I wonder if you nutty “Swayaholics” could organize yourselves and create some sort of co-op. For instance — people “buy shares” or “buy into” the organization either with dollars, or renting shaping bays, or expertise, or supplies…or whatever. Then members can get the use of central locations or tools or even get discounts on blanks and materials. Just a thought…might be good for pushing the “garage shaper” business forward, to being better for the environment, for saving us some dough, for making the real custom shapers better off (we will see why we really really need them)…all sorts of things. First thing we would need is buy in from the group. Need a board. Need to organize. Need to get sponsors. Need to take it step by step. Maybe get the sponsors some publicity in the surf rags i mean mags. Maybe get some surfboard manufacturers to sponsor a shape off or something – who knows. Lots of different things we could do with it and no better venue than Swaylocks. It would be kinda cool to have a contest that you haveto surf on something you made…judged in such a fashion that wasn’t all about your typical points. With enhough buy in etc we could make this happen. Hello Patagonia, Quicksilver, Surfers Journal, Rusty, foamEZ…talk to your local surf shops…to local surfboard manufacturers…to whomever. If we can get enough interest on here we can surely get enough interest out “there”. am i insane?
I nominate “Scammer” as Chairman of the organizing committee for this project. Any seconds?
Not to be negative, its a good idea in principle, but I worked for a silent co-op before it feel apart because it seemed everyone wasnt getting enough of something they thought that they were entiteled too. http://www.surfboardglassing.com
I’m curious to hear more, although I may have trouble sending money to a person named “scammer”.
This is something that I was working a while ago, similar to your idea, it was my attempt at keeping backyard board building alive while keeping it on the level. USHAPE Have you ever wondered what a board would go like if you had shaped it yourself ? Well that was what l thought 26 years ago. The first board that l made myself was probably not the most accurate, but to me it looked like a board and most importantly it had all the design features that l had pictured in my mind to be the ultimate board for me. So how did it go you ask ? Well to me it went as good as any other board that l had ridden. Maybe because l expected it not to go, maybe l just fluked it or maybe it was because l was a novice, but for what ever the reason l knew one thing, and that was that l had never felt so proud and keen to go surfing as the day that l had finished making my first board. The experience gave me the thrill and desire to keep making my own boards so that one day l might be able to make myself the ultimate surfboard that helps me surf better than ever before. Experience is the gathering of knowledge and l don’t think that l have ever made myself a surfboard and not learnt from the individual feelings and sensations of each board. What I’m offering you is my past 26 years experience of surfboard design and knowledge. I have designed and built many tools so that l can re-create proven designs, from profile machines that create the bottom curve and foil, outline and rail templates, fins and fin positioning that help determine a surfboards reactions. It’s a chance for you to learn more about the surfboards that you ride or maybe even inspire you to one day have your own label because l believe that the more people that are researching their equipment, the better the equipment will become. Who knows, maybe you will be the next person to come up with the next milestone in surfing, like the concept of the “thruster”. WHAT YOU GET 1 First quality Blank (foam) A proven performance “machine profile” to your volume specifications ( bottom curve, foil thickness, deck roll ) 2 hours of tutoring from myself, where you will learn the basic and critical fundamentals of surfboard design. 2 Hours of shaping bay hire, which includes tools to bring the board to a ready to glass stage. 2 Decals (of three choices) ready to go under the fibreglass with your own name printed on them as the “SHAPER , DESIGNER” Your discretion of the main brand label of “USHAPE” on the finished product. A Recommended glassing company that will finish off your creation. ( The glassing bill is separate from mine and you will be given a quote before you commence ) ( Art work is an added cost and can be arranged by the glassing company) COSTS ( for KR’s tuition, blank, profile, bay & tool hire, decals ) For surfboard up to 7’0” = $ 225 + G.S.T. Add $ 20 per foot above 7’0” COST’S ( for glassing and fins ) For surfboard up to 7’0” = $ 250 + G.S.T. Add $ 20 per foot above 7’0” Artwork must be quoted IT’S YOUR CHANCE TO CREATE YOUR OWN INDIVDUAL PIECE OF SURFING EQUIPMENT My years of experience include shaping surfboards for other shapers such as Nev, Darren Handley of DHD Surfboards, Jason Stevenson of J.S Surfboards, Murray Burton of Pipedream Surfboards, Glen Minamii of Blue Hawaii Surfboards, Greg Webber of Webber Surfboards, Rod Dahlberg of Dahlberg Surfboards. Also shaping for experienced surfers such as Jamie Kasdaglis, Danny Wills, Trent Munroe, Joel Fitsgerald, Shane Wehner, Will Lewis, Daisuke Imamura, Justin Gane, Simon Robinson, Kurt Jacobs, Simon Massey, Kurt Nyholm, Mark Richardson, Grant Frost, Alby Ross, Brett Hodge and many more who chose not to pursue a professional career. SO COME ON GIVE IT A TRY ----- BE APART OF THIS SELF REWARDING CRAFT http://groups.msn.com/MyKRSurf/krcomweb.msnw
Go KR, and do you expect a fucken pat on the back!!! Jeez man you don’t mind fucken claiming yourself do you!!! http://www.speedneedle.com.au
I have access to a shaping bay at a laminating shop where three other brands operate from;- We consider it a Co-Op of sorts, and I do all the decal and advert design for next to nothing. Yet there are problems, like when a potential customer walks into the workshop- If they find me first I’ll be all-out to sell them one of my boards while the other guys hang around waiting to hear the customer say “…I like this other label…” There would need to be some clear - cut guidelines about this, I.e - an Non-shaper representative of the co-op speaks to customers, feeling out their needs before leading them to the shaper best able to fill them…In a perfect world… http://www.speedneedle.com.au
We already have several… support your local supplier like FoamEZ, your dues are the money you pay for supplies. In return you have a supplier that can stay in business, and even grow to offer you more. I think this site is proof enough that the backyard shaper is alive and well.
it’s not a bad idea.A handfull of us were talking about the same thing-we’ll all chip in for one new board at a time, ride it, give feedback and move on from there.Much less expensive than if we each got a similar board.
