Reducing Rocker?

I’m in the process of shaping a new 6’0 high volume shortboard right now, for smaller days and sloppy surf, so that’s occupying my time and making me think.

I have a 98Y in the racks for the next build, which is gonna be a slightly piggy log, and I want to take down the rocker a bit. 

Now, before anyone says anyhting, I DID search the archives, and didn’t find anyhting too helpful (besides, all that ever shows up in ‘Show us your bars of soap,’ and I don’t feel like going through 5 million pages trying to find a tip… hahaha), but i THINK I have the process planned out in my head. It makes sense to me, but I don’t know much.

Would the way to do this be by first planing down the middle section on the bottom of the board, to the desired curve, then flipping it and taking off from the nose and tail sections? That seems like the logical, and only, way to do it.

Also, I just got a new planer today, the more expensive Harbor Freight one. I would’ve liked a nicer one, but it’s all i could realyl afford, and I needed someting.  I learned a lot, though. My 65R had lots of foam to be removed before it was my final thickness.

Thanks for the tips.

Yeah, it seems pretty easy…just flatten the middle curve some, being mindful not to leave an actual flat spot, or something other than a continuous curve, while at the same time maintain a good foil or thickness flow. But like so many things with shaping, “it ain’t as easy as it looks”. Altering rocker with a planer requires a great deal of planning and fore-thought, and the ability to “see” the finished rocker curve in your mind, as well as the finished shape… Also needed is the ability to adjust planer cuts on the fly (with a planer capable of up to 1/8" cuts) not to mention a great deal of experience just using your planer. Don’t get ahead of yourself. Order blanks with rocker close to your finished specs, learn how to order custom rockers, learn how to tweak/fine-tune those blanks with your planer. Watch Jim Phillips vid a few more times. Buy a “real” planer. Eventually, you’ll get to a place where you can truly “shape” rocker. 

In the meantime, take a good look at the profile drawing for the 9-8Y in the USB catalog. Some people just take the 9-8Y blank and reverse it, i.e use the the tail of the blank for the nose and nose for tail. This works best for the “pig” shape with its wide-point behind center and the 16"-17" nose. Rocker-wise, the reversed 9-8Y gives you a nice kick in the tail, with a relatively flat entry rocker, again ideal rocker curve for pig-ish log. Now the 9-8Y is a very thick blank so plan on taking off most foam from the bottom. This will give you a lot of “experience” with your planer. Use a 10’ straight-edge to monitor the shape of your rocker. Remember, no flat spots…

If you don’t want to loose the thickness, cut out the old stringer, and put in a new one with the right rocker. 

Making a rocker template will make it a lot easyer.

i bought a 6’10 asecond(cheap) on accident not looking at the catalog 2 days ago. measured when i got home to check the rocker and thickness. really fun tacking down sooo much foam to get it to 2 1/2 with my shitty ryobi planer that has a max 3/32 planing depth. new to shaping this is my 7th board. ive bought a couple 5’10 rps and 6’4 eas they are my favorite for these types  of shapes. even the 6’2 a is a good one for the wider nose fatter(pig boards) im still very much learning but buying the right blank will save you a lot of time and hassel. sorry for the rant

btw the board out of the 2nd quaility 6’10 was shaped into a 5’8x19 3/4x2 1/2 dumpster diver type board. alot of wasted foam

sorry a bit off the topic check out how paul carters video on youtube. pretty cool way to get the rocker the way you want it

Thanks for all the helpful tips everyone.

Noma… I actually toyed with that idea, but i’m not sure the outline will fit in reverese. I guess there’s only one way to find out…

Ed… My current shape is a 6’0 neck beard look alike, which i 95% finsihed today. Just a hair over 2.5", so I’m sure it will catch waves super easy.

Sorry I didn’t have time to post earlier, but the last thing you want to
do is try to draw your outline nose to tail on the blank.  A reverse
rocker that has been commented on is not done by flipping the blank
around but on reversing the rocker in the stringer and then the  glue-up
conforms to that rocker, thus “reversing” the rocker and associated
curves.  What you need to do to drop the rocker is to downsize your
template a bit and move it as far back as possible.  If you have not
learned how to measure rocker, consult the Bill B thread referenced at
the top of the General Discussion page.  Level your board and measure
the rocker from mid-point, then move the center back a couple of inches
and then measure the leveled rocker.  You will see that you have reduced
the rocker (especially in the nose curve).  Tail curve is just that,
the acceleration is usually done 24" or more up from the tail and you
can plane that in.  Hope this helps, this has been discussed before in a
couple of different threads.  PM me if you need more detail…  Just my
2c from an oldie…