I just gotta say…and, yes we shapers talk a lot about foam until perhaps we seem like we are foaming at the mouth…
…I shaped some U.S. Blanks earlier in the week (blue, not the new red/orange) and it shaped well with very good stringer quality…then I blew through a Walker Mowses tonight for a board I promised will be finished tomorrow aftenoon…yeah, yeah, clear speed finish…no prob…get in the car and by the time you get here from SD it will be done (wheeee!). Cured, poly UV, glass on fins (like what real men ride)…go surf it, ding it, sleep with it…
Gotta say…it was pure joy shaping that Mowses…the stuff is soooooo good.
Thank you Harold Walker for knowing what the hell shapers want.
Did you find the Ice9 harder than most foams? I just got my hands on my first I9 blank (thanks Greenlight Brian!) and ended up using the planer more than usual because I felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere with the surform and block. But the planer left a beautifully smooth surface. The surform just ripped the crap out of it. I expect this stuff to be very durable and a little less flexy than US Blanks.
I find it shapes really well with 50grit and a block; on the flex note it is definitely stiffer, but the flex is a much much more responsive one than USB.
ive had each of the different formula’s on hand (cane, mowses, and a blue USB), all stringerless, at one time. The cane has a REALLY snappy flex to it, it was by far the most responsive; the mowses was softer and less snappy but it felt very positive; the USB felt like a wet noodle compared to the other two, it flexed a lot but would just wobble…the cane was (and is) by far my favorite of the three.
I shaped my first mowses blanks a few weeks ago and have to agree; he REALLY nailed the formula…incredible stuff!
To PC and all…yes, this is Ice 9 Foam. Mowses is the formula Harold Walker brought over to Ice 9 and it is poured thru their hi tech equipment.
The harder foam you are refering to from Ice 9 is undoubtedly the Cane formula. It shapes well but nowhere in comparison to Mowses. Use 50 grit then finer…or you can do what I did and get the cushy 3M purple paintbuster abrasive sheets and glue them onto a sanding block. The abrasives are superior and cut quickly at 80 grit plus the cushion helps the process too. The Cane s an MDI foam whereas Walker’s Mowses is a rather unique formulation of TDI (Toulene Di Isocynate vs. Methyl Phenyl Di Isocynate)…Harold’s polyol approach is different than most foamers out there.
Ryan, yeah the Cane is snappy no doubt…good for small custom builders that want something lively and unique, however if you aren’t machining and really want to count on being able to zing thru foam that makes love with your planer, it’s Mowses all the way to the bank. I could handshape 15 to 20 shorties per day as long as the coffee didn’t run out. The stuff nets a strong very light board. I know your stuff is unique as well whereas I need start and finish hi performance on a weekly basis…or as in the case cited above…overnight.
I told Stu from Ice 9 when he delivered to me last week, that producing excellent foam is such an art and variable that when you hit the nail on the head, don’t change a thing.
That means that if the guys poured perfect foam then slaughtered a goat and barbecued it out back on Friday, you make damn sure you have another goat sitting there by next Friday…just don’t tell PETA.
You mean PETA is going to have a problem with our “Goat Taco Fridays”?? BTW, all are welcome for tours and tacos.
Thank you for the kind words regarding our foam. It has been, and continues to be, a lot of fun and quite an honor to work with Harold and having access to his formulas and knowledge.
Receiving positive feedback on this forum is very gratifying and our thanks and appreciation goes out for all those who have taken the time and resources to give our product a try. Our Mission Statement is “Serve Surfing” and our goal was to bring some of our experience in the plastics industry to bear on PU foam and attempt to bring some new performance options to the market. CANE and MOWSES are the first two of what we hope will be a wide variety of foam choices. We are excited (and a bit relieved) to get to this point where we have a competitive product and can assure you we will not stop our efforts for constant improvement.
When we develop a PU foam one of our prime targets is to get smaller cell sizes and a higher closed cell content. We find that these physical properties are most related to the three key areas of surfboard design: how the foam shapes, how it glasses and accepts paint, and lastly how it holds up in the water.
The smaller the cells the finer the finish and the easier it shapes. The smaller the cells the less resin is needed in glassing. The higher the closed cell content the less resin soak occurs. The smaller the cells and the higher the closed cell content the better the resistance to denting and collapse on the deck and the greater the liveliness in the ride as well as the life of the board. Rather then trying to achieve hardness chemically, which usually results in a trade-off with increased brittleness (leading to board breakage) we focus on the shape, size and closed-content of the cells. This results in increased durability without sarcrificing brittleness.
Boards with low closed cell content crush easier and lose life faster as a result. Boards with larger cells or imperfectly formed cells (through a 30X microscope the cells should look like uniform little soccer balls) also crush faster and lose life sooner.
When the choice was just Clark, foam was a commodity and the industry didn’t need to get into all these differences in foam formulations and design. Now that there are a variety of workable choices it becomes more important to understand some of these differences as you weigh your choices on which foam to use.
Again, we thank you all for the positive feedback.
Thank you for the revelaing insights into your foaming world.
There you have it…you can shape it the hard way or you can shape it the smart way…I prefer the latter over the previous. For those of you out there intent on reinventing the wheel, you can go out to the desert and when no one is looking cut down a yucca then drag it to your car and stuff it in there. Let it dry out and do all that marvelous craftsy stuff and send the pictures in.
In the meantime, I will have carved out 90 customs that people are stoked with and told two or three friends and so on. My mortgage banker (a very nervous fellow these days) thanks me for my effort.
To each their own…I’m finishing that ‘over night’ board order as we speak then hopping a plane tomorrow at noon and two hours later will be riding up the highway to Cabo…a back pack with a couple shirts and my trunks is all I need. I’ll go jump in the surf then later hop on a jetski and tear around the bay for awhile scoping out the Arch, “Lovers Beach” and nearby “Divorce Beach” (those Mexicans are so sensible…they are located close by to each other…howz that for convenience).
Sun, surf, fish tacos, beer…that’s about it…go get your yucca, I’m sticking with Mowses!