I am aware that American shapers are getting very frustrated with some of the poor quality foam that they have been forced to use in the last six months.
I know that a lot of US dollars have been tied up in worthless containers of junk product!
Without pinpointing suppliers, it could be said that the shortcomings of what is available are just unbelievable.
For those who are tearing their hair out and need relief - Matt Ambrose (Pacifica, Cal) has several thousand blanks from Australia available!
I have finally got my shaping room woes worked out and have settled in on several Surfblanks Aus. (Midgtet Farrelly) that I got thru Akubird Foam on Oahu(Jimmy Freese). I am totally happy with the blanks, They cut nice , are consistent in density and are bright white. I’ll be picking up four of them from the glass shop this week. Can’t wait to see them. A good glass job by Gott is only going to compliment the great foam. Also I used the CNC milling services of Chris Nakamura at Progressive Shapes in the same building as Akubird. Easy to work with and helpful. Especially since I am such a computer illiterate.
Since Feburary I’ve had the good fortune to work on blanks made from your foam formula via Teccel. In my 20+ years working in this industry, this is the best foam I’ve ever painted on. It’s actually better foam than Clarks. It’s great to know that it will be produced domestically in the near future.
As to the fustration with poor quality blanks, it is not just with some of the imported foam. Without mentioning names, most of the domestically produced foam I’ve worked on since Feburary, has been pretty inferior.
This is not to stir up anything because it’s just fact and completely understandable, a few months ago Matt wouldn’t sell me blanks unless I was having them cut on his machine. Has that changed?
Howzit?!? Most of our local shapers have been shaping Surfblanks for a while now, and everyone is pretty stoked on the foam. The foam is some of the cleanest that I’ve ever used. Most of us here have found that you need to rough shape the blank a little closer because the hardness of the foam makes it a little harder to fine sand. We glass with F.H. ‘white’ resin, and the things come out super bright. The density of the foam enables you to save 1/3 the amount of resin to laminate. I like the foam a lot. the stringers are really clean, minor bubbles. I’m not super stoked on the foils of some of the short-board blanks, but a combination of imagination and elbow grease seems to take care of that. My hui just got a container of another brand of Aus. foam, have to shape some first to see what’s up with that. Saw some Chinese/Walker foam, which I thought looked kind of junk. I’ve been shaping a few stray Clark blanks, they are just “okay”, kinda shitty. Heard that our local blank guy, after holding out on over 300 Clark blanks, is now trying to sell those blanks so he can use the superior Aus. foam for his orders instead. There has always been a big twist problem out here with Clark foam, and after over 6 months of “curing” in a hot little warehouse, I would imagine that the things are pretty well tweaked. From what I’ve been seeing, Surfblanks- #1. Aloha…RH
this is a reply to comments about the surfblanks in northern cal, i have been selling these blanks with no requirement on cutting on my machine for about 5 weeks, i have been distributing to santa cruz and selling out of my wherehouse in south san francisco anyone who is interested in this quality is welcome, sorry i have not been able to let everyone know that i changed policy.
thanks matt ambrose
contact info;
(650) 464-7224 cel
(650) 872-7990 wk
you know i remeber reading not to long ago that you (midget) stated “i would never sell to the whiney american shapers” I guess the good ol’ american dollar is a bit stronger than the aussie dollar? could you let us whiney shapers in on how your product is so superior to what is available at the moment, but please dont pinpoint any suppliers.
Scoop you sound a little bitter ! Wouldn’t Midget sell to you ? What’s he mean by “Good luck with your Sth African Foam? “ ?? You didn’t get caught by Safari like the rest of us “whiney American shapers” ??? I got my hands on a 6’4” Surfblanks the other day. The foam was superior to anything I’ve seen for a while . Didn’t need anyone to tell me I could see for myself . Maybe you should get one for yourself and see why its that good . Maybe they will even give you one if your willing to eat humble pie later !
Walker Foam is doing a much better job these last 6 weeks. I have gone through over 100 blanks without issues. Made in America for American Shapers. Harold Walker has been making foam longer then anybody out there. Sure there were some issues after the shut down, however most of the problems have now been worked out. I did shape some imported foam from the third world and I watched the rails shrink before the made it to the glass job. Many longboard blanks were hollow like a beehive. I’ll stay with Walker and support an American Company.
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Scoop you sound a little bitter ! Wouldn’t Midget sell to you ? What’s he mean by “Good luck with your Sth African Foam? “ ?? You didn’t get caught by Safari like the rest of us “whiney American shapers” ??? I got my hands on a 6’4” Surfblanks the other day. The foam was superior to anything I’ve seen for a while . Didn’t need anyone to tell me I could see for myself . Maybe you should get one for yourself and see why its that good . Maybe they will even give you one if your willing to eat humble pie later !