Hi everyone, this is the first time I’ve really posted on here but I’ve been reading it since I made my first board. I made my first board on September 30th 2012 and I meant to make this post September 30th this year when I finished my 21st board but I had some complications this past week. When I decided to make my first board, I really didn’t know what to expect. I built my own stand out of wood and cushioned it with industrial sponges and weighed it down with sandbags, pretty much as backyard as it gets. I picked up a planer from Home Depot and a blank and basic hand tools from Foam-EZ. I remember having made an outline with just sharpie and cutting it out with a saw and getting to the point of shaping the rails and (after hours upon hours of mental preparation and reading about shaping rails) finally shaped them. Looking back at it, the shape was hideous. Nonetheless, once me and a friend took it out into the water it was the most fun board either of has had ridden and from the moment I caught the first wave on that board I was hooked. I slowly increased my tool collection to meet the standard tools of the trade. Each board I would do more stable/proper techniques and the boards got better. I’ve gotten my boards glassed at Aloha Glassing, all of the guys there are really great and they let anyone use their extra shaping bay their which has been the most helpful thing in making better boards. At about my 10th board, even though I know it takes hunderds/thousands of boards before they’re truly good, I was frustrated. I asked Mike Minchinton, the resident shaper at Aloha Glassing if he could help me out so I ordered a board through him and asked him if I could watch him step by step and ask him questions. He took me through one whole board and then half shaped a second one and had me finish it. Beyond any reading, watching of videos, or anything else, this was the most irreplaceable experience I’ve had in my shaping so far. It definitely gave me a huge jump between my 10th and 11th board, and since I’ve been practicing more and more and I’m getting happier with my baords. I got a Clark Foam Planer on craigslist and just about every other tool I need and am excited to keep going!
By far the most helpful people have been everyone who has bought a board from me (at material price). I’ve made a board for people like my mailman or even my former high school teacher and my favorite part is watching them surf the boards I made out in the lineup and have a great time. I’ve been fortunate enough to have a bunch of cool people ride my boards so that only 4 of the 21 boards I’ve made have been for me and I’m extremely thankful that I had people willing to experiment and risk their money on my early shaping experience.
Unfortunately yesterday while I was surfing in Huntington Beach, my car was stolen (all of my shaping tools inside as I was going to shape after my surf) along with my phone, wallet ect. I just received news that the car was recovered without keys and no word as to whether my tools are still inside. What worries me most is the attempted purchase at Home Depot that the thief made on my card, and the chance that he may have sold my tools to that store.
Despite that, I am looking forward to my second year of shaping and can’t wait to see who I get to to make boards for this year. I want to thank everyone thats contributed to these forums as they’ve been my go to place whenever I tried something new or just to get my fix of surfboard related reading when I couldn’t shape or surf. So thanks to everyone that has helped me in this first year!
Krystian Lahage
