just getting into shapin. looking for good reliable equipment from planers to measuring tools. please give some suggestions on what to use . pros and cons. thanks
Check out Foam EZ site…they have what you need. Also Foam, Fins and Fiber glass and Fiberglass Hawaii.both in Ventura…farther south Mitch’s or others that advertise on Sway’s that may be better depending opon your location.
Also try Bashmans down in San Clemente.
Really good guy’s down there!
sorry to be so truthful FOAM-Ez is a ripp off
who pays 20 bucks for a sanding block. look around on e bay
i found my hitachi planer there for 60 bucks, im sure you could find a surform there too.
once you have you planer and surform you are basically there.
you just need a good t- square for measuring fin placement and some stuff for finishing up your shapes., some screens, sand paper, foam pads for your paper. you are all set.
once you get a little more advanced you may want a router for fin plugs but shaping is the easy part. just get them looking smooth and your glasser will get them looking really nice.
You sound pretty cocky…so let’s see your shapes.
Generally the guys I’ve heard spew how easy it is to shape a surfboard came out with a reasonable shape from a close tolerance blank for themselves and never have been in the position of satisfying surfers of all different ages, sizes, levels of ability performing on a consistent day to day basis.
Some of those same guys might have been better off leaving their close tolerance blank alone and just glassing it. But not according to them because they are as good as any surfboard designer out there? I guess all the tools I have amassed over the years are totally unnecessary. Wow, thanks for the insight.
As far as “Foam EZ being a rip off”'…if you really want cheap you can check out Harbor Freight. From my experience they stand behind their stuff…
…if you want to go thru E Bay, that is your perogative. I found E Bay to be more of a “rip off” (to use your own term) as they now own Pay Pal and have hiked charges for using it as well as increased many other services and charges in the past year…they recently relaxed some of these sneaky practices since the soft global economy has bitten into their massive bottom line. At least Fiberglass Hawaii doesn’t sell my name for 1/4 of a cent to other parties.
It is true that Foam EZ, Fiberglass Hawaii, and other business entities may and do charge more than if you are a person willing to spend time searching for the very cheapest deal. However, keep in mind that these folks STOCK the items, advertise the items, and pay employees to package and ship them to your door unless you are fortunate enough to be close enough to be a walk in.
I guess the nerve you hit with me is from hearing people using the catch phrase “ripoff” when I’ve been around long enough to see the bigger picture. I can get the items for considerably less too…but that is because I have a valid Resale Permit, a business license, report my income, and have spent the better part of 4 decades being in the business.
Convenience has a price regardless of what business we are talking about, and there are plenty of hobbyists on Sway’s that are thankful these businesses exist.
I’m with DeadShaper
I spent a whole lot of time buying stuff “cheaper” just to have to go back and buy the “good” stuff later.
Harbor freight is the ONLY place I would recommend for buying decent quality stuff at cheaper prices.
They even have an inexpensive “Hitachi” style knock off planer that is fairly good for around $40
If you are willing to wait around you might be able to pick up a used Hitachi for about $60…but you have to wait till one shows up.
A trim router is a necessity if you aree going to do fin boxes. HF has them for about $30
Sanding block and that kind of stuff you can make with a good STRAIGHT piece of 1x4
Tape measure and square are a must, sandpaper, drywall screens, hand saw, sureform, pocket planer, trim planer…all these things you can get at Home Depot.
Did I miss anything DS?
Or you can just do what Deadshaper says and just get them from FoamEZ or whatever supply shop is close to you.
That way you can get all of it in one shot from guys that know what they are talking about and will help you along the way.
You’ll be saving at least the amount that they “rip you off” in time, gas, guess work, and frustration.
Just my 1.874 cents
Mahalo
yea like i said i am a newbie to the industry and shaping, but my love for surfing is so extreme. going the cheap route is really not my style. i mean money is tight but having decent equipment and not a hand-me-down from ebay or craigslist is a lot better. i have heard the hitatchi planers are one of the best but pricey. thats the planer i was probably going to buy due to all the good comments and reviews on it. but yea anyways,…thanks alot guys for sharing your knowledge with a newbie . i know in a lot of other businesses and jobs the newbie is looked at a little different. you guys really helped .
Right on smitty,
Just hit up FoamEZ then. They’ll get you taken care of.
