Has anybody watched this? Any good? Does it go into electric planer techniques too?
I notice that the price has dropped from $197 to $97. Maybe it’s worth my while.
Don’t know anything about the video.
But I’d rather pay $97 than $197.
I will say my interactions with Brian at Greenlight have been positive…
I ordered his videos on dvd around 2005 or so and watched them then. I’m not sure if he made new ones since then, but I had never watched a board built in person and as far as I knew it wasn’t on the interwebs, so to me it was valuable information. He’s a solid guy, and is happy to share information. I would imagine they would have valuable information.
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I used his masterclass video set last year to learn how to do my first few boards (out of the small handful I’ve done so far) and have a couple notes you may or may not find interesting. Keep in mind I’m still very much a beginner.
- If you catch the timing right, the videos go on fire sale for basically free for a day. Black friday kind of thing. This is actually how I ultimately got off my butt and started my first build project
- As a total beginner who never touched surfboard foam before, I think the videos and the full build kit that includes materials and tools were invaluable for learning. I think Brian is a good demonstrator of his techniques, and the videos are very very detailed. Access to the videos comes free with the build kit, by the way.
- That said, over time I’ve moved away from a lot of what’s taught in the videos, or at least significantly changed the way I’m approaching building boards in certain aspects. Brian’s focus for those videos is quite specifically focused on making EPS/epoxy boards using block-cut EPS and almost exclusively hand tools in a non-production (eg. dusty home garage) environment, and that approach means the techniques he teaches veer away from what pro builders would consider industry standard. For myself, I discovered that not using a planer is absolutely a fool’s errand, and the videos specifically do not teach planer technique; EPS sucks in a home environment imo; once you switch from block-cut EPS to molded PU blanks, the method for measuring rails goes right out the window; etc etc. Also, the tools included in the build kit really only work for EPS (and only if you don’t have a planer) so over time they will lose their usefulness. I’ve actually made my own PU-friendly versions of some of those tools and you should expect to have to do the same if you switch to PU.
- One kinda neat side effect of using the masterclass to learn is, I don’t fear epoxy like a lot of other beginner builders seem to lol.
All this is to say that I think the information and the stuff in the kit are super useful as a start, but depending on where your shaping hobby goes (like if you really gel with his approach or you would rather work towards a more industry standard-like methodology) the value of the kit may diminish somewhat. Also, as you make more boards, you’ll start to understand the more advanced information that’s floating around on swaylocks and youtube and it will change how you view the masterclass stuff.
A nice thing about the masterclass vids is that you can always refer back to them even if you decide you want to switch out some techniques. If I were to, say, take a shaping lesson from one of the local guys, I’d definitely pick up some skills but I wouldn’t have anywhere to go to get reinforcement on what the shaper showed me, without ponying up more cash (and most shaping lessons I’ve seen don’t teach glassing).
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Very well-put and I agree
Chris
An objective and rational view. A good starting point for a first and maybe only time builder working with EPS/Epoxy and minimal tools. Get one under your belt and see where it takes you from there. I appreciate your opinion.
I’ll skip Masterclass then, at least for now. I don’t seem to be the target audience. I’m all about “industry standard” and prefer planers and PU. I started with a planer from the get-go. Been practicing on junky blanks and old stripped boards. Once I saw how nice and bump-free my first outline turned out, for example, I couldn’t drop this tool. There’s a lot to learn, but I’m focusing on this, and I plan to shape many boards.
Nice. Yeah I think the biggest takeaway I got from the videos (although it’s not necessarily presented that way) is that shaping is about having a repeatable and refinable process of steps that can result in a surfboard-shaped object. The videos really are designed so that the very first board someone builds will not be janky or crooked or unintentionally asymmetrical lol
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Yes you have to work on developing a repeatable process that you use every time. As you are developing this process, you make changes along the way. Improvements and little tips that you incorporate into YOUR process. I still say that the Ben Aipa shaping video done by Grant at Fiberglass Hawaii is the best. Similar by coincidence to my own process. Good useful info in the Bruce Jones video as well. Two greats sorrowfully missed.
