laying an egg

General Discussion
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OK, my next real board is really gonna be a longboard.  But I haven't gotten my hands on a LB blank yet, and I had this blank I won at the the Thrailkill workshop.  And I needed some foam therapy.  And I wanted to try my new planer.  (But I haven't yet - all the offers I'm getting to sell or trade it have made me paranoid to even use it LOL, so I'm sticking with my trusty old Bosch for now hahaha.)  Anyway, I've used the planer very little, working mostly by hand, this stuff is really really soft.  You can actually work the blank down just by using abrasive language near it!

So I'm just playing around here, since I never built a foam board before, I'm exploring the medium so to speak.  And grateful for the free blank to start with.

The stringer was a bit off-center, so that limited my width to 21" if I wanted to put the stringer in the center, which I did.  And the blank was 7'5", so 7' was the size that worked once I rounded the nose for an egg.

My plan is to go thick for volume, flat bottom (well, with just a bit of hull in the nose).

Anyway, I promised when I won this that I would build a board from it, so here is the genesis of my journey through the foam dust!  Hopefully what I learn here will make my longboard project more successful!

the blank:

 

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hey Huck

how does it feel to shape foam?

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Its just a whole 'nuther other, but I'm stoked to be learning!  White footprints all over my house!  Eggs are kinda tricky - just one big compound curve in every direction!

 

 

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no different than any other board

with wood boards the skins follow the ribs

foam has to be shaped

welcome to the club,,, Ha  Ha!

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So far, So good Huck. Nice choice on the outline. The beauty of foam is you can watch it transform…come alive while you’re working it. If the planer is too much, move to the surform or sanding block. Take your time, sweeten it up with screens, maybe a little “v” in the tail. Yeah, and you ALWAYS want an air hose handy.

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Thanks for the moral support!  My wife has been pretty understanding through all this, although she did hand me the vacuum cleaner last night LOL!  Thanks for the reminder on screens.  For some reason this particular blank is soooo soft - I mean you look at it wrong and it dents!  So I've been using the surform quite a bit.  I've got some older ones I picked up at yardsales that work sweet on this blank.

I did some damage to the blank when I ran the planer 90 degrees to the stringer.  Of course I know better, but where the nose curves up I wanted to scoop a bit of foam out, and the planer doesn't want to fit inside that curve unless I turn it sideways.  So it blew a bit of the stringer out, denting the foam.  Ugly.  All fixable, but lesson learned.

What I ended up doing is using a small hand plane on the stringer there, turning it at about 45 degrees, but sliding it parallel to the stringer.  Worked pretty good.  Then follow up with the surform and the sanding block, then do it again, 'til I got it where I wanted it.

What I meant about the egg shape, all surfboards are a symphony of compound curves, but with the egg, the visual reference points are easy to lose as you work it. 

I am reeaalllly enjoying working with foam.  It's scupt-ability is great, but it doesn't push back like wood, so I've found I have to proceed with a way lighter touch than wood.  I guess my "nutshell" assessment would be that the "shaping" of a wood board proceeds more methodically, most of it taking place during the design phase, whereas foam leaves the option to proceed more viscerally. 

I can see how guys who are good just power plane down close to the final shape, then finesse the rest of the way, but I've been proceeding much more cautiously!

I added a bit of "hull" or roll to the nose, but figured KISS would dictate a flat bottom for the most part.  If anyone thinks I should go for v or concave or whatever let me know, I'm pretty open to suggestions on this. I'm thinking single fin, and maybe some sidebites just to compare.  Its funny how it worked out, but when I left surfing 24 years ago, the thruster was just beginning to take off.  I was riding single fins and fishes.  So now I'm back, and all the younger guys tell me thruster is all they've ever known, and I've never even ridden one!

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Hey Huck, One of the keys to foam is, taking off the LEAST amount of foam possible. You try not to go too “deep” into the blank. Some have been known to have soft spots inside. As to the other questions, if it were up to me, I’d “V” the tail to a flat bottom to the hulled nose. I’d also use a flex single a la Greenough/Liddle with side trailers. But I like to draw out my turns and not snap them. Put your eye close to it, move along like a drop of water, use the lights. Your eye won’t lie to you. You got it covered.

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If you are not finished with the shaping, you might want to pull the nose in slightly to give the outline a smoother curve. A lot of my eggs are almost true double enders between 7 feet and 8 feet. I’ve found that having more curve and less parallel rails in the outline work better.

I put a concave up front, similar to a nose rider but not as deep, and then it’s pretty flat with a bit of vee out the tail. I never liked the hull bottom up front because I like to ride all over the board. The concave up front will help when you want to ride up there, a belly under the nose seems to slow the board down when ride too far up front. All the boards I have with a belly up front will bog as soon as you try to ride close the nose. The boards with the concave will glide along and even get a bit more speed. When I say ride up front I don’t mean toes over the tip, but like within a foot from the tip (except if you want to do a cheater 5). I would rather have a vee up front than a belly, but my preference is slight concave, then flat, then vee.