If I’m not mistaken, they are not too terribly far from you either.
You won’t even have to pay shipping!
NOW GO MOW SOME FOAM!
To be honest, I discovered HF this last year and I like some of the stuff. The Chicago trim router is acually $20 including attachments…unreal deal. I got one for putting in FCS Fusion and it worked great. I had the tool break after a month and I took it in and they replaced it on the spot. They apologized for the incovenience and offered me another one for $9.99 and included a 2 year warranty on the 2nd one…I don’t know how they can do it, but it was a great deal so I did it. I now have 3 of their trim routers because I keep backups of everything…just a rule I had from busier production days.
They have 2 different planers…both are less than $40. I don’t have one. I do have their Chicago polisher/grinder that is lightweight, easy to handle, and adjusts from 300 to 3000 rpm…it’s a great little tool. I don’t mind adding a couple cheap Chicago tools next to my large Clark Hitachi planer, my 3 Milwaukee grinders, and yet another Makita and a heavy duty Craftsman router. They all have their purpose.
I’ve gotten some other good deals on abrasives from HF ncluding a 21 gallon 230 volt compressor. I picked through their sandpaper and other abrasives…some good deals can be had.
OTOH, they don’t carry items that Foam EZ and the other shops I mentioned do; calipers, epoxy and polyester resins, blanks, fiberglass weaves and rope, fin boxes, high temperture masking tape (233+) surfacing agent, pigments, and many other specialized items used in surfboard production.
I apologize if I went off a little bit in my first post, but anyone coming into the world of surfboard building today has been given such an easy path to make a reasonably decent board from those of us who layed the foundation, and have been very generous in doing so…that I can’t help getting a bit peeved when I share those insights on Sway’s then feel as though earning a reputation as a mastercraftsman no longer means anything.
That, I simply will never accept, as it is my life’s work that distinguishes me.
No need to apologize to me brother…I get it.
I walk humbly in your footsteps, as should anyone trying to do this. Respect the craftsmen. Respect the craft.
Maybe studying martial arts in the presence of some of the greatest masters in the world has taught me a few things about respect that other people have not had the fortune to learn.
Now I am a student of the shaping arts in the presence masters. I watch, I listen, I learn, and I only question with respect.
I have not yet earned the right to stand and be counted…but I hope that one day I will.
Hell…I’m and old guy(41) just starting this journey in the grand scheme of things.
I have a vision and a goal to achieve, and I can’t do it without learning from those who have walked the road before me.
Thanks for being here…maybe one day I can come and study for a while.
Mahalo
I was addressing the other guy as far as apoligizing for going off a bit…but I was answering you on some of the clarifications on HF and that stuff.
You have a great attitude,I wish you the best in your endeavors.
Happy New Year!
Hey, hows that water car coming along?
It sank into the sunset. Gas prices went down…people are creaures of convenience (as I’ve mentioned in THIS thread).
If things get bad with gas again, I’m just gonna get a burro and name her Annabelle and go on my merry way.
i must have pressed a button deadshaper
i have just been to foam-ez recently and was amazed with their prices, i certainly was not trying to be cocky.
you could buy 3 brushes at harbor frieght for the price of one at foam-ez.
now that you mention it harbor frieght is a great place, and i need to get down there.
and i defiantly was not spewing about how easy shaping is.
being 16 and having shaped maybe 40 boards i certainly am still learning, but i feel confident with the methods i have learned and the people who i have learned them from.
and thanksi have been meaning to take some pictures,
i will post some of shapes and my current projects now that you mention it.
Good.
Yes Harbor Freight does offer some super deals on certain items. However, let’s put it in perspective and say you wanted to make yourself a board…you could never do do this at HF. But going into Foam EZ you could get a whole kit there, and at the same time their crew would be happy to answer any questions you have regarding your quest. Harbor Freight couldn’t tell you why a swallow tail is trickier to glass than a squash tail…
…what’s a squash tail? Would likely be the reply from the HF salesclerk.
If you wanted to step up and start putting in your own fin system, Foam EZ could not only sell you the fins and boxes to do so, but they could sell you the jig as well. In the case of Futures, they could sell you everything to do the job, including the router if you are so inclined…or, they could pack all this stuff up quite safely, and ship it to your door.
