finally took the first step to shape!

went to mitch’s after a windy longboard session at swarmies, and picked up a 91Y, 62C, 2gals of lam resin, a gal of gloss resin, 2 finboxes, and some uv catalyst. ran out of money at that point, so the cloth and styrene will simply have to wait till wednesday of next week, unless i come across some money.

planning on making, with the 91Y, an 8’6 or so mini-log. something i can take out when its not totally flat, and still do some longboarding stuff, but mostly a board that i can let people borrow who dont have a longboard to use on small days. im planning around 8’6 x 23 x 3, or so, with 50/50 rails blending into a hard rail at the tail, which will probably be a square tail. a slight kick in the tail to turn it easily when standing back, and a shallow, long concave in the thinly foiled, wide nose. not sure about what i’m going to do with color, but i’m sure i’ll try SOMETHING to cover up my mistakes! either 2x6 deck and 6 bottom, or 8oz volan, if its not too pricey.

second up is going to be around a 6’ singlefin disc. wide, round nose, and wide, round tail. flatter on the deck, but foiled thin in the nose and tail. heck, maybe even an ever so slight concave in the nose for those cheater 5’s. a pretty hard down rail throughout the whole board, to aid the fin in the fact that the tail will be so wide. once again, i’ll probably do color, but who knows. if i decide to make it light, then 2x4oz on top and 4 on the bottom, if heavy, probably 2x6 on the deck, and 4 on the bottom (since i have a tendency to ding rails, the rails will be double wrapped from the deck. if heavy, then i’ll go with color, if light, ill stay with clear.

phew. so then, any suggestions? i’ll probably just freehand outlines on both, then transfer them to the other side, using cardboard, masonite, whatevers.

oh, yeah. would you all suggest trying the finbox for them both, or doing glassons? which would be better suited to a first-timer?

My best advice as a fellow newbie:

Don’t freehand your outlines!! Make templates, out of masonite preferably. Take LOTS of time to get them perfect. I spend as much time making a template as I do shaping the foam, possibly more. The better your outline when you start, the more pleasing to the eye your finished boards will be.

thats what i pretty much meant. freehand it on the blank, probably after making dots for widepoint, nose, and tail, then transfer it to cardboard/masonite or whatever.

just out of curiosity…where can i get masonite? local home improvement stores don’t have it, and i don’t know where else to look. also, can i get pieces up to 10’ long or more?

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soulstice I found some at a local lumber yard here in FLA.and asked about the 10’ sheets. They said they can special order it but you have to buy a whole bundle. 60 sheets at 9-10$ a sheet I couldn’t afford that so I just use the 8 footers and a piece of drop or use part of the straight edge side for the tail.

well…we’ve got you and me so far…i could make good with 2 pieces, so lets find 28 more people and then we’ll be set!

You can make a “spin” template with a single 8’ sheet that could theoretically cover a 16’(?) outline. For the template on the 11’6" just posted, I took door skin material and had it cut lengthwise at lumber yard. I butted two pieces end to end, then contact cemented a staggered layer over that. Ended up with a full length half template that worked out pretty good. I’ve been tracing templates on bottom and deck to avoid warbles along the top edge when truing the cut outline. I find it difficult to keep a saw perfectly vertical as I cut. The deck and bottom lengths may be off a bit due to rocker but tracing both sides gives a reference line to follow.

if you’re doing a run of the same log(8 to 10’ or bigger)then you may want a full temp. but for a few boards its important to temp the 1st 40" or so of the nose and tail, then get your old fishin pole (be sure to mark the width every 6" so your’e right on) and blend the nose/tail with the radius of the pole. this way you get a flowing rail line. a piece of good hard cheap paneling will work. refer back to yesterdays posting @ 6:40pm,with pics. his rails ,esp near the tail look a little off(for a first shape its fantastic, my 84 yr old mother still has pics of my 2nd shape back in 1969, i hope no one ever sees them). the long,sweeping lines of a fiberglass fishin pole will give it a flowing curve(why do you think old men like to fish so much? they like them nice curves.