You are not INSANE…I have just put my last 3.75 in an envelope and put it in my mailbox and raised thye flag…I put an address on the envelope and a return address and a stamp…I have complete faith in the postal service and my fellows…perhaps its just the last wave I caught this morning that is making me giddy but I do believe this time it can truely work out oh yeah…no body’s getting loaded out side the shop or dealing dope to pay off the big blank order’or trading a pound for 6 boards or any of that other stuff that screwed up that last shop collective co-op …I know this can work ,…I know this is work,…I can feel this working …call me when you need another $3.75…ambrose…never gamble more than you can afford to lose…when you got nothing you got nothing to lose…hmmmm a corperate sponsor…free money? …they own the product inovations?..it’s in the contract…I dont wanna work for nobody…not even the government …my father did that…I just wanna shape that Foamese swayloholic blank and turn the community on its ear…learn to turn…with out the crutch or trainers…huh what did I just channel…crutch…? WE know what the trainers are…Chicken footage rising…tuning out…ambrose… on linguine…I will be the margin sanity dweller I have been training to come back at will…I’m o.k. mom…
pull ya head out of ya arse josh and smell the concrete, i was merely stating that I was attempting to give people a chance to have a go at doing their own boards while not having to pay for set up costs as well as making sure that they will get a good product from guidence. I couldnt give a rats arse about pats on the back, I’m just trying to make a living out of what I do best and if my services can be benificial to someone good luck to me. Now go back to your front page of your website and read what you have written about yourself and tell me that you haven’t chanted yourself aswell, if you dont think so then you can bang your head back up your arse and do a few laps around your local footy oval for all i care. KR http://groups.msn.com/MyKRSurf/krcomweb.msnw
Bucket of shit and a stirring stick equals one happy Joshie! So hopefully all those nice kids who come to you to learn the craft will go on to rewarding careers as foam smoothers finishing Pre-shapes at “BASE” hey Kenny!!! http://www.speedneedle.com.au
How much does a shaping bay rent for anyhow? I am looking for a bay in Oceanside California.
usually between 100-150 most glassers will break down the price if you are doing enough boards. http://www.surfboardglassing.com
Dear drug syringe, sorry i mean speed needle, great name by the way, WAY COOL, just like your board art. you can call me a bucket of shit and perceive in your own mind that you are stiring me, and your entitled to your opinion ( one that I couldn’t give a pigs patute about)but atleast I dont try to hide shit with pretty colors, These days any one can make a board look like a board and you seem to have that craft down, good on ya. you deserve a pat on the back!!! but have you got the balls to call me a bucket of shit to my face, I doubt it, If I wanted to write you off some more I would but I have just had a great day and guess that I will wait until we have the pleasure to meet personaly, give me a call next time your in town, only to pleased to meet ya. and I hope that you offer me the same hospitality. KR http://groups.msn.com/MyKRSurf/krcomweb.msnw
Sorry about the harshness of my reply Josh, What meantt to say was,I couldn’t give a rats if someone recons that I am up myself, it just means that they dont know me, but when someone abuses me in the cowardly manner of safety from a far, I take it a different way and am prepared to deal with it in the good old primal fashion of, THEMS FIGHTIN WORDS BUDDY Bring it on, and not from behind the saftey of your computer screen. KR http://groups.msn.com/MyKRSurf/krcomweb.msnw
$150 sounds very inexpensive, how big is the room you have for rent in s. LA??
Ken, Okay man, this has been bitter enough so far without me adding any further harsh words… I have a lot of respect for you based on the quality of shapes coming out of Trigger Brothers 15 years ago. Here’s the basis of my original comment -In hyndsight mistakenly directed at you personally:- Shaping, as you would observe, has lost a lot of status as a craft in recent years as blanks have become better and preshapes available to anybody asking, apart from the sheer number of boards being churned out, pros riding throwaways, etc… A reasonable looking board can be achieved by a beginner under tuition, and with contract laminating that stick can be finished to proffessional quality. Maybe as an "Old School " craftsman who painfully learned how to shape , glass, finish coat and polish first in the backyard alone and then under the dictatorial eye of Kym Thompson and a string of others, I have a kneejerk reaction to the suggestion that someone should sell these skills to any taker. (Airbrushing is another, but nobody ever taught me that:- wanna guess how many surfboards it would take?) One go at sanding in which the machine gets caught in the dust suit and whacks the kid in the chin and nuts repeatedly would see all but the keenest give it away!!! Or then the heart racing sensation of glassing a hotmix cos nobody told you better… So Ken, let me salvage some sense of the possibility of mutual respect by saying;- I apologise for upsetting you, and I will step down willingly to avoid further bitterness. Indeed I may bump into you someday and perhaps we could have a beer and a laugh. I look again at your original mail as an idea to “keep backyarding alive” Not such a bad thing, but, as I have suggested, why shelter these prospective board makers from the realities of glassing by passing their shapes onto a laminator? Perhaps If I had made that point first, then we would’nt have gone down the path leading to cussings out? Josh http://www.speedneedle.com.au