Both of you have mentioned in numerous threads that shaping really takes enormous amounts of time and dedication to really perfect the craft as well as a wealth of knowledge about various hull, rail and shape nuances. I’ve got all the videos except yours Jim. I’m saving my pennies for the Master Series, but Greg specifically mentioned a number of different bottom shapes during a recent debate about the quality vs. time argument about a shaper. Where can I at least read about these different shapes, their effects and also how to shape them into boards. I realize a mentor is the best option, but finding one is proving to be the holy grail of New Jersey. I’m a firm believer in the details, as this is what makes good great, and am searching for these details in every area I can. Any reccomendations of books, articles, demonstrations or hell even mentors? Oh and Jim, I talked my buddy into buying a 9’6 high gloss board, nice wooden tail and nose blocks, from Wavejammer out here about a month ago. Finally got to try it out and it’s amazing. Very smooth rail to rail and extremely stable. Very fun.
Christian, I gather from your post that you are from the Toms River area. There are a few shapers from your area that may be willing to help you out. “If ye seek, ye shall find.” I’d be willing to help, but I don’t feel fully qualified. E-mail me if you need to. A good book to get some info from is Essential Surfing by George Orbelian. A good surf shop should be able to get it for you.
Really? I’ve emailed planet blue, Tom eadon and paul baymore. No luck with any of them. Can I get your email? I appreciate the help, gonna go check out that book today.
One of my personal pet peeves over the years, has been the absence of surfboard related information in our incredibly fine surf media. As this has gone on through the years, many of the more advanced techniques, and even some design attributes, have been either lost to time or only still exist in the cobwebbed corners of a handful of aging shaper’s minds. So much is not written down. Never has been. For so many years any attempt to share findings were rebuffed by a media that had the attitude that, “I don’t think that Surfer Magazine is the forum for surfboard design.” You will note that I put quotations around that last comment. That quotation was said to me by the then editor of Surfer. So getting back to the question at hand, to my knowledge, nothing is written and the only way to find out these things is to find someone who knows and get them to show you. Or to get the folks here on Swaylocks to write it. This IS the forum. The best EVER in the history of the sport.
Greg it’s funny you say that about the media. As a graphic designer I’ve been contemplating the market for such a resource. While swaylocks is an incredible resource, it’s not portable sometimes tedius to sift through and in some cases repititious. This is by no means a negative view of the resource but rather a caveat of the delivery methods. Of the last few months I’ve printed out threads and entire websites (captured in PDF if anyone would like them) and have begun a large binder collection. As I gather more knowledge and consolidate the findings, I’ve been thinking about making a book and/or file that we can distribute to be printed up cheaply in kinkos. Consider it a shop manual of sorts. I’m going to kick around this idea more and see what I can come up with.
Christian, That’s a great idea. As I’ve looked for resource material on surfboard building, I came to the conclusion that there is woefully little information out there, and what is available is not always current. An organized compilation of Swaylock knowledge is needed and, I’m sure would be well received. Go for it. Doug
Yeah I think that’s the direction I’m heading. I’m exploring some delivery methods and options as part of the problem is that swaylocks is forever changing and improving as is the information. The inital idea is to create a document by subject matter and do a sort of “Print on Demand” philosophy. I’ll create the document and create a way to receive orders for the document. All I’ll ask is for people to pay for Printing and Shipping. Printing would be done at Kinkos and spiral bound with plastic 1/4" binders. I’d love to work with some of the seasoned Veterans(Greg, Jim, etc.) to enhance, clarify and improve the content as well. To keep up, perhaps i can do “editions”. For those who’ve got the first volume or edition, you can print up and purchase the “Update” lets say. For those who’ve got none of the prior editions they can print up and purchase the entire volume. I’m not looking to make a profit, so postage and printing costs would be it. Give me a few days as I am swamped in work to come up with a concrete plan and we’ll go from there. I’m glad to at least see some response. My main concern also is to not step on the toes of swaylocks. Maintaining the integrity and flow of information here is my ultimate goal and intention, so if there are any naysayers out there, please voice your concerns as I’d love to make everyone happy.
Howzit Christian, the reason some questions are repeated and so are the answers is new people to the site who don’t use the archives which are full of info.Aloha, Kokua
Christian how about making your collection available on the web and let the user print it.
Christian, great idea about a printed version of surfboard info. My e-mail is . I’ll try to help you out any way that I can.
