Need opinions on a board I'm shaping

General Discussion
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Thanks everyone for the comments, I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to do with the board yet. Both ideas are interesting, I’d like to improve my glassing but at the same time it seems like a good opportunity to improve banding and rails. I think I’ll finishing cleaning it up and make a decsions afterwards.

Tblank: This is actually the first EPS blank I’ve used, my previous boards were all PU blanks and I’d have to say I much prefer them for a couple reasons. The PU foam is denser, easier to plane and doesnt seem to rip or pull. I assume that is the general consciences from most shapers? Overall from a shaping perspective I think I’ll stick with PU going forward.

Josh

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You've made a few boards, so I guess that means you are going to keep at it.  If that's the case you need a few things that you don't seem to have in your posession.     First though ;  Improve your lighting.  Put a blue tarp or something behind those sidelights so that the light is focused on your blank and not being dispersed throughout a two car garage.  That white garage door will screw you up as well.  Your blank is white, the garage door is white.  When you look down the rail toward the garage door;  How can you tell where your blank ends and the garage door starts?  Especially when you've got the blank on its rail in your rack.  Paint or tarp that door .  Do as suggested earlier and on the next board use a masonite template.  Transfer your paper template to a masonite template.  Just make a half template(one side).  Spend alot time making sure it's right on.  Making a template will also train your eye .   Masonite's cheaper than shaping a foam blank and then throwing it away.  Invest in or make a set of calipers to check your thickness at various points during the shaping process.   Spend a few bucks and buy a shapers square.  Greenlight's got a basic version for about $15.  Greenlight and FoamEZ both sell a deluxe version for about $25--$30.  I use a Pleskunas( also known as my "$40 piece of plastic").  Sanding screen, sandpaper and a good sanding block, looks like you've already got those.  I love "Dragon Screen", but it's not for the inexperienced or EPS foam.  Get a mini-plane or spoke shave and take the stringer down to you desired thickness, then bring the foam down to the stringer.  Use a piece of upholster's foam  with sandpaper to blend your rails. Flatten the deck and reduce the volumne. Screen the whole blank using a full sheet of screen.  I use 120 and then 220 grit.  You'll make something out of this blank, you just need to put more into it with the right tools.

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Good job on cleaning up that outline!!

24

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Why waste $100 on glassing something that you know you will ride once, and say what a dog. 

You might get the experience of shaping ten boards just by whittling it down to nothing.  A thought to everybody out there who has a dog board that they are going to trash.  Strip it down and practice with your tools.

I thought we were trying to be green here.  Otherwise, you might as well send a gallon of resin straight to the trash dump.

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Hey Mark, howzit? 

I guess the assumption is that the board will be a dog - but not necessarily.  The latest pics look like a pretty nice board!

Plus, "I think a lot of really good boards need some wacky component to work against: some straight spot or some weird little kink or bump  that kind of lets you work against it.  Some of the best boards I've ever ridden were boards with aberrations or twists, and the most boring boards I've ever surfed have been the most technically perfect." - Dave Parmenter in TSJ

"In the seventies, Terry Martin was shaping a board for my wife and told the story of the time that Joey Hamasaki brought in her favorite battered old magic board for reference.  Terry warned her that the old board had a twist in it and had probably changed shape over the years.  She took the new board but came back in a couple of weeks asking for the same shape but this time with the twist." - surf-shot

Another assumption is that it goes straight to landfill - but again, not necessarily.  I mean, people do decorate with wallhangers, grommets need a starter board, etc.  Sometimes even a dog can be modified - new fin placement, take something off the tail, etc.  http://youtu.be/FIZOk4eAeHE

Although I guess if it does go straight to the landfill, my thinking is, that's better than the next one that gets shaped spot-on the way he planned it going straight to the landfill because he goofed up the glassing for lack of practise LOL. 

But that's just me.  Different strokes for different folks, your mileage may vary.

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Huck, It is one thing to be a master at your craft and understand that sometimes an imperfection may work in your favor. It is another to be learning your craft and not understand or see what or how you made those imperfections.  The suggestion to reshape that blank, was to help train the eye brain and hand.  Having a mentor would really help in getting the basics down.

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Ayy, cap'n Kirk!  Swaylocks and T2S are my mentors, LOL.  With a bit of personalized help here and there from McDing, Kensurf, and Thrailkill.  BTW, good advice in this thread IMO, esp. from McDing.

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You can't understand or see how and where your mistakes are if you have poor lighting and  a white background.   While I'm at it four footers just don't get it even for a short board.  The blank can be salvaged into a decent shortboard without starting completly over. Will it be the CI he started out to copy.  Never.  Making masonite templates will train his eye and be alot cheaper.  IMHO