for the shapers

Going back to day of shaping your first board. Were you the type with lot’s of confidence, feeling you could catch every detail and flaw in a surf board? And if you were was there a point where you put in your place even if you studied hours at a time? I feel I have a good eye for design but am kind of scared to go for it. How did you first board turn out compared to your planned design?

                                    Thanks , 

                                                Da Cheetah

first board… i’m not the confident type but having alot of examples at hand (surf shops/boards owned by friends/family/me) really helped… I did it by hand, so it wasnt too big of a deal with uncorrectable mistakes. It turned out great, with one thin spot when the foam was on the rack and there was more resistance to my surform. I think it was actually my best board for a while because i wanted to make the first one worth the effort… glassing came out really nice too. Just take your time. Oh, and my glass on fins were horrible… but it was still worth everything i put into it.

I have only shaped 4 boards and the 1st a 6’4’’ w/ glassed on tri fins came off very close to my original intent. I was fairly confident in shaping the boards and found it to be the easier part. I have had a lot of art training in painting, drawing, sculpture and found shaping to be a blast. The only instruction came from a book and then the Carper videos. Can’t wait to see my Damascus videos this weekend and get back into shaping and glassing properly. Wish I had the great Swaylock site before tackling these tasks. ( lucky you)

The worst part of my 1st board would have to be the nose and nose rocker. It came off a bit of a needle nose and is now dubbed the swordfish. Glassing is what put me in my place. I glassed it in my apt in NYC and the room was too hot, not enough resin to fully wet out the laps properly as it kicked. Finished it off though , hot coated and hand sanded it worked better than I expected on it’s maiden voyage in good ole Rockaway. My nephew enjoys it today.

Anyway, just be confident and have fun, I am sure with all the feedback and advice on this site you will do great and have a good surf afterwards. It would be really tough not to make something that woudln’t work based on all the info. Relax, shape, glass ,sand, coat , sand, surf and don’t forget all the protective gear before starting.

Peace from the East.

For me, the first board was a magic board. It worked!! It was also a project to learn from and build on. My first boss, when I started working in construction, told me “learn to do it right, then learn to do it fast”. Take your time, check your methods, keep a daily log of progress both good and bad, and soon you’ll have the stoke of your life moving on the water with something you’ve made. And don’t sweat it too much. Hopefully it’s the first of a hundred or more. Aloha, t

I’ve just finished the bottom lam on my first board (had to just about do it twice to cover the dry spots…), heading to the store to get some things that’ll make the rest easier.

I’ll let you know how it comes out…

P

When I shaped #1, I knew only ONE shaper, and he was on board #8, so still was secretive and selective about dooling out info.

So what, materials only cost $50 for a blank, and if you blow the whole glass job also, you only waste about 120.

#1 worked really good, was precursor to bunker boards of the late 60’s, and I rode it well into #7.

Was a 6’ x 22.5 x 14"nose x 15" tail, hard downrailed single fin with Bahne box and 10" single fin.

Thanks for the feed back! I feel so much more confident now. When I gather all the tools involved I give it a go, and when I’m finished I’ll post some photo’s.

                             Thanks again, 

                                                Da Cheetah