Could someone chime in and suggest an industry standard acceptable outline discrepency. I recently was given the task to measure a board built buy a very experienced craftsmen, at least he tells people he is. After struggling with the numbers I was reading, and trying different tools, I came up with the same result. 1/16"-1/8 off in area’s. I very delicately asked which side he would like me to attempt to copy. His reaction was not surprised and said to me “It doesnt affect the ride of the board” "It’s industry standard go measure a F%$%&NG C^&%&*l Is^&%nd surfboard. After he left, I thought it be a good exercise to do so, I grabbed one I had in the shed, and guess what it was even! As I do not consider myself a master craftsmen, great shaper, surfer and have not been to the optometrist in some time. Wondering if I should have kept clam?
Kind of goes back to that whole craftsmanship thread.
Hope he wasn’t Hawaiian…
That wat we can’t get blamed for everything done half a**ed
Nah he was originally from California. Cant remember his name but he wore a thick gold chain with a big diamond studed skill 100 charm. Man the guy was like a doomsday prophet, kinda freaked me out. Kept saying the end is near. The soul is dead. So I had to ask a few questions to understand this guys thinking. The first was what the heck are you talking about? He went into the whole handshaping thing and how things used to be. The thing that killed me was here I’am measuring his crooked board so he doesnt have to use a heavy ass planer. Man o Man I tell you I was about to give him a stone axe and a sharpened rock to hand chisel a board out of a tree. Then the whole blank topic came up which was enlightning. I had no idea how easy it is to switch teams from pro Clark foam, Soul, Handshaping, Cobra’s evil, to “EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE WHEN THE CHINA BLANKS SHOW UP”. So I gave him a few 2.75lb EPS blank milled to his liking and wished him luck… I know he wont see this because I’m sure he doesnt know what the internet is, and if he does maybe he will realize how ridiculous he was… Thought I would share a comical experiance…
In 1972 I was hired by a master craftsman to be his apprentice. Second day on the job, he handed me some panels of wood, inscribed with precisely curved and angled lines, to be cut on the bandsaw. Before I could begin, he asked a question that has echoed down though my life ever since… “Dale, are you going to going to cut on the right of the line, to the left, on both sides, or down the center? Never forget that small lessons learned now will guide larger, more important choices later on.”
I came up with the same result. 1/16"-1/8 off in area's. I very delicately asked which side he would like me to attempt to copy.
How we’re you measuring? I hope not from the stinger to the rail. I’ve learned here on Swaylocks that the stringer is not necessarily going to be the center of the board and that master shapers snap their own center line to use when laying down their templates.
Rich,
You are OH SO CORRECT about the center line. Even a well trained eye can’t always pickup a deviation in a center stringer. You MUST use a snap line to be sure.
…the clean lines are more importants than cold measurements…
…in most blanks the stringers are not perfect straight…so the real middle line is not always on the stringer…
Thanks guys on this one the stringer happened to be pretty good. Good enough not to be that off. I like the snap line as we have had so many blanks come through that are tweaked. Makes for fun milling! I got more a kick out of what he said than anything. Maybe there should be a shapers union that you need to be reistered with. There could be a panel of the greats that could make a decision what level your shapes would fall into. A great craftsmen card. B Craftsmen card, C Almost there, D 1000 boards away, E Hack, and finally F ooooooooohhhhhh nnnnnnnnooooooooooo.
I hope no one takes any of this offensive. I really do enjoy the colorful characters I run across. It truly makes day to day life enjoyable, fun and I usually have a good story to share with someone in the end. Man o man the characters I have met…
What is more important to YOU!!
A precisely shaped board that is nearly perfectly even, and surfs OK.
Or a crookedly shaped gnome, that surfs magically for anyone?
Quite often in this world, not always, you can get one or the other.
true true.
weren’t their figure 8 outlines, also i highly doubt anyones backside surfing is exactly the same as their front side surfing.
“I once saw a stringer in a Walker blank that resembled Lombard St.”
ben …ben …ben …
you have GOT to give those cali mushies a REST, mate !
they’ll make your hair fall out , your dog look like an alien , and the bottoms of your boards grow weird channels and ridges , among other things …
ben
our mushies here don’t bite back , but heck …you have to watch the Wozzie
apples , though …
