When doing the deck it seems almost impossible not to get really down into the soft foam. unless you like big fat boxy rails. I like my decks slighly round and shape my boards with medium to thin rails without being down rails. So that means I have to have a more of a rounded type deck. My personal boards are usaully 2-5/8" thick. When doing the rail bands(sometimes 4) it go’s way into the soft foam, then blending the deck leaves only about less than 10% of the deck with some kind of hard foam. any suggestions …I am thinking of going to Walker foam… Thanks.
Walker foam is stiffer but i wouldnt reccomend it for shortboards 1.its heavier 2.The blanks are just not there they have 1 small shortboard blank and its pretty chunky 3.cost of walker is a few more bucks Not to down walker, but your weight would be about the same or less by adding an extra layer of 4 oz in your glassing or using a heavier clark blank. Walker rocks for longboard blanks though http://www.surfboardglassing.com
good thought. clark does have a much much wider range of blanks. but that still doesn’t solve my dilemma. I havent shaped a short board in a long time. most of my shapes are in the 6’-4" fish to 7-10" speed egg range.
I dont know what American blanks are like, but all the Australian blanks have deck roll in them:- Burford, Surfblanks, Bennett, Ocean Foam… The Deck should be consistently hard through a deckroll if Clark Foam is like this too. The best way to approach shaping for maximum hardness is to start by cutting your thickness & rocker into the bottom such that you have barely enough foam to make your final desired thickness after a minimal skim off the deck… Get blanks close to you thickness requirements. but I may be being presumtuous in suggesting you havent heard all this before http://www.speedneedle.com.au
yea I try to get blanks that are as close to the shape that I and doing …but I guess where I have problems is at the rails. if I cut a narrow board I still have to take a lot of foam from the rails and then blending them into the deck without going to deep…I guess I should be more carefull and not over shape the deck… Thanks
shipman, what are the measurements of your railbands? Ever tried adjusting these for a steeper rail?