Long single fin box and 2 side bits would cover most situations. I have a couple of small fins to fit the long box, so I can ride all my boards as a thruster style setup, or as a single or as a big center fin with small side bites. I just add the side bites when the waves get a bit more extreme, but I like single fin eggs. 

 

 

 

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Hey Huck, Go to the forum: “egg help needed” and check out the board done by “Reverb”. It’s got a real nice outline.

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If you are not finished with the shaping, you might want to pull the nose in slightly to give the outline a smoother curve. A lot of my eggs are almost true double enders between 7 feet and 8 feet. I've found that having more curve and less parallel rails in the outline work better.

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I read this, but it didn't click at first.  I was picturing bringing the nose back to make the front more semi-circular.  Then, I was browsing the net and saw this picture on surfy surfy.  Suddenly, what you were saying clicked.  Smoother curve.  Less parallel.  Double ender.  Duh!  Thanks for that, I will.

surfy surfy bonzer egg

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Nice work Huck.  I still need to start shaping the 10' blank that I won.  I remember somebody mentioned that these blanks have a tendancy to yellow, and they recommended using color in the lamination.  What are your plans for finishing the board?

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thanks! - yep, I recall that also.  I haven't decided if I want to paint it white, as suggested, or leave it to yellow.  Right now, with the skin removed, its still a light yellow, but I like the way it looks.  I'm gonna go orange mainly, probably transparent tint, maybe paint, on the rails and bottom, and on part of the deck.  With a retro style deck emblem like I like to do.  So only a small portion of the blank will be nekkid. 

I brought the nose in about 1/2" each side, and added just a bit of V out the tail.  I'm real happy with the shape now, feels like that's what it was needing.  I'll post some pics eventually. Thanks to all for helping me out on this!

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I concur with sharkcountry. My first impression of your outline was that the rails are too straight and the nose is too wide.

Also, one of the best tools for shaving a stringer near the nose where a planer won’t fit comfortably is a good old thumb plane. Like shinglers use.

 

This is a 6’4" egg. Shaped by Tony Staples. heavy Skip Frye influence. Note the outline curve.

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SammyA. that looks like a lot of fun!!. I surf mostly knee high to a bit overhead beach breaks, and would have mucho fun on that.

 

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beerfan

 That was my “go to” board for a good eight years. Waves where I live average about the same size as you mentioned. Reefs, points, and beachies. Back then, most of my friends were bogging on narrow pintail semi-guns. They were victims of the still common myth that you should ride what the “stars” in the mags ride. Back then (late 70s), the stars were people like Lopez. A 7’6" semi-gun is totally unsuitable for East Coast surf. Couldn’t tell them that, though. They’d get really offended. Funniest part was that I’d still go faster on that stubby egg than they would on their “spears”. Can’t get speed if you cannot turn efficiently.

When the surf got sizeable and hollow, I’d switch to a 6’8" swallowtail. Single fins, only.

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Decided I wanted a little wider board.  Since this was as wide as the blank would allow, this is what I got.  But I thought why not try to widen it anyway?  So I cut the board in half, used my half piece to mark a stringer on a redwood 2x6, cut it out, hollowed it out like a section of a chambered board, and glued it up.  Dinged the blank a bit in clamping and working, but I have further indignities planned for this board, so that is the least of my worries =).

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I like the wider shape quite a bit - for small or slow wave conditions.   It would probably be a handful in bigger conditions.    Are you still going to go with the singlefin?  

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Looks good. I don’t know how wide it is now, but if it’s 22" or more, you could pull the tail in a bit, even bring it in all around to fix the places you dinged. For 7’ to 8’ boards I like to go about 21" up to 22" wide. 

As it is now, it will be a great outline for smaller days. I haven’t had any problems riding my 8’ eggs in over head surf, but I add sidebite fins to ride heavier waves. If the waves are consistently over head +, I ride my short boards.

I just started gluing up an EPS blank that will look like yours. I have a single 1 1/2" balsa stringer made from 3/4" pieces. I also have 2 more similar stringers that will be used to make a double stringer blank.

 

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Thanks to everyone who has looked in on my project, and shared their thoughts!

I will pull the tail in a bit.  The board was about 20 1/2" wide before, but will end up being about 22" wide, or maybe 21 1/2".  I have some other stuff planned for this board, which I'll post pics of when I do it.  The blank has some issues (pock holes, inconsistency in density, soft spots), so I'm using it as a guinea pig for trying out some things I've long been wanting to do.  The wide hollowed out stringer was just one of them.

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Hey Huck, great idea to chamber the stringer, does it significantly reduce weight? 

I agree with Shark about 8’ plus boards needing the sidebites in heavier surf.