Like I said, convenience counts…sure, I do a lot of custom one-off handshapes for people, but I’m also building 30 new boards for the local shop in town for their move to a new space in February. This will allow people to check out models I have devloped over years of shaping and designing and also take a test ride on available demos…these boards will be priced as on the floor models that support the retailer as well as myself. I support my local surf shop and they return the favor.
For 16, forty boards is a good number of boards to have shaped. My first shape was actually a reshape from a destoyed 10’2" Greg Noll that flew off someone’s roof. 2 Ft. of the nose broke off, about 40 other dings and the skeg was nowhere to be found. I was 8 yrs old. My brother made a lamnated wood fin in his junior high school shop class and my mom had to drive us to a fabric shop in Santa Barbara. We got “Rocket Resin” from the local Pep Boys Store but they didn’t include fiberglass with it. So mom drove us to the fabric store and this tall skinny guy went into the back of their store and emerged with some strange sort of tan fabric saying "uh, yeah, I think this is fiberglass.
I reshaped the nose and made the board 8’3". We stuck the fin on, filled all the dings with Bondo, and painted the board Candy Apple Green Enamel. It looked pretty good. So technically my first ‘shape’ was 1959. Yeah, dinosaur…
It could’ve turned out a lot better if there had been a Foam EZ back then!
Hey Josh
Just so you know I was in the same boat as you are in, however I had to buy all the tools for a uni project (application of advanced materials for surfboards, some of the stuff is crazy, think epoxy and carbon fibre are good you’d be wrong, sorry just like to let people know a little bout the project) also looking at shaping as a hobby, on top of a job looking into researching into new materials.
Any way I live in NZ so buying tools from foamEZ or shapersaustralia was way out of my price range as the tools were bout the same price equivalent NZD but there was also shipping. ie foam EZ planner US$400, hitachi in NZ NZ$400. So this is what I did I went round all the DIY places in NZ so they sell all the tools you need or can order them in for you, plus stock sand paper, surforms, etc. I told each one what I required and how much of it, so planner, sander, block planes, surforms, sand paper, air compressor, router, etc and asked for a quote and said I’ll get back to the one who offers the best. ended up saving bout 40% on the tools and they’re all makita comes with 2yr warranty, cant go wrong as they’re one of the best.
To save more money I went to a glass place and got various 6mm off-cuts of perspex and made all the jigs for routing in fin boxes, and setting the fins for fusion, futures and fcs. saved a fortune I did this buy buying a couple of boxes and looking on each fin systems website at their install kits and copied them but made them up my self. by the way plunge routers are the best they do all the jobs as well.
All that left to buy was blanks and resin and some plugs( leash and fins) got the blanks from a local shaper and resin from a fibreglass factory in NZ cheaper then the shapers by half the price.
One thing I’d recommend is buy some damaged blanks they sell for half price or less (depending on how well you know the guys) it gives good practice at shaping for cheap and if they have holes or slight dents you can just fill them with either foam or a 30:70mix of resin cab-o-sil(Q-cell as known here) and the boards still work out pretty nice especially if you paint them, cant even tell, then sell them to mates at cost price or bit above to start getting your name out there and also to get more experience.
I hope that helps for you bro, and best of luck with it all, one thing I do recommend is buy the best you prob wont ever have to replace it. My grandpa was a builder and he’s still got the makita and hitachi tools he bought 40 odd yrs ago and they’re still going mint.
God bless
Phil
Forgot to mention for stands if you have a mate thats an engineer get him to design you some adjustable quick lift stands that can be adapted for all the process stages or make a few different types for each stage or just make them out of wood. I dont know how websites sell theirs who’d buy them way over priced, and easy to make your own.
Chur
There’s great examples of stands here on Sway. Build your own! Foam EZ has great tools, good products, and great service (wish they sold other types of foam though). I also buy from Shapers Aust. They have some very unique products different from F-EZ but shipping costs will kill you!
What is the difference between these two models?
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=91062
http://www.foamez.com/clark-foam-08-planer-p-190.html
I am sure alot but just want to make sure...
Thanks for your input!
The "surform" that I got from HF was duller than the real one that I had used for two years. No kidding, it may be that the cutting edges were placed on the backside of the blade mounts. My old one with chunks missing is still the sharper of the two. I lost the reciept, and did not bother to try for a refund.
Sickdog