perfect rockers??? I dont know about all that,… but… most shaper,… old school style are looking
for nice final screening. USblanks at Home Blown Foam got the formula goin on in the PU’s… Period
Yea if you don’t mind soft foam which does not hold up and even snaps easy! There’s heaps of better foams out there!
Dead:
Thanks for keeping everything in perpective. The point of this tread was intended to help us all make better boards here at home. I have been having good luck with a few companies and there is continuos improvement by some. Scott Sanders (Bimini) does work hard to improve his foam and as really good plugs. He gets the rockers right as well so we do need to show some love once and a while when a blank company does something right.
Mybe thats why the e mail address on the Bennett sight is no good. E mails are returned to sender just like their blanks. I think its a gonner but no one knows it yet!!!
right on surfding,this site and these threads are great.the small guys like myself are learning a ton,and without this, the knowledge would not be passed on,or only to a small group of privledged few.constructive criticism only helps.let’s keep this artform alive,surfing and craft building with HANDS by real people.everyone that hated on clark,are probally thinking twice,or should be,i still have a few of his blanks and it is pure joy to shape out a board with that foam,i was lucky enough to mow into a few of walker’s blanks that felt really good under my planer aswell,i hope for more of the same to come…
I’m not seeing the big problem. I just saw 3 or 4 companies named which in my opinion are all better than Clark was, starting with modern day clark (us blanks) which I feel strength wise is weaker compression wise than some of the other foams I am using. I miss the rockers of clark…but that’s about it. I handshaped an EPS longboard a few weeks back and the blank was supposedly “the same rockers as a 9’1"Y.” I spent the majority of my morning trying to pull the banana rocker out of the tail.
Most common problem I come across is I feel like a lot of blank companies are way more well suited for nothing but machine guys. Although I use the machine on certain boards I am not into designing on the machine and still handshape the majority of the boards. Often times I end up with pretty thick blanks to mow.
strength wise I have no complaints. I have been using Kingmac and recently more Just foam and had good results. Both blanks seem to hold up a lot better on my boards. My boards are lasting longer, looking whiter than ever, and there is no ugly pour lines ruining my color jobs.
My advice is to find the strongest foam accessible to you and send them your rockers.
Dennis the Menace and others…yes, right on. The import of these threads coudl be ovelooked or dismissed by some. It’s a hand me down from those of us that have spent more than several college degrees worth of study, trial and error, R&D and real life expeiences.
If surfboards are only designed and created on the computers, I strongly maintain you lose something quite valuable. I personally have a had quite of bit of urging for me to ‘step up’ and join everyone with a CAD approach. I don’t dismiss this, I frequently think about designs in a ‘line sense’ and those relationships of lines as a whole. And to be honest, some of the cutters do not have the limitations that a 3" wide planer blade has along with other inherent limitations of hand tools.
Yet for innovative handshapers this doesn’t stop the dedicated ones from implementing routers and creating other manually operated tools to achieve a desired effect. Necessity is the mother of invention, and the modern day surfboard is living proof of this.
A well received ‘one off’ custom surfboard enjoyed and desired by many surfers from all walks of life certainly lends argument to using a CNC or similar approach to remove the historical bottleneck so many in demand shapers have experienced over the years.
“Is my board ready yet”?
Steve Coletta described it to me this way “the precision is insane…no more delays getting the shaped boards to glassing and to the customer”.
…and of course the machines can also be used by creative designers to true a blank and /or allow them more time to design.
But very good spontaneous designs happen by intent and design by handshapers much more frequently than was maintained by Evan Slater in an article awhile back and was further supported by Nick Carroll in response to a comment I had made about ES’s statement in another thread on Sway’s. All the points made for good review of where we are at and how things evolve.
Good design and new ideas do come from the computer between the ears, and can actually and successfully be programmed thru the nervous system and transfered to the blank. When this ‘brainchild’ gets in the water and is met with raves, fine, go stick it on a program…chances are the creative talent that incepted that design is already on to something new versus stagnating.
Personally I am surprised that the CNC approach hasn’t run the same program as what a board has been machined on then rerun with inflatable sanding drums to finish that board.
if you want to try some great foam try Blair. very good stuff. you won’t have a complaint. 5-7 day turn around spot on rocker no vopids pukas what not excellent price 3 wieghts . blair is were its at
In all fairness Bennett made some good blanks at times and they do have a good formula when they pour correctly.
Bennett is going through a bit of a re-organization and so we will have to wait and see the out come?
