Hi guys i want to make a fish board inspired in the channel island fishcuit. I was going to order all the stuff, but i realized i was going to get charged 160 bucks or more only to ship the blank. so i came up with the idea to make my own surfboard blank.
now here are the questions, Im not really sure how to put the stringer in the board, what kind of wood should I use, and the specs of the wood. also how to cut it.
what would be the best glue to paste the foam to the stringer?
correct me if im wrong, to add the rocker to my surf board i have to cut the stringer with rocker so it would give rocker to the foam.
and I was thinking to work with eps foam, what density should i get?
thank you very much, sorry for asking too much, but ive been searching about making surfboard blank and there is not information about it
Where are you located ? If you title your thread a little differantly you may find someone from Swaylocks that would be able to help you out. For a first board you really should use a manufactured blank. Making your own blank involves alot more than gluing two pieces of foam together.
making your own blanks from EPS involves buying a block, building a hotwire, making rocker templates, hotwiring your blanks, and gluing stringers. any and all of those terms can be put into the search box at the top right of the swaylocks page and you can and will find way more info than you need. it’s all in there… if you only plan on doing a couple boards, you might be better off just biting the bullet and paying for shipping… another option is explained in detail on this thread:
FoamEZ in Westminster can set you up with a compelte kit to build your first board. It never fails that when a first timer oders a blank and materials that he overlooks catalyst, suracing agent etc or some other important ingredient. Brad puts together a kit that gives you all you need to buid a first board. I don't know what the shipping out of Westminster to Arizona is like. Otherwise Mitch's Surf Shop and Surfblanks America are in the San Diego area(Oceanside). It's a straight shot out of SD for shipping to Arizona. You'll get more money and time tied up in a block of EPS, Hotwire, designing and building rocker templates than you would a kit and the shipping. There's alot to learn just in the shaping and glassing of a blank without adding the extra and somewhat complicated step of cutting your own blank. There are people from Sways in your area. Take a surf trip like someone above mentioned. Visit one of the supply houses and blow your mind. It's a big adventure.
Shaping and glassing are hard enough - trying to make your own blanks will just increase the level of difficulty. It probably would be cheaper just to pay for the shipping on a kit because you’re going to be paying for the shipping for the other stuff in the kit anyway. Adding a blank to it probably won’t add that much extra in shipping costs.
Another alternative for your blanks is WNC Foam out of San Diego, or Segway Composites out of Ontario (CA). I buy stringerless EPS blanks from WNC at $35 and $40 each on a regular basis. I like their foam. I’ve heard nothing but good things about Segway foam, too.
I can’t imagine the hassle of cutting, foiling and shaping a decent rocker through a horizontal blank lay-up.
If I was going to try to build my own blank out of local EPS or XPS I think I’d run the rocker profile through AKU, print it out and transfer the template to masonite, trace that out on flat stock (preferably 2" or 3" or 4" thick) several times and glue the layers together so the seams ran vertically, not horizontally. Skip the wood stringer altogether based on those glue lines. Use Epoxy and microballoons or possibly wood flour as the adhesive so it will shape a bit better. If you’re using 1# foam you can laminate with fat laps and glass the fins on, using one of those stick-on leash plugs. That way you’re not relying on 1# foam to hold in the finboxes or leash plug.
That’s a lot of hassle, though. I think you’ll get a much better result following McDing’s advice and ordering the kit.
i think im going to try to make the blank out of that sheating insulation , if it doesnt work ill try to make a surf trip to san diego and buy the stuff there