Depth of nose concave?

General Discussion
1

Hello Gents - Diving into my first longboard nose concave. My question - Is the front of the concave deeper than the bottom? About the same? Dims for my board are 9’6" x 23 1/4" x 3" Nose is 19 1/4" 12" down. Tear drop concave shape starts 3" back from tip and is 36" long.

I’m armed with:

  1. a small curved Stanley sureform.

  2. Curved foam pads I purchased from woodcrafters.

  3. Some sponges.

  4. 60 & 80 grit.

  5. Sanding screen and sponge.

  6. Small Jap spoke shave.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers!

2

I made my 10’ noserider with 1/4 concave, and it is easy to noseride. I think what makes noserider work good is eliminating the rocker the first 36 inches.

3

You are on the right track with 1/4 inch depth. The transition needs to be smooth or you

will push water at times. For something a little different but works insane look at; Harboursurfboards.com for their dual concaves in the nose. They start 1 5/8 inch from the rail and fade back to about 34"-36". They are deeper near the rail and fade toward the stringer. 1/4" or less is fine. They work unreal! Put some concave on the tail deck and that will improve noserides. Check; cooperfishsurfboards.com for this detail. Good luck and have fun. Mahalo, Hans

4

Do I understand this right? Fade into 1/4" near the center then fade out near the point or get right into 1/4" and keep it a consistant 1/4" to the point?

5

The concave transition is going to be longer aft. It can come in quickly at the tip. Just make sure

all the curves go together. The rail, stringerline, nose trim, and concave are all gathering at the tip.

Is this a PU or EPS blank? How much stringer wood? Shaping advice kinda depends on that.

6

Thank you, just the info I needed. Gett’n on it in the am.

7

From what I’ve read, or can remember reading, the point of a nose concave in a noserider is to flatten the rocker curve in the nose. So from the start of the concave from the nose to about 24-36" the rocker line along the stringer will be roughly flat. So for the most part it’s deepest along the stringer. I usually take a surform and knock down the stringer until it looks good to me. Then I start to scoop out the rest of the concave on either side of the stringer. Probably not the professional way, but it works pretty well for me.

8

Ok Surfdad, There many ways to accomplish the same thing. Some shapers put in a single concave, deepest in the stringer area and fades toward the rear. Just make the transition smooth. Go look at some boards in a shop. The Harbour Surfboards on their website shows you how they shape theirs. 2 concaves on either side of the stringer, starting 1 5/8" from the rail edge, fading deeper toward the stringer and then vanishing toward the stringer. Also fades as it goes toward the rear. Make a nice transition, so youdont push water when trimming. It doesnt need to be deeper than 1/4", a little goes a long way on nose rides. Concave creates lift and keeps you up there. As the saying goes, there’s more than on way to skin a cat. Good luck and have fun. Mahalo, Hans

9

Okay just finished. IMO it came out great. alot easier than I anticipated. Drew it on using a artsy flex edge. Taped it off. Couple passes with the planer.

A few minutes with a small curved sureform then side to side blending using 80 grit and some funky sponges I got from Woodcrafters. Finished with light screen and sponge. Oh yea, I used the tiny Jap spoke shave and a small razor block plane for the stringer. Start to finish it took me 30min.