Being is the blank business is Brutal. The Clark business Model was as good as it gets. Unforunately for some investors they did not look at their spreadsheets correctly. There where many equations missing from the formula. By the end of this year we will see who will still be standing. I think in the case of US Blanks they are more organized and best suited to run a blank company as their management was trained under the leadership of Grubby Clark. They still manage to be substainable even in California were it’s not easy to do business. Mexico is not an easy place to work either and is actually more complicated.
Just pu’d some Blair only shaped one so far and it’s really nice. Even cell structure, no pukas, not too hard and not soft like a few of their competitors. I would say right now the best I’m using is Surfblanks America (a little hard but holds up and flex’s nice), the previous King Mac & Bennett were good but have not shaped any in months, Texcel great but too expensive, and now Blair.
Surfding,
Rumor on the street is you make the jacks Boards true or false?
i am not putting down guys who use machines,i guess what i really mean is i really think working with your hands is becomming a lost art,in america atleast,if its boards or woodworking,whatever.we as humans are so “busy” and need to make bigger numbers because we are paying people in other country’s to make stuff cheaper so we have to compete with differant financial organizations that are just not in our league.i pay in material alone up here in maine what some boards cost retail,wtf.now we are way off the original thread by going down this road so i just want to say,i would like some good foam,to shape with my hands so i can try and get by,that’s it.i enjoy spending my time makeing boards in my little blue room,thats it,and i would like to keep doing this,but it seems the “man” is out to put this art to rest,if i could design on the computer i would,my thoughts and ideas still would go into it,right?everyone wants a piece of the pie for nothin.i don’t mind actually having to work for my money,imagine that?it seems harder and harder to compete,and frankly i don’t like to compete.if there was a good local shaper in every surf town that was supported by the locals,we would all get by right?maybe i am just being unrealistic,imagine that in today’s world,being unrealistic(insert sarcasm here).when someone says they are gonna deliver some good foam,and they don’t and than serve up lip service,i am disgusted,actions speak way louder than any word i have ever heard or read.thanks again guys for your involvment in this forum.i don’t read all the threads and have little experience with blogs and forums, so you know, and don’t go dissin me for saying stupid shit and wearing my heart on my sleeve.
…it absolutely IS realistic to envision a good competent quality oriented local board builder supplying 250 to 500 local surfers per year…this is the way. Think about it. The domestic foamers supply a network of local shapers and it goes on from there.
here’s your formula:
To succeed
Buy/sell local
Be professional
Charge a fair price
Care About The Quality
Keep your overhead in line
Care about paying your suppliers
Love your passion, live your passion
DELIVER (only bite off what you can chew)
Work at what you love, the rest will fall into place
Treat your customers like gold (they put the food on your plate)
Notice the pyramid form this takes…go look up Maslow’s Hierarchy.
I designed and cut their shop boards last summer season. So far they are having their boards made in California.
yeah i know its not realistic,that’s just my utopian idea.thanks for the formula,man you are commited and passionate about this stuff,inspirational!thanks,i am not afraid to admit i need work on the profesional part.
dtothem…I had a brain fart…I changed my previous statement to what I meant.
think about it, crunch your numbers, map out your trip, then take take it!
Dead:
I studied Maslow in school. Good Stuff!
Your mantra is right on. If we could get the rest of the surf community to follow?
I’m banking on them that they won’t…less competition for me…just joking.
The truth of the matter is my “Call to Arms” is a perfect answer back to outsourcing offshore.
People love beingtreated right. In an era of outsourcing, personal friendly service becomes that much more appreciated and valuable. Yanks helping Yanks, Aussies helping Aussies, Kiwis helping Kiwis, Brazil Nuts helping Brazil Nuts…local shapers in costa Rica, Panama, Mexico, Uruguay, Peru, Chile, Africa, France, Spain, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Russia, Morroco, England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Japan…on and on and on…
I’m here to help. I’ll keep it positive and take great pride in helping my fellow craftsmen (and women)…
wish we had a dependable blank company here!! (ireland)
get ripped off all the time!!
anyone got a us pricelist for blair foam? there are some blairs coming into the uk in a few weeks and want to know what im paying for the privalige!!
Look back on this thread and email pierpontscott…he can probably help you out…don’t foget the British Pound is kicking ass all over the U.S. dollar. Our economy is askew right now, people are losing their homes and banks are shutting down home equity lines of credit (true story) due to rapid devaluation of homes…ouch!
Good luck with your foam quest.