Ice9 7'0" HPS blank... now what?

General Discussion
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Quote:
Rick

How far away are you from Exit 98 on the Parkway, I have everything needed to make boards.I could show you step by step what to do, shaping, glassing, sanding, polishing. I just shaped and glassed a 7’ 4" Hybrid Ice 9 blank and I brought 2 boards made with Ice 9 foam at the AB3.I’m in the second to last photo you took, I’m standing next to my buddy Gene Wahl Jr

Tom

I’m back and forth between Princeton and Lavallette so 98 is doable from Lavallette. I send you a PM.

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One more question. Is there a way to convert the APS3000 plan shape to pdf so that I can print it out and make a template similar to the Greenlight ones?

There sure is…that’s the beauty of the software. I believe it’s under the File menu, then go down to print outline or something similar, search around in there, you’ll figure it out…also there are many post about it, just search aps3000 or aku shaper

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To all,

I love these first time shaping threads, it really demonstrates the ethos and spirit of Sways. Its totally A that so many people with so much knowledge and experience want to share it to help others get the same kicks. I can’t think of any other sport that encourages such generosity. Totally loving this thread. Nice one RDJ for starting it, now get some pics taken.

PEACE!

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rdj, I have not had time to read through all these replies, but if you want, I do have some hand-tools (surform, a few blocks, sharkskin, palm and random orbital sanders, etc.), large calipers (wide, but not deep) a mile of 6oz glass, and some RR epoxy if you want to go that route. I also have some experience in templating, so I can help you pull a template off a board if you want to build something based off a favored shape.

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Shop Vac?? Half the fun is making the mess.

True if there are beers involved…False if there are girlfriends or wives involved :slight_smile:

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So now that I’ve done my research and have some understanding of the process of shaping and glassing and have a bunch of great people willing to help, I figure the first step is to decide what kind of board I want to make and put all the elements together so that I’m not making last minute decisions with a plane or sandpaper in my hand.

So I stared at the blank for a little while and it looked like it was just asking to become a step-up/mini-gun type shape. But at the same time it wants some old school flair. I did my research and I think what my new 7’0" foamy friend was asking to become is something close to a JC Retro Rocket. Now I’ve only seen one of these in the store once, but I think I’d like to copy the basic idea of a step-up board with a little slightly fuller nose and the wide point set slightly foward. Now my question is, will this be a good shape for a steep punchy beach break board on bigger days? I’ve looked at the Rusty Traveler, K Step-up, Rawson Hyper Classic, T.Patterson Assassinator Step-Up, CI MSG, trying see what design elements go into a step-up board. This is not for perfect clean barrels, but more for bigger days when it gets steep to help me get in early and make me more confident on the drop… that is if it even turns out to be ridable.

So here the elements of design I have found to be somewhat common among those board (although there was a suprising amount of variation)

First about me:

I ride mostly fish, but my usual shortboard is a 6’2" CI Flyer. I’m 5’9" 165 - 170lbs, but I’m in a wetsuit (3/2, 4/3, 6/4) most of the year in NJ. I’ve found the quad set up to give me more stability on steeper drops and I need some extra volume in the winter cause I’m a crappy paddler in a 4/3.

Length 6’9"

Thickness 2 1/2"

Width 18 1/2"

Nose width at 1’ from nose 11"

Tail width at 1’ from tail 14 1/2"

Nose

Medium entry rocker (5 1/2" already in the blank)

Medium tail rocker (2 1/2" already in the blank)

Slight single concave to slight vee in the tail

Wide point slightly foward (how many inches?)

Moderate deck roll

Moderate rail volume with pinched rail going into a down rail in the tail

Slightly fuller nose

quad fins (will this work, I hope?)

Rounded pin

Does this sound right?

I wasn’t sure if a pinched rail or round rail would be better

Will this work or should I forget the extra nose volume and make it more standard step-up/mini-gun?

between the nose and tail rocker should it go flat for better paddling speed? should there be continuous rocker? It looks like the blank has slight continous rocker and I was already told to leave the rocker alone so I’m thinking stick with what’s already in the blank?

Shweew, I know this is alot so Thanks in advance!

Pictures of the virgin blank coming soon.

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I guess what I’m thinking is something like this

http://www.swaylocks.com/surfshop/Detailed/2926.html

Only with a rounded pin to fit the quad fin set up, and probably a little thinner and more performance oriented… is that possible or am I crazy? Just go with the standard step-up? Wide point at center?

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And another question. What fin system should I go with. LokBox? ProBox? Glass on? What will be easiest/best for first time?

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I’m not sure your dims are going to yield what you’re picturing. First off, a 14 1/2’’ tail on an 18 1/2’’

wide 6’9’’ is too much. Combined with an 11’’ nose, it’s not going to look anything like the board you’ve

referenced.

I’d suggest going a little wider on center, same width as your shortboard (makes switching back and forth easier).

That’ll give you more freedom on the nose and tail widths while still keeping outline curve. IMO about 11 3/4’’

nose and 13 3/4’’ tail would get you close to the ‘‘semi-semi/retro influenced’’ look you’re after.

On the planer (craftee baited me into this one):

Half the problem with using a planer the first time is that usually people are scared of it. You don’t seem to have that fear, you actually WANT to use it; so I say go for it. Practice first on any available or cheap foam.

