hello all…just figured id say that tonite i started shaping my first blank. its a 5’8 fish, ill post pics soon. i have been surfing for 20+ yrs and always wanted to try. i got two clark blanks and after staring at them for weeks, lurking on swaylocks for months, i deided to just go ahead and do it. im pretty sure by everyones standards here my board will be a total p.o.s but i can wait ride what i made. thanks for the site and ill post pics this week.
welcome to Swaylocks Joshthebaker...
i'm thinking that your first couldn't be worse than my first... but, at least, it was rideable.
please post pics, i'd like to see 'em and i'm sure others would too...
i have the same issue: overthinking what i wanna make... i need to just make one, then move on to
the next and not overanalyze... overthinking leads to paralysis. they're just surfboards right? improve on the next one.
here she is…im sure she’ll be bad so im calling it the fish fart
https://swaylocks7stage.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/photo(2).jpg
Looks good from here bro.
Like chrispy says , make it , enjoy it and move on.
Hey Josh
welcome
bevel that crack at the stringer and it will be sweeeeeeeet!
lookin good for #1
i beveled the tail a bit more and dremeled the stringer. its going to be a week or so before i can glass i still have to order material. i wasnt sure if i should do uv cure resin or not. any imput?
josh
i would recommend using uv curing resin. it will allow you the extra time you will need to glass your first board. when i glassed my first, i was all frantic and panicy(sp?). there is no way that i could have done my first board with catalyst without having someone experienced there with me.
the board looks good bro. i hope you get as much enjoyment making and riding your own boards as i do.
brasco
make sur you got a sunny day and use the uv cat for lamming
as brasco says it will give you time to learn
just make sure you walk it in and out of the sun as to slow kick it ,,,less gassing
Josh,
Nice job for a first board! Now the fun begins with glassing. My simple advice, don’t get too anal trying to get the glass perfect b/c it can drive you nuts. It’s for your eyes only. Otherwise, wear some gloves when handling the blank to avoid dirt and fingerprints on it (ask me how I know). NJSurfer had some good advice of laying the cloth, trimming the laps, pull the laps onto the top and before pouring on the resin, paint the rails with some resin. Then unfold the cloth, now the laps will stick much easier. Saved me a lot of headaches as I hate glassing the laps and all the little “pulls”/strings that come out. Anyway, great start and thanks for sharing the picture. Keep the stoke!
Postman
Looks good mate.
One suggestion if I may.
Make sure the blank is clean before you glass it. Blow the s#!t out of it with the airhose if you have one.
For some reason the first few boards that new shapers do always look like they shaped it next to the coal loader at the steel works.
Then when they bring it to me to glass I have to spend half an hour trying to clean the friggin thing before I can even put it on the glassing racks. I cant bring myself to charge them for cleaning it. Especially when they're on such a high from shaping their own board.
Sorry for the rant, But yeah just make sure its nice and clean and you'll have a beautiful white board instead of a grey, brown, dusty P.O.S.
Yes use the UV cure resin it will save you untold amounts of stress.
Good luck.
hopefully ill be ordering cloth and resin early next week and will post the progress. i rounded the nose a bit last week, its cazy how in the middle of shaping the board i figured out a million things i will do differently on my next one! since i shaped it i literally have been soaking up every piece of info on glassing that i can. sometimes i think im overanalyising it but hopefully itll pay off once i pour it on!