Quote:
sbvfive / Scott,
As I can read, you’re not quite a biginer at EPS shaping.
That one was my first try ever with such a “strange” foam.
The fact is I’ve seen the limits of “traditional” shaping on that one.
I really believe I’ll try and make myself specific tools such as the one I’ve seen on shaperoom.
It looks a lot more acurate than the only surform rasp.
That’s the bevel tool I’ve seen.
Lob, that tool looks awesome. I have one that I used for awhile that was a similar concept, I posted pics on here once. I will try to get some pics again. The guide can be changed out, to accommadate cutting railbands measuring from the top or the bottom…it worked pretty well…
although, my last few boards, i have cut my railbands using masking tape as a guide. I literally tape off my railbands, and then use one of my hotwires to cut it. As long as you keep the temp of the wire down, and keep moving, you wont burn through the tape. This gives me even more accuracy than my railband tools, and more freedom. I can cut curves and stuff if I want. I also have a small detail hotwire, and I am getting more comfortable with that. I actually cut the swallow tail on my last fish with it, freehand!
Good luck and keep on it! Your board looks awesome, and each one will get better and better as you start to understand the EPS more…it isn’t like poly, its a different beast, but you will get used to it and it will become second nature. I have actually just crossed over to the point where I have now done more EPS boards than Clarks, and I feel more comfortable with EPS now!
Edited to add Pic…
Blakestah, you are so right! I can’t understand when people say it is hard to work with when I shape a standard shortboard, from hotwiring the blank to finsh sanding, in under an hour! And I am not a very talented shaper!! Sammy Barker at RR literally shaped himself a shortboard one time while I was there picking up resin, while I talked to him! It took him about 12 minutes, hahaha.
It just seems to me, that alot of people are oppossed to EPS because it is a “differnt beast” if you will. In the end, you are still removing foam with some tools to get a surfboard, right?? I think the problem lies when people treat it like it is poly…you don’t treat you friends like you treat your girl, right? I think that once people recognize the differences and treat them appropriately, EPS shaping suddenly won’t seem that hard.
A perfect example is Matt from Lost over at surfermag. I basically harass him over there because I can’t believe the audacity of the uninformed statements he made about Greg, but at the same time i know that with his resources, he could easily work up to some type of reasonable production with EPS. I know nothing about machine shaping with EPS, but I have seen you and others answer his questions numerous times!! if people spent less time trying to make EPS into a replacement for Poly, and more time figureing out the subtleties of EPS by itself, we could see alot of progress in a very short time!!
And I step off my soap box…
