Your first board… why did you make it? 
It was time to follow through…I had been shown the process,acrued some technical ability and subsquent attitude and the creative Juices being what they were fine art ciriculum was not fullfilling the void in my self esteem, as the other students could create between the instructionary limits beter than I, my quest was clear …after that fateful trip to oahu and maui 1968 on spring break the tolling bell rang in my deeper self and the game was afoot…Dr. barth was sent to Laguna an brought back the blanks the migrating shaper sold me the planer and here we are 35 years later self assured and persuing the invisible wave…ambrose…and waikiki echos in my bone marrow the breath of generations of thirteen year old swimmers learning to paddle a surf board throgh the surf in the company of like-minded revelers
In 1972 I was living on Oahu and just couldn’t stay out of the heavenly water. I went to a surf shop and asked if I could take a template off one of the Lightning Bolt boards they had. They asked the shaper who was standing right there. He gave me a “Don’t you know who I am?” look, but gave his permission. I bought a blank and rented a little Rockwell power plane, and finished shaping it just before the neighbor’s called the police. A friend shaped it for $20.00 I took it out at Point Panic on a 6ft. day amongst much Stink Eye from the locals who didn’t like seeing surfboards at that break. Got caught inside on the business side of the lava cliff, and it took me 45 minutes to get back out and around to the safe side so I could climb out. I thought I was going to drown. I never could make that thing work, and I gave it away on the return trip to California. Doug
A friend GLASSED it for $20.00. Doug
After having too many off the rack and custom boards that just didnt feel right, I decided to take matters into my own hands…best decision I ever made.
- 6’-0" in a tiny studio apartment in Old Town. know one complained. January 1987 surfed it to it’s death at south Mission Beach jetty.
after realizing i was to young to have a job, my parents weren’t rich, and i had a little extra birthday cash i invested in some tools. the “some tools” ended up running me about $1,000, and i had to get a job doing construction last summer to pay back my mom. definately glad i did it! now i got myself a nice little quiver, as do all of my friends. also starten to make a pretty good profit off of it seeing i don’t have any bills to pay. dj
oops… being the creative type that I am it just seemed like the natural thing to do …
I get a lot of satisfaction from making things with my own hands. I started surfing in 1966 and shortly there after I started thinking about building my own boards. When the shortboard evolution started up in’68 I stripped down a Gordie Lizard (still regreting that move) and started shaping without any knowledge and even less skill. You could imagine what it looked like. In 2000 I got the bug again and was determined that nothing was going to stop me from being successful. I was pleased with the results. I don’t shape as much as I would like, but eventually I will reach the point of perfection that Im seeking. As soon as this weather warms up a bit I’ll have at it again. Surfing for 38 years and Im still stoked!
Finished a self financed stint in college in 1983 with a masters degree, a 7 year old Robert August pintail, and absolutely zero bucks. Went looking for a board and found that prices had dramatically increased since my last board purchase (from $125 for a board to a whopping $260 for a board from a small time shaper). Not only that, all the shops were pushing thrusters - risky strange stuff from my single fin/pin tail state of mind. Went and priced materials and found that I could purchase enough material for 3 boards for $260. I carved my first board completely with a keyhole saw, a small sureform, and sanding blocks. Rode and loved it. Still do. Baby come home… Im sorry I sold you … I havent purchased a board since then. Still shape like a caveman.
My dad and I built my first board 40 years ago. We went to clark foam in laguna canyon bought a 2nd blank for $10 bucks ( 1" redwood stringer ) We then went to hobie’s factory. Hobie gave us the tour of the shop telling us the steps to build a board. I was 11 at the time and awestruck. When I was 15 I stripped all the glass off that board and cut it down to a short board. ( could kick myself for that one) Anyway it’s been fun building boards on and off for the last shitload of years.
I have been surfing over thirty years before I shaped my first board.I always thought there were people who could shape and those that can’t. I was one who could’nt. I asked a friend that shaped boards to let me watch and I would pay him extra. Nope. He said. Its just a procedure like anything else,Mike." I thought,“Shit, I can learn a procedure.” Bought the tapes, talked to people who had shaped boards and shaped my first board. Looked good, surfed like shit. Wish I knew about Swaylock’s then. Anyway, I’m still trying. Oh yah, my last 3 or 4 boards surf really good and I can’t surf anyone else’s. Mike
My hands have always liked working on interesting stuff, and the surfboard and its involvement with waves and the ocean is still, to this day, the most rewarding. I made and fitted a fin to my bargain first board. But the real addiction came when I stripped down an old dog, and bought it to life in my own way. The shape came out clean, symetrical(you sure?) the blue spray faded around the rails just like a pro. Glassing was even acceptable. Made the fin myself too. I finished polishing it marking the end of an amazing self inflicted experience. Tired, but incredibly satisfied, I knew this was something I wanted to do a lot more of. I rode that board a lot and I still remember the rippled wave surface close to my face doing bottom turns on that special board. Whether it ended up good or bad, your first board will teach you a lot, so take a deep breath, get into it, soak it up, learn. Signed… Most Satisfied.
early 1964-----friend and his dad came back from california with a 9’6" hobie—I wanted one!, no money, found a slab of industrial foam, made a paper template and carved it out—and then being a high school kid with only a loose grasp of polymer chemistry almost burned down the family gargage with the resulting hot batch----since then whenever the spirit moves me, i carve out another one, and my glassing has improved too 
It was the Fall of 1968 and individuality was very much in vogue. It was a 5’ 10" roundtail pig. Flat bottom on the tail, and high rails up near the nose. I shaped it, and painted a dark green doily pattern on the deck that wrapped around the bottom rails. A large magazine photo of an eye was glassed onto the bottom of the nose. The glasser used 10 oz. glass and put a W.A.V.E. Set fin box in it. A true transitional with each leg in two different universes. I got a lot of grief from the longboarders. The tail was about 22" and would have ridden better as a twin fin. I sometimes wonder where it went. Maybe some collector hung onto it, because it had a W.A.V.E. Set box and fin. Perhaps it will turn up on ebay some day…for twenty times what it cost me to make it.
did you ever glass peyote buttons or magic mushrooms or weed leaf in your board?My friend glasses a compass and a pic of his family on deck[smile]
I don’t have much to say about my first board other than I stripped an old board, cut the nose off, beveled the cut and reglued it in an attempt to get “rocker.” It was a piece of shit. I eventually took a shovel and destroyed it. Swaylock’s didn’t exist then.
This is not the first board I made. But it is the first photo taken of a board that I made. I made this board for my brother in the early 70’s. From memory I think it is about the 6th or 7th. It is a long time ago.The photo was taken in the backyard of my home overlooking Whale Beach. My first board was a chop down from a board that was also a chop down. So that bit of foam was recycled well. It ended up being about 4’long. I used glass that was thrown out after a fire at a board factory, so it was all black and white. I did a red pigment job. It was a pretty steep learning curve to get to the board in the photo. A good amount or disasters, but you learn from your mistakes.David. 
My very first board, second-hand, looked a lot like that. About 6’6", rounded diamond, blue tint. I was told it was made in Sydney by a then unknown shaper. Maybe it was you.
I wanted to try something different, some unusual concepts. And that’s the only reason I shape my own boards to this day.