a lot to learn about this tool. concaves......
Well my customers call me a shaper and I help guide them in the decisions but I feel something is missing. I have always dreamed of being a production guy just to get my skill level up. Not that the status has anything to do with it but to have the oprotunity to shape thousands of boards. With machines I think I won’t ever have that chance. I came along too late but at least I can still shape!
girvin hit the nail on the head! You are a shaper when someone else who knows at least a little about shaping and surfboards says you are or refers to you as their shaper. The number count makes you better at the process, but when you've done enough and are good enough to have someone who knows how to surf tell you the board you most recently shaped for them is the best board they've ever had or refer to you as their shaper; You are there. That's when you say to yourself; "I can live with the title shaper".
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I think evryone with a a sureform in his hand is a shaper!
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Darn, that leaves me out.
onec i stop putten dem fin on backanawords i's can call me self dem shaper / glassafer.
Howzit McDing, I just went and reread every post and the word shaper is used in every post but nobody says surfboard shaper. I would rather be known as a surfboard builder since that is what I was/am. I am thinkng about doing some thing with wood like an alaia that I won't have to use resin on since Iam so over using resin after my close call.Just getting a little itchy from not making anyboards for a couple of years now. Aloha,Kokua
the people I make boards for call me a shaper and glasser,
so I guess I am
I started out at a buddy’e shop who had a CNC, I would just have to sand them and he and I would glass them, did about 15 boards that way with the Kensurf logo on them…
then I started shaping and glassing by myself at home, think I got about 25 boards under my belt with the Exotic Designs logo, plus helping Whitney and others that have come and gone.
I dont want to do mass production, I prefer one of a kind work, there all personal to me , I feel like more of an artist and a craftsman rolled into one.
no one has ever complaned about my shapes not working, and when I run into them they tell me their board works great and they get a lot of complements on the glass work.
hell… even Herb Spitzer has one of my fishes , that makes me feel good
bottom line, if your shaping boards, your a shaper
if your glassing ,then, your a glasser
or maybe your both
I think, there for I am, I think!
I have lots and lots to learn but like to think i and becoming a better shape every board.
I think we can all "shape boards" that "we like" but I think Grivin right on the money.
antony
I’ve reconsidered this and changed my mind. I think knowledge, talent, skill, and end result are what’s important regardless of the number of boards made or the tools used. Mike
How many people are encouraged to make a board, skin a blank , but dont’ really read or understand
surfboard hydrodynamics. I suppose shaping 1000 boards will get you invested in that area though, by hook,
crook and rubbing shoulders with the knowledgeable. Surfboard making is not really like cake baking and following a recipe from a book, but I suppose it can be.
I’m just a garage schlub who grew up with some professional shapers as buddies and learned the hydrodynamics et al. through pestering and questions before I ever felt competent enough to touch a blank. My current incarnation is as a thumb drive shaper.
Well said…Thumb drive shapers don’t count!!!
If you work with your hands, your a Labourer.
If you work with your hands and your mind, your a Craftsman.
If you work with your hands, your mind and your heart, your an Artist.
Sound Like your a bit of an Artist Ken