Just ordered a roll of JPS glass and they have raised their prices considerablly. I order 4oz warp 27" wide and the last roll was $1.92 a yard but it’s gone up to $2.74 a yard and there’s no oil in fiberglass. Acetone and resin has been going up but I can understand that due to the oil thing. I’ll probably go into shock when I order the next roll of 30" wide 6oz, oh well guess it’s time for a price increase. Aloha,Kokua
Kokua,
Are you getting the 60 yd rolls?That’s a chunk of dough bro.Hope all is good.Herb
Kokua,
At the beginning of Sept I ordered a roll (125yds) of 6oz warp,
from Graphite Masters in LA. 323-261-1107.
It was a $1.83 yd + CA tax, ordered locally (no shipping cost).
Maybe after shipping it would still be cheaper?
Howzit Herb, The rolls of 4oz I buy are around 160 yards, so now we're talking a bigger wad of Bucks. Usually lasts me about 3 - 4 months. 6 oz usually comes in 125 yd, but my last roll of 6oz was 155 yds. Aloha,Kokua
our glass went up last month too… fibreglass yarn is used in the manufacture of aircraft and light weight weaponry… its kinda in high demand in usa i believe… weapons of mass deception of something
kokua, there may not be any oil in glass but you have to use some thing to power what ever they use to get the raw stocks to the mill, you have to run the mill, and you have to lub the equip. It is sad to say but our world is all about oil. $50 a barrel is a lot of money for crud oil. I was told yesterday that resin is up to $900 a drum. Ya your right it is time for prices to go up every where not just surfboards. Wish my pay would track with that.
Much of the these price increases have to do with world economy and the emergence of the third world. Especially China and India. Between those two they encompass almost half the world’s population and their respective economies are booming. 10 - 15% growth per year and almost all of it in manufacturing. The US and western Europe are the strongest economies in the world today. Don’t expect to continue to see this. These emerging countries are power houses and will eventually surpass as consumers of resources. This is happening right now and translates to higher prices on every manufacturing commodity. Oil is just one commodity that is being used at ever increasing rates by these emerging countries and look at what’s happened to prices there in the last five years. And anyone who thinks that our energy cost is what we pay at the pump hasn’t looked closely at how many tax dollars we’re pouring into the middle east. That’s money out of your pocket going to protect your supply and the oil companies get to skim your pocket supported by your military that you pay for! Wonder who the oil lobies own? Feeling that “sucker” stamp on your forehead yet?
Be aware that those emerging governments play the international trade rules better than we do and are winning the economic wars on all fronts. IMHO our mediocre economy of the past five years is the first grizzly evidence of the effects of the long standing US focus on out of control defense spending, out of control consumerism (which has led to incredibly unbalanced trade deposits) and the unabashed shipment of western technology by greedy outsourcing corporate entities all in the name of short term profits. US government entities, both republican and democrat, seek short term approval from constituents with short term solutions to long term issues. Shipping our money, resources, technology and jobs overseas cannot continue indefinitely. Without significant policy changes, our children and grandchildren are f#&ked.
Howzit Greg, Sounds like we are heading towards a economic meltdown like the USSR went through in the early 90’s. On another note Rick Holt said to say hi and he was telling me some stories about the days of the trailer and you 2 building boards there. Aloha,Kokua
My last (four? months ago) price on 125 yards of 6-oz non-warp was about $2.32 per yard, it was suggested that warp would be the same. Guess that’s no more.
But for a longboard using 8 yards of glass, what’s the real, per-board cost of the glass price increase? Noise level.
For those of us who make boards to avoid paying shop prices, we’ll still see pretty much the same difference b/c the shops pay more too.
Back to regularly scheduled programming…
Howzit Honolulu, Warp glass and E glass go for the same price. From what I understand it was the JPS brand that went up in price but Hexel didn't yet. But I like using JPS instead of Hexel and didn't even ask what it goes for these days. If you use Hexel you should be OK for now, but if you're a JPS guy then you will get a shock on your next order. One good thing about Ted at FH is he goes out of his way to find deals on products for us guys in Hi. Aloha, Kokua
GL
Last figures I saw had China per capita oil consumption at 1.7 barrels a day. Predictions - if China follows the same trajectory of county’s industrializing in recent history - (US per capita between 1900 and 1970 rose from 1 b/yr to 28 b/yr) calls for China’s oil consumption to double in next 10- 15 years.