Like Firewire but want to tweak it a bit? I believe that THIS is a likely course for the future of surfboards... design it yourself on computer, have it machine shaped to your specs, with final shaping and glassing done by a pro.
Say it ain’t so John! I don’t think I want robots doing my boards, but I can see the potential.
Thats what I used to do…
I didn't say I was doing it, just that it is likely the future... I'm still doing the caveman thing in my backyard - hand shaped from start to finish, glassing, sanding, the whole bit. I sometimes cut my own blanks from a block of EPS.
I gotta say that if I had ready access to a machine, I'd at least be using it for preshapes, especially on the big thick ones. Mowing down a rectangular slab 5"+ thick longboard is a bitch.
I've been doing that with some of my Timberflex boards. There's so much more to it than just the shape. If I can get the rocker, deck foil and some of the bottom contours rough'ed in then I can spend more time getting the flex, epoxy flex, glassing schedule, wood flex, and bottom micro's tuned in right. When you are working with 1.5, or 1.2 EPS without stringers you need a machine to keep it tight and accurate. That stuff is so light and flexy that if you put too much pressure in any one spot it will distort and give you wierd angles, flat spots and divots...all that stuff you don't want to chase out of a finished shape.
Roger that Mr. Mellor. I’ve got to admit that having access to a machine would be nice, but it’s like the old joke; “I just wouldn’t want anyone seeing me do it”.
I'd rather have a Sunova---custom or otherwise.
about 10 years ago Surfer mag said the master shapers of the future will be computer whiz kids who wouldn't know what a Skil 100 was if it bit 'em in the arse.
Huck, that’s probably true but… It doesn’t take numbers or volume to produce a master shaper. Practice does make perfect and so does intense study. A computer program won’t help laminating or sanding skills. I’ve got to believe it comes from hands on first and then you layer knowledge over that. I’m not anti machine, I can see their place and benefits but it has to come from your head and heart otherwise it is just lines on the paper. If I could afford to have my own machine I’d certainly would have one. Like Mr. Mellor says, hogging a lot of foam wears you down over time.