Interesting. We’ve become a bunch of “bemoaners”. Sat around and talked with a guy the other day in his 70’s. he started on Balsa. Lived in the Islands in the late 50’s. we were laughing about the "Pioneer Inn. He quit surfing when he moved to Oregon. Started fishing Comercial and chop gunning Dorys.
LMAO.
Bullseye. Ass-pants in particular…
(Of course, as a teen 0f the 60s, I’m not sure I looked much better – hair, clothes and all the trappings.)
_____
The newer generation has grown up with most things available in an instant. There is no waiting, no patience, and very little discipline. It is a rare adolescent that can focus and follow through with anything other than a video game. Those are the ones that are worthy of being taken under a masters wing. There are many crafts and trades that are being lost except for a few true master craftsman. Will hand shaping be next?
Eh
Forgive me!
How truly blessed.
Just got news that the balance in my O’hana
has been upset.
Got a baseball team!
Boys 5 Girls 4!
Here is #4 Deegan.
Works hard on swimming, cuz he wants to surf.
“clean da shop”
Your too young for power tools!
Maybe we’ll have to raise 'em…
LOL…
Yep. I agree; did you make the point of that concept, (and what the value of it means) to your young friend as they were walking out the door? Not every lesson is obvious, and that may have been one they failed to notice was even there to be learn’t.
I’m just trying to put myself into your young friend’s (teenage?) mindset, in order to try and see things through their eyes and guess at their motivation for making the decision they did. From their point of view I’m guessing they figured they’d seen enough to take their first crack at shaping what they personally wanted to make (a shortboard), and didn’t want to spend further time watching something else being shaped (the mid-length board) that they didn’t perceive as being relevant to what they wanted to do. The subtle mistake there being a misperception in what they were actually there to learn/what you were trying to teach them; how to make any kind of a surfboard to a high level of quality and in an accurate and reliable manner, rather than the making of two differently shaped kinds of surfboard.
They may well have been stoked after that first lesson, wanted to start practicing what they’d just seen and couldn’t wait to have a go at making their first board. Right now. The stereotypical impatience of youth… mind you, I daresay there’s more than a few grown adults around here on Sways who, out of sheer excitement at the prospect, stampede into trying to shape their first board after reading only the absolute barest basics as to how to do so :)
On the other hand though, your young friend well have just got bored and lost interest! It happens I’m afraid :)
But I’m just guessing here. Only they know the truth of it. If it bothers you, go ask 'em why they walked out 5 minutes into the mid-length, and explain what it was you were trying to teach and why it’s so valuable to them.
Mind you, at the end of the day, their motivation is not your responsibility. If they don’t want to learn their lessons the easy way from you, they’ll just have to learn them the hard way by themselves (i.e. by making a few sloppy boards that don’t work the way they ought to because they were made poorly and in an inaccurate manner). At which time they may well realise their mistake and come back to you to learn how to do it right. Whether by then, the door’s still open to them for that is up to you.
Anyway, while your young friend’s walking out during the mid-length may disappoint you, from one perspective there is at least a silver-lining to all of this; it’s probably a good thing for you (and all the other pro shapers out there) that a very large proportion of “young friends” who want to learn how to shape don’t last very long at it; if every surfer on the planet was mad keen on making their own equipment, were totally capable of that and actively did so, you’d have been out of a job since day one! Well, you’d have to have do something different at any rate to make a living.
So cheer up ace, count your blessings for that, keep your fingers crossed that your young friend realises their mistake and comes back to learn some more, and in the meantime, keep your eyes peeled for a different one who’s willing to go the distance and learn all that you willingly wish to teach.
Lastly, and most importantly of all; good on you for being willing to do so 
Cheers all
L.I.T.,Please back up your comments…with photos or build threads or something…are you a writer?
Hey ACE, thanks for all you input over the years…Watched Resinhead shape a gun one day…wow. no bullshit. the guy knows his stuff…changed the way I look at a project…Going off the grid for about 2 weeks,hope we find surf…Stingray
No one has mentioned how rude the “young snot” was by walking out without showing any appreciation. A simple, “I have to go to…” Would have been much nicer. Let’s not say “he was bored”, "“he thinks he saw enough” etc. He was rude and entitled.
I’ve had things thrown at me while I was under tutelage for way less than that and I never even considered walking out that door. ACE, did you at least hurl a bone at him as he was walking out the door? He probably tripped up on his sagging pant legs on the way out anyway.