Look over some planer use threads here or watch a good vid (Phillips’ is the best). Definitely read Barnfield’s tapered rail bands thread.

PS, if your Ice9 blank has that slick finish, rough it up first or it’ll slide off your racks.

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Thanks for the help with the dims! I’ll play with those in APS3000 tonight. The blank does have that slick coating on it so thanks again for the heads up.

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PS, if your Ice9 blank has that slick finish, rough it up first or it’ll slide off your racks.

racks? what racks?

oh yeah you’ll need some of them too…the expenses keep piling up even further…

free blank? HA!

and youre not even addicted yet…youre in deep deep doo doo dude :slight_smile:

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I’ve created a few templates in APS3000. I widened the board to 19 1/4 based on my shortboard dim, added a rounded pin tail, and created three different versions with the wide point foward, centered, and back. Then finally for a fourth version I added some volume (thickness) to the nose on the template with the wide point centered. Any thoughts on these?

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Here’s the fourth

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Quote:
PS, if your Ice9 blank has that slick finish, rough it up first or it'll slide off your racks.

.youre in deep deep doo doo dude :slight_smile:

I was afraid of that…

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hij rdj

how is the board coming along? Any news? If i am still on time, i would leave lots of width for more planeing possibilities. I cant read your brd files at work, ha!, but i would say widepoint at centre or slightly behind. otherwise the board feels longer. just put wp at 0 rocker point. Use the shape in the blank as much as possbile, that way the rocker inside will come to full blossom.

I used a 2nd hand planer once and it was crooked, fucked my blank right up, had to correct with my hand tools, so check your planer!! are the knives straight? are the sliding surfaces on bottom straight?

i would go for hand shaping first. Quite a bit of work, but very relieving. In the sense that you put some hard work into your board. And you can check more to see if you go the right way.

anyways. good luck!

Wouter

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And so it begins…

I spent last week ordering all the tools and supplies I need for my first build and planning my outline. Yep, I stepped in it deep. This is an expensive hobby… or addiction depending on how you look at it… but we’ll get to that later. After work today I drove to Tom Mahady’s place to get started on shaping my very first board. Tom was awesome enough to not only let me use his shaping facility, but also teach me the process step by step. However, I didn’t get off easy. He made me do all the work, but gave excellent instruction and described how to do everything exactly how I needed to hear it to understand what to do. Having never really touched foam I didn’t know exactly what to expect. So he had me dive right in and start mowing foam with the Bosch to level the bottom.

Notice the 45 degree angle of the planer, which Tom had to remind me to keep every time I got lazy and let it straighten out. Just for you purists, Tom also showed me how to use the surform to clean up the high spots. Once the crust was cleared and the bottom was relatively leveled, we moved on to the sander and hand planed the stringer.

Once we had a nice bottom, it was time to lay out the template. John Mellor had hooked me up with a bunch of great templates including a semi-gun (Thanks John!). I decided I wanted this board to be a semi-gun with a retro feel so the wide point had to be slightly foward. With some minor tweaking of Johns template and some measurements from Aku Shaper I was able to draw out my plan shape.

After we were happy with the template it was time to cut out the plan shape. Tom reminded me “You can take more off, but you can’t add more on” and set me loose with the hand saw for the rough cut of the plan shape.

After the rough cut we stood it up to see if we liked what we had before fine tuning the outline.

Next he showed me how to plane the rails with the e-planer then finish adjusting the outline with the sanding block, “It’s just foam” Tom reminded me. Using long stokes with the sanding block and running my hand along the edges he told me to “see with my hands”.

We worked from about 6:30 until 11pm and at the end of the night I had my bottom leveled and the outline cut and sanded smooth. Not bad for a first night. We stood it up to see how I had done.

I just have to thank Tom again because there’s no way it would have come out this good so far without his excellent teaching. I can’t wai to get back in there to finish the bottom and turn those rails.

I think I want to make it a 2 + 1 fin set-up so that I can ride it as a single fin and a 2 + 1. I was also thinking the bottom should be flat in the nose to a light single concave in the middle to maybe a vee or double concave in the tail. Any suggestions or recommendations for the bottom?

Ok time for bed. I kept Tom up late and he’s got an early day tomorrow and I’m so stoked I had to get these pics up online before I would be calm enough to fall asleep. So Tom, when’s the next time you’re ordering blanks? Cause I’m already addicted!

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Cause I’m already addicted!

Did I mention how expensive this addiction is?

:slight_smile:

Nice work. My favorite part is coming up…turning the rails.

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Right on,looking good!

Looks like my latest 7’4" to a T.Did the bottom just like you said also.My deck has a hump-Sdeck for maximum paddle power.

I took a Wane Lynch & M13 and blended the good stuff together for a retro rocket feel.

I am going single fin for the launch.You can always add more fins on later.

Good luck with the shaping OCD (to late to turn back now)and all the other fun board building itch stuff.

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Lesson #2 tonight, shaping the deck and turning the rails… STOKED!!!

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Quote:

I am going single fin for the launch.You can always add more fins on later.

Yup, definitely like the idea of 2+1 set-up with removable side bites. That should give me the option of singe fin, 2+1 and even thruster. But I’m most stoked to ride it like a classic single fin in some overhead surf.