I am 16 and last summer when i was 15 i helped my friend shape his first board. i was wondering how old most people on here were when they started to shape and how old all of you are i have a feeling i am one of the younger people on here.
i shaped my first board for a high school project when i was about 16… glassed it in the garage with no glove or respirator while my parents were having a christmas party!!! needless to say they were not so happy.
still have the board and ride it from time to time…
oh yah i am 29…
whats up rider there have been a few young shapers in here. I am 23 but man i envy you starting now. Use your age to your advantage, everyone loves helping young guys who are passionate on building their own boards. It is the perfect age for being a shapers grunt who gets to not get paid, sweep the shaping shack and LEARN. you should find a local shaper and bug the sh!^ out of him.
much like jjp i shaped my first board for a high school senior project. ( i got an A)
but i had a few mentors to help me when i first started, i was like 17 at the time. and now i am almost 22 and still love it.
the best thing you can do is start early and shape often
started in summer 2004,16 at the time,now im 17 and have already shaped and glassed 6
some thing to shoot for geuss all the oler guys are workin that why none of them have jumped in yet
19-shaped three boards, am about to begin my first glass job
I’ll bite…besides, it’s almost 5:00PM.
I started shaping 3 years ago and was 36 years old. Figured since I had 26 years of experience riding boards, it was about damn time I learned how to make them. Now I love it and sometimes, on the rare occasion, wish that I had started sooner.
Sr Pato
Rider…,
I, like other posters on your thread, shaped my first board when I was 17 as a high school wood shop project. That was many moons ago. (1958, Yikes!) The advantage you have starting now, is the ability to access years of accumulated knowledge through sources like swaylocks. You will learn most by doing. So jump in and get going.
I’m 16 and have shaped 5 boards and glassed 4 in the year that I have been doing it. It’s already an addiction.
Do you really want to know. I shaped my first board at the ripe young age (three years ago) of …53!!. It’s all I think about, read about (here) and save my money for. I really feel fortunate to be living in the South (Santa Monica) Bay, close to Foam E-Z, Walker Foam, several glass and resin suppliers, and warmish weather most of the year. You can teach old dogs new tricks.
Ride on, Tom
I shaped my first board when I was 14 or 15 ( I’m 42 now). It was an ugly single fin knee board, a 5’4" I think, but it got me out of some deep tubes. By the time I was out of high school (1980), and into my first couple years of JC, I’d built 50 or 60 boards. Stopped shaping in 82 when I discovered moto cross. pretty much had given up surfing by 1990 after my brother and me got scared out of the water by a big 'ol shark at some break a little south of Jalama. Got back into surfing and shaping around 95 and have been having a blast! Don’t keep very good record, but I have probably built around 150 or 175 boards. Swaylocks has been a HUGE wealth of knowledge and good company to me.
Wow, sorry this post got so long, not sure you wanted my life story.
God Bless,
Scott
Ah, motocross!
Started at 18, shaped 120 by 21, recouped from motocross tib/fib 13 screw fix for 3 years, started up again in '74 and finished at around 500 in '77, when the second motocross career lasted for 6 years and then came windsurfing.
I shaped for WiseSurfboards…who now don’t embrace garage shapers and stock over 500 surfboards in the store!
Figured if I didn’t start the first moto career, I’d have well over 1,000 shaped by age 25, but alas, life is full of twists and turns.
1985 , at age 24 . [ YOU DO NOT WANT TO SEE THAT BOARD , trust me !!]
Only done 15 by now [2005] …so I would not by any stretch of the imagination call myself a "shaper "
[more a “tinkerer”…
"chip"
just made 23 and just started although Ive been working with fiberglass for a few years on motorcycle fairings, its totally diffrent though. I wish I could have started when I was younger, didnt have the time or money back then.
Made my first board at 17 in 1976. 6’6" single fin, made the fin myself. It did unreal laid over bottom turns.
Didn’t keep count over the years, just tried to make each one better. Made a fair few though, learned from all of them.
Always surfed modern shortboards and played with fins a lot.
Cruising is fun, but performance is more fun and more challenging.
Haven’t made a board in a while, but hanging out here keeps me well in touch with what’s happening.
46 years old(almost 47). I always assumed I could not build a board. Some kind of magical talent. I asked a friend who had made me several boards to let me watch and I’d pay him extra about ten years ago. No deal. He did tell me, “Mike, its just a procedure. Like anything else.” I thought, ‘f—k, I can learn a procedure.’ Almost three years ago after thirty years of surfing I gave it a try. Now I can’t stop. I only ride my own boards because it feels so great to ride a board you made with your own hands. Mike
At the age of 19 in 92’ I broke my board and had an old Faith surfboard in the shed.(I shoulda kept it old twinnies have come back)I was between School and military service with no money so lets say I was forced into it. Until a 4 years ago I shaped a few and bought a few now I only ride my own. After I relized board builders for the masses dont make boards to suit the few. I am now 32 and have shaped about 20 or so boards in the last 1.5 years
Keep well
shaped my first board when i was 16, now im 17 and have shaped 3 in all
37 …
did first board with urethane and resin at 12 in 1981 , but i was taking to my foamy’s with saws and files from age 7 …
first professional job at 14 with T&C , then my own business at 19 …
still as stoked as ever , never worked a day in my life , but have fun every day …
dont know exact numbers well over 10 k…
was a shaper who surfed , now im a surfer who shapes …
enjoy the ride …
regards
BERT