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I think that way too…i.e. building a repeatable process, and just update parts of it when I encounter better methods.
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I’ve actually watched a Bruce Jones vid (he was making a fish with a flat bottom but with Vee in the back) a bunch of times. It “resonates” for some reason.
I’ll try and track down the Aipa video.
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Yes after posting that I went back and watched the Bruce Jones vid again. What he had to say about a level bottom and using that bar and a level to check side to side really got my attention. Even if you do concave, it is important to start with a bottom that is level from one side to the other. He’s right, most guys just eyeball or feel with their hands to check thickness side to side. Funny I rode a Bruce Jones shaped Russel Brotherhood 6’6 rounded pin single fin that had exactly the same V-panels for a couple of years. Wish I had it still, if for no other reason than to examine it. It had a sweet rail and was a great rider. Rode circles around those Pismo boys on their JG’s.
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Somewhat ironically and relevant, one of the things Brian shows you in the masterclass vids is using a huge 24" wide rasp (super coarse sandpaper on a 2x4, essentially) to remove material from the blank, which effectively leaves the surface level. Since it’s block-cut EPS, it’s kinda going to be level anyways, but it’s still kinda neat. First time I went to buy a PU blank, I saw some that had a bit of concave molded in; the guy selling it is a shaper and wouldn’t suggest how to level the bottom without paying for one of those aforementioned lesson packages, so I reverted back to the big 24" rasp and that’s how I found out that the greenlight tool doesn’t work very well on PU!
Yes I bought one of those nifty right angle rasps that is used to square rails. Attempted to use it to square rails on a PU blank. It left all kinds of black abrasive on the blank. Took quite awhile to get all those black pepper specks out of the pores. I gave it to a young shaper who was thrilled to get it. Went back to using my Senate fence post square. Most EPS shapers that do a lot of EPS boards use a grit barrel on either their Hitachi or Skil Planer. Much cleaner than blades. Surforms aren’t good for EPS. They tear too much. Coarse sandpaper on a 2x4” block is a good tool for EPS.
I can testify that your fence post level concept worked well — at least on XPS for truing up rails and smoothing out planshape outline curves.
Plan to try the “flip side” of a Bassoli extra wide (2”) farrier’s rasp I found, for shaping EPS by hand.
I suspect micro-plane blades on a surform frame might work well for hand-shaping EPS.
“This is how Ben Aipa shapes a surfboard” is the title. Produced by Fiberglass Hawaii on YouTube. Sorry don’t know how to link it.
I have an assortment of ferrier rasps. I use them primarily to turn stringers. They work well on Fish butt cracks… I inherited them from a relative who actually used them on horse hooves. I wood think a micro-plane blade on one of those Surform rasps with the horizontal handle might work.
FWIW I ponied up for the Shapers Australia flexible surform blade that’s like a new version of the now-discontinued Microplane-brand kitchen grater… $30 to ship a $15 item to the States, I should’ve ordered two of them lol… but holy @!#$ that thing works great on PU. “Shrednaught” on youtube has a video demonstrating how awesome it is. Haven’t tried it on EPS though.
Greenlight’s rasp tools (“rasputin” and “g-rasp”) are tiny chunks of black material (carbide?) glued to plastic frames that are kinda like 2x4s but with holes for venting dust. I think they claim it’s equivalent to 16 grit sandpaper. Absolutely shreds EPS, for better and for worse
(Note, they call them rasps but based on you guys’ chat, I think “rasp” isn’t really the right word, technically speaking.)
Oh yeah I think you and I are talking about the same right-angle rail truer thing. It did the same thing on my first PUs so I eventually designed a 3D-printed version where I glued slightly finer grit sandpaper (36 or 40 I think) and it works much much better… I’ll probably upload it in the future in case others who also do 3D printing want to try it.