Perhaps anyone interested in such a project might ask Mike here at swaylocks for permission to paraphrase this sight. Just thinking about keeping things above board.
Mike and others have tried to condense a lot of stuff in the “Article” section of Resources and would probably welcome additional compilations if published here. I would personally be a little tweaked if someone took any of my comments here(not that any of them are worth a crap) and published them without properly referencing Mike “Swaylock” Paler.
Greg, that is my main concern to not undermine Mike, the board and it’s members. I was planing on emailing him tomorrow from work when I got in. Jim, this is also another option but will have to wait and see how big the file gets. If by some odd chance it gets to 80+ pages a PDF could be quite large and demand a lot out of home use ink jets. But the option would most definitely be there. Kokua, it wasn’t a knock on the board in the least. I myself have asked questions that I’m sure have been asked 100 times. My main reason is for the quick reference while in a jam or in the shaping room. Others who would like to help, I’m going to gather my thoughts, email Mike and get a plan of action together to figure it all out and hopefully have something to think about on Monday. Glad to see this is getting a somewhat good response and it’d be my pleasure to help out in any little way I could.
I haven’t yet figured out how to edit my posts. But I forgot to address Lee’s point. This was also another thought I have. Many people provide valuable feedback, opinions and insight at no charge so it would be insane to even think to charge or essentially copy the ideas as mine or anyone elses. I was hoping to work with Mike and anyone else on the board to really make this a community thing rather then some sort of “Global” or “Mass Market” publication. I am definitely aware and respectful of those concerns as I’ve been the victim of such acts numerous times while contributing to various design and web projects.
in a pdf format u can choose the page or pages to print
Just a quick update. I emailed Mike this morning about the idea and hope to hear from him soon either way. Thanks for all who’ve contributed to the original question though.
howzit Christian, go to set preferences and change display to single message, this will enable you to edit your posts. Aloha, Kokua
I think publishing a free or practically free surfboard info booklet, book, pdf file etc is not undermining waht is the unwritten Swaylocks brotherhood. And that is that we are all here to share and help each other out. For so many years shaping had been a mysterious, guru dictated craft. With Clarks close tolerance blanks and surboard materials suppliers it moved into the hobbiest hands. A great many tools as well as baord building concepts were evolved simultaneous in different parts of the globe. I would love to share my board building techniques in a book. If you need collaboration or help defining the sections that should be included in such a publication, e-mail me at
Instead of making a booklet or pdf why don’t we all contribute to specific articles that would be on Swaylocks. There could be an article for each aspect of a surfboard. For example, there could be an article on rails or fin placement. Everybody could submit info ranging from the basics to the experimental. If you wanted to know everything there was to know about rails, you would know that you would simply have to go to the rails article. It would be best if someone volunteered for each article to keep the info in an organized fashion. But everybody would be allowed and encouraged to contribute. The articles would never get outdated, they would always have the newest up-to-date information. There is a lot of valuable information in the Swaylocks archives, and this would give us a way to have it all in a organized place where it is easy to find info. I already spoke with Mike and he agreed that it would be a good idea. If we each volunteered to be in charge of an article it shouldn’t be too difficult. What do you guys think?
If you guys are interested I am starting a design magazine in a few months. It’s been in the making for a year, but the time is right with the way the surfboard, and so, the designer, is being perceived. There would be regular content on every aspect of design by unifying the consistencies of the research, (ie what we agree on) yet at the same time highlighting the apparent contradictions that sometimes exist. There will be many profiles and interviews, I have enough for a few issues already, but need to mix it up before I start.(too many bloody Aussies so far) I am staying in san Clemente for another week so will get a few of you crew. eg Loehr. The move to large scale offshore making will be discussed, as well as all of the materials and technology changes, over the years. eg asses the good and bad points of the cad machines, conceptually and actually. ie what it represents to lose some of the human element and which machines are shaper friendly for design and which ones aren’t. Also the move into boards by Adidas, via Salomon, and the new shapers group in Australia called Base, which is controlling it’s destiny vertically and horizontally. Oh yeah, and there will be creative and as artistic as possible photos of girls and waves. (our poor brains will need a rest after wading thru all the text) It will be more about the board and the designer and less so the sponsored surfer. (heaven forbid,is it possible that we have something to contribute?!) Greg Webber