Decided to start a new thread on this since there was some interest on another thread and didn’t want to hijack that one.
In this era of quick shape blanks I just wonder how some of you might tackle a shaping job like the guys had to do back in the old days.
Here’s the project:
Take a blank that looks like this–
and shape a board that looks like this–
Let’s have some step by step tips on how you would do it…
Check the archives. Although shy on the magazine ad/marketing thing, any of the hotwired EPS block compsand guys start with less and arguably end up with more.
Edit: pics snagged from the build of Dwight’s SUP.
I’d hire a mexican like in the last photo.
Whats he wearing a Dom DeLouise/Burt Reynolds/Pepe LePeuw scarf around his neck?
In addition to the archives, try a shaping video.
Yeah, and to build one of my boards I start with a tree, That wasn’t the point of the post.
I wasn’t asking because I didn’t know how to do it or how it was done back in 1969 when I took the photos. I thought it would be interesting discussion.
Sure. Thanks for the advice.
Racism should not be tolerated here…
You might not be able to afford hiring a Mexican glasser…
Kiterider…"(
I like the look of the hotcurl, looks like fun.
Oh, and to the question, well, im a backyard noob, so there is no way i’d be able to make anything half decent out of one of those blanks. Close tolerance blanks are pretty useful to people like myself!!.
as an aside, I think this is one of the best things that the machine has to offer…duplicated rocker and a means of accurately iterating through tweaks.
I have no clue how I’d rocker a board…thank heavens for the Segway blank catalog!
I’m far from an expert, so my first thought for a wood board(ala chambered balsa) would be to approximate the EPS/hotwire method that I am used to and rough cut the rocker/foil into all the planks before spot glueing them for shaping.
I think (having mind shaped, but not actually shaped a balsa board) that if I were to start with a ‘flat’ blank like the ones pictured… First cut and true the outline. Then mark off the apex of the rocker, which may or may not be in the exact center of the board, then make passes with the planer starting at the apex line and running parallel to the stringer making the cut progressively deeper towards the tip. After the center ‘channel’ is cut, do the same pass on either side until that half of the board is flat. Repeat the process while continually checking how the rocker is shaping up. Repeat the whole step on the opposite end of the board. True it all up with a long sanding block at the end before putting in the bottom shape.
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I just thought of a cheater method … Carefully plan out your rocker before hand, and plot out depth points from the apex to each end at say 1 or 2 inch intervals. Mark lines at each interval across the board perpendicular to the stringer. For each line, take a skill saw and set it to the depth for that interval (perhaps a little shy to leave room) and make a cut across the blank following the lines. When you are done you will have a blank with cuts that follow the rocker serving as a ‘guide’ for shaping it in. Just go at it with the planer until you get just above the bottom of the cuts. Finish off with a sander.
I think the first method would be a little quicker and would perhaps give you more of a ‘feel’ of the shape.
… there is my 2 cents worth. Mind shaping can be fun too! 
I’d start by dialing in the rocker, using either a templet or a rocker stick. Much easier said than done.(I tried it with a block of foam once. It can get out of hand real quick.) Next I’d go to the templet and cut the plane shape. From there I’d foil and do the rail bands. Sand and glass.
How curious… I saw one of those G&S boards today. Guessing it was either the Magic or Frye. It was on top of a cherry 1930’s something woody.
Anyway… The way I did it back then was outline with a router and full templates. Templates were in every odd inch, 6 separate templates per foot. Boards in the upper 6ft to mid 7ft.
Rockers glued in the blanks for what we needed. Worked all the right cuts with a Skill then sanded and turned rails with a soft pad and grinder. Screen and finish. 2 guys about 100 shapes per week.
That was 1968... In '69 we had special molds for the blanks that needed very little cutting. Outline, skin, grind then fine sand. 3 guys about 200 shapes per week. One guy would outline and fine sand. The other 2 would cut and grind.
D.R.
Hey Bill -
Sorry for being a wise guy but it is in the archives… duplicating outlines, measuring rocker, using rail contour gauges, taking thickness measurements, etc.