“L.I.T”…First off he is older than “teenage”…The second board was on day two of “shaping school” BE THERE ON TIME SIT IN THE CORNER SHUT UP AND WATCH are my rules. Questions when I ask “got any”…he was told that second board was a pull out all the tricks shape…I am not going to ask anybody why they left I DO NOT CARE it is your loss not mine…I do not need to be told to “cheer up”. I am old and grumpy and proud of it. I started this because he is not the first “younger” guy to walk into my shaping room saying “I want to learn how to shape” only to leave in a in a trail of dust when they see it is actual WORK. It is not “call the man” Bikined chicks everywhere “sick” I am a shaper dude we’re cool…it is do it yourself work. I think he is going to spend $600 at some fancy shapers “studio” with couchs and purple painted waiting rooms with mirrors on the wall so you can see how cool you look to hang out in becuase they have to be better then my backyard dusty old shack free lessions…
local area surfer here in his early 30’s who didn’t really sink his teeth into surfing until his 20’s and really took to it. One of the best barrel riders in the area. Prefers small classic twin fins and long single fins. Has assembled a highly impressvie collections of boards, with an emphasis on hand shaped Takyama’s, Frye’s, Andreini’s and Christensons.
Shaped his first board last year, a small twin fin, ripped on it this winter in solid overhead waves. His next board a classic 9’9 California pintail. Just completed his 9th board, a clone of a 9’6 Skip Frye that he found at the Bird Shed. Hand shaped in one room, the Frye on a stand in the next. Nailed it so well I told him I want one, which he will be shaping with his next run. He wants to shape some more boards then start spending some time with a master shaper to take it up to the next pesonal level. He’s not looking to go big, just make good boards for himself and friends. He’s got the eye, and he’s got the hands.
Some want to do it, and can’t. Others do it and shouldn’t. A few can and should.
A good surfer can surf anything. A good shaper specializes and find his niche. The designs that are dull, retro, etc fall away as he begins to refine and evolve. A good shaper doesn’t worry about what’s in vogue or what the guy in the next bay is churning out. A smart shaper sends a potential customer to another shaper rather than deviate from what he knows best and what he is best at. So many shapers these days are not “war heroes, they just got caught”. Frye’s best work was the stuff he did in the 70’s and 80’s. primarily “Eggs”. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should. Here in the NW; I know a half dozen young shapers who have anywhere from 15 ------ 200 boards under their belt. All pretty fair shapers. At least as far as short boards go. Which is what most of them are interested in. One guy is seventeen and has shaped 16 boards in the last 1 1/2 years. Most of them have found their preference and are refining their skills and their shapes. Lowel
Right on McDing. If you are going to invest time on teaching someone, choose wisely. I am of the school of learn how to crawl before you walk and run. It is a process. Letting a person touch your planer is visit 40 in my book. Building a surfboard from start to finish is very complicated, messy and difficult. I have a few people a year pay to the build their own board. One in forty go from start to finish. Complications, difficulties or messiness usually means I finish the board. I love Ace’s shapes I would love to have the chance to learn from him if I was a neighbor. He is totally right. Not his loss at all. When you find the right person to invest in it will be obvious. Believe me, when I was looking for mentorship in the late 80’s and early 90’s I got poo pooed right and left. Cards held tight to chest. I learned on my own. It isn’t hard if you are determined. Then JC shaping 101 and cnc machines changed everything. The talent is out there. Many just don’t need any of us to acheive their goals. Not sure who is to blame here when I think about it.
i just gave a lesson to a guy who had already built a shaping room with lights, racks , ventilation, vac system…but hadn’t shaped a board yet. When I asked him if he needed any specialized tools he said no…what he really needed was a lesson. So he came over and I shaped a blank, letting him do a bit of each step…then started on his own blank, which he took home to finish off (along with a box of assorted shaping tools). The “practice” blank is already spoken for and will go to Costa Rica where another amigo bought some land for a surf shack …first of a quiver. No money changing hands for any of this, just for fun and the love of waves. I had too many tools anyway!
“Do I really need all those tools?” he asks “They are expensive, can’t I just use yours?”…
NOW YOU’VE DONE IT ! You made me laugh so hard, I now have a hernia ! An ambulance is on the way now!!!
At least it was not a heart attack…