Hey guys
I have scoured the forums for a few days and I am still a little unsure. So here goes.
I’m shaping an older style pig nose rider. Belly bottom, concave teardrop in the nose, domed deck, 50/50 rails but apex will be more like 60/40.
First I’m unsure of when to shape the concave teardrop in the nose. Before or after I’ve shaped the convex belly?
And for the shaping the belly, do I do that before starting rail bands, or is that part of the rail bands?
Same for deck do I start to dome the deck before the rail bands?
And lastly if there are any steps or measurements anyone can share for making rail bands for 50/50 rails id be over the moon.
Realize this is asking a lot, and possibly have been answered elsewhere but I couldn’t really find. Thanks, stoked on any little bits of guidance or info, Kyle.
Kyle, do yourself a favor, sit down and picture the look of the rails in cross section and draw out. You can make templates of: rails, dome, and belly. You have to get deck and bottom pretty close to see where your rail curves start and end. The concave goes in after having a finished bottom. Otherwise, you wouldn't know how deep to go. The key word is to BLEND. Pay mind to overall thickness while working.
As for the 50/50 rails the dimensions will change depending on thickness of blank. Cut out plan shape and get the sides (rails) perpendicular to top and bottom after skinning and block sanding. The apex of your 50/50 will be the centerline of the sides in thickness. That mid line is your reference point to blend from. Hope this makes sense and helps some. Oh, and stay off the moon.
Tell me this is not your first shaping experience. I understand why no one replied right away to your post. Aren’t there a couple of more things at least that you could incorporate into this board. Oh! I see you left out the all important “Spiral Vee”. 50/50 but more like 60/40??? Sounds more like 55/45 rail to me. Teardrop??? Why not put those Golf Ball dimples in the nose like JG used to do.
sorry if I offended you with my silly questions mate. There are definetly other design aspects to consider yes. But I haven’t written everything I’m planning on doing on this board in this thread just the things I’m unfamiliar with shaping. I’m not a very experienced shaper but in answer to ur question (?) I’ve shaped and glassed about 10 boards or so when I worked with my local shaper. However this was about 10 years ago and they were mostly all shortbords. My surfing preferences have changed and am not accostomed to shaping retro designs I am still learning a lot as I go (hence why I asked some questions in sway locks). I’m not planning a spiral v in this board. The teardrop concave i was referring to is quite common in the old retro logs, basically a big round concave disc in the front third of the board. If you have any tips that would be awesome though.
You might find it helpful after you have cut your outline to layout some contour lines. I’ve used template patterns to plot some lines to follow when rough cutting my deck and bottom bands. Here are a couple of images - one is a diagram I drew up for illustrating belly bands. Yours will differ but this shows the idea. Depending on what type of blank you use the deck might already have some of the contours in place. The other image shows a nose concave.
What i think mcding is saying in his own inimitable way, is keep it simple, and work your way to the complicated stuff progressively. But this is swaylocks, where we never do that, haha!
You don’t say what you’re shaping from, a block of foam or a close tolerance blank. If it’s a close tolerance blank I would get the outline close, shape the deck, shape the bottom, do the rail bands, blend everything, then the concave last. But I’m no pro.
Far out that is sexy. So crisp. Thanks for the info, I’m a little slow on the uptake but I’m not sure I fully understand the diagram with the contour lines. But I think when it comes time after I’ve cut the outline it will probably click and make sense. Thanks again.
Hey thanks for that huck. It’s a pretty close tolerance blank yeah. I spoke to a handshaper yesterday and he pretty much shapes exactly how you mentioned. Nose concave last aswell.
“And for the shaping the belly, do I do that before starting rail bands, or is that part of the rail bands?
Same for deck do I start to dome the deck before the rail bands?”
Many ways to skin a cat…
I believed for a long time that you started by skinning the bottom, then the deck, and worked from there.
That was before I got the chance to watch Bob Mc Tavish shape a board a few months ago: he just cut the outline, trued it and started directly shaping the rail and progressively working toward the stringer, skinning the deck at the same time. First time I’ve seen this done.
Although I would not do it myself, what counts, at the end of the line, is the final result; Do as you feel is best for you and pick up from others what can be used…
Good point balsa, and good story. I think the main thing is have a good visual picture in your head as you shape, and if you’re not a pro, take your time getting there.
Like Huck says, to each his own. I need a flat surface (bottom) to start from. It helps to square up the sides and is a fixed reference point for everything else.
If you go to the Greenlight Surf Supply website, they have some instructional sections that have been very helpful to me. In particular, one section is on Surfboard Rail Design. Read it and you’ll find a chart with dimensions for the “tuck; rail; and deck marks” for various types of rails. with my limited experience building, it was very helpful on the last board I built. My rails were the most even and consistent that I ever did, and I plan to continue using it until my experience/board count is high enough.
