Do you guys template all the different boards you’ve owned or built?
reason I ask is: I have never shaped my own board, but I have templated all of my skimmers including thiskness messurements in the thousants. I have also templated my 9’6" R.A. WII and my 6’4" Hobie Slug Fish. I have also laid out a template for a 7’x22" Egg base off my Hobie template.
Was wondering how usefull keeping templates are to you guys.
Not all, but most.
My first board had no template, hand drawn on a pieced up Balsa slab 10’ long. Ah, but the second board did have a template. That was 1958, and I still have that template. Your templates are your link to the past, and the path to the future. I think most pro shapers have some templates that are used as blending templates, like oversized french curves. I save, or make templates, of the boards that work really well, or that were proclaimed to be “magic” by the people I made them for. I suspect this is true for the majority of serious shapers.
I used to make templates for all my boards but nowadays I use swing templates which are based on my original templates. Some of the curves that I use for a longboard are even used for my fishes.
Steve