Dale Solomonson mentioned several years ago that he had made up his own ‘torture rack’ devices that allowed cross section curve measurements with a series of rods clamped between two boards.
I sometimes use sections of long template patterns to lay out my top and bottom rail bands. For hull bottoms it is sometimes helpful for me to lay out reference lines when cutting the hull. Obviously each hull is different but something like this helps me determine where I take off the most foam…
Biil---------------- Seems over some folks heads. But without revealing too many of my own secrets; I will try to get it started. I did shape some of those old Clarks during the time when those G&S Models were popular. I don’t remember exactly but most of those blanks had next to NO rocker. If you wanted more rocker you had to carve it in. Clark wasn’t quite there when it came to close tolerance blanks with custom rockers in 1969-70. If you went into Mitch’s to buy a blank back then; all the blanks seemed to be the same other than length. I don’t like to let it be known, but I am one of those guys who does not template and cut out before any rough is done. I don’t even worry about my outline until I have skinned the blank, taken it dowm to thickness and done some preliminary sanding. Stopping ocassionally to check thickness and rocker. I use a piece of one inch square aluminum tubing eight feet long and a carpenters square instead of a $300 rocker guage. According to that add the deck is an “S” curve deck, the bottom is bellied or rolled from the nose until the back third in which there appears slight “V” or flat thru the tail. Most of the Eggs that I surfed in SD in those days were mostly rolled bottoms with slight V. The speedier “downrailers” were pretty flat in the tail with a little V thru the single fin. Once I am to that point I take some measurements for my template using a carpeters’ square and make any adjustments as to width. We didn’t as you know have Pleskunas’ “forty dollar piece of plastic” back then. Once I have cut out my outline I fine tune to be sure that I have the roll and V in the bottom. Then I check the overall deck for “S”. When I am sure I am close to foil, I mark my rail bands and turn’em. This starts a blending process to make sure my rails blend to bottom and deck foil. Alot of those boards at that time had a 50/50 or 60/40 rail. Not just a straight down rail. This required more skill than just a flatbottom and downrail. But some of the boards in that era were indeed straight downrailers and that was an easy set up for a shaper. At that point I sand and screen. Mark the back of my single fin(Bahne box or glass on) I know I have over simplified it and my method may be differant than that of others, but that’s it. Lowel
In the ad hype are some pics of the rail lines shown with cross cuts (listed a-j) of a board. It appears that they were using the basic de rigeur S rail at the time… nearly a mirror image if you compare nose to tail cross sections with a full belly/upturned rail in front and a dome deck/downturned rail in the tail.
Sorry - can’t tell you the rest… it’s a secret. Well OK, after cutting the bottom hull bevels, it involves the use of a flexible sanding block.
Actually it’s quite simple, you just remove everything that does not look like the finished board that you want! There are many, many, many blank skinners out there, but very few shapers, that can visualize the surfboard trapped within the material, and liberate it.
Bill-------Yeah for along time I felt like I had to do like other guys I had seen shape. First thing lay out the template and cut it. I was complaining to a friend of mine with more shaping experience than me that I had difficulty keeping my template/outlines on dimension. That’s when John Mel(who had shaped me a board once that he said was like the old “Magic”, it was) told me that he did alot of the rough shaping before cutting the outline. So I started doing it that way. I think it actually helps me find the board within the blank. You’ve got to be able to visualize the board and keep it in your minds eye as you go thru it. With the help of Pleskunas’ forty dollar piece of plastic I have no trouble staying on my dimensions now. But my method is a “learned” process so I stay with it. I know my template before I start and I can see it thru the whole process. The only thing I have changed the last few years is: I now power sand as Dennis mentioned in his above post. Thats been a learning process as well. Lowel
Michelangelo quotes (Italian sculptor, painter, architect & poet, considered the creator of the Renaissance, 1475-1564)
Hello Bill…
I mostly use a hammer and a screw driver…Sometimes my dad will let me use the HACK saw…Mom freaked out when we bought some razor blades so now we’re using butter knifes for safety…
Here’s a Swaylock’s link…masking tape has replaced the clamps…
http://www2.swaylocks.com/node/1019259
Ray
