Shapers that can't use a planer, does it matter really.

General Discussion
41

Blanks of today are piece of cake, especially the short peformance blanks, if you have the simplest abilty to work with tools, you most likely will come out with something resembling a surfboard. People who came through the wood to foam era, had to create the nuances that were the start of a surfboard, crowning deck and bottom, mowing off 1/2" to 3/4" of foam, this was work and it could easily get away from you redistributing that much foam.

I am one of those that got to apprentice with a master and have shared this with many of the folks that worked in my factories, MIke Daniel being one of those that “got” it, along with Roger Brucker, AKA Cleanlines, Tom Hogan, Darrin Craig, now I have a real prospect in Zack Flores, at 14 is near getting it all together. He still gets some bumps in the outline and a few wiggles of the deck line, but they look as good as many of the so called pro’s.

42

CNC machines are great!

Great if you want to reproduce things over and over again.

Easy and cheap.

Works for the Chinese.

Not for me.

The funny thing is that the stock boards on those shaping software look better than anything those guys could produce by hand. They never learned to put template curves together and create something new. Never studied the curves and tried to emulate them with their hands.

Said it once before, and I’ll say it again…

I believe a lobotomized circus monkey can sand out the grooves on a CNC’d surfboard blank. Computers have made hack craftsmen look like hero’s.

Go to a surfboard trade show. Which one draws the bigger crowd?

43

“Great if you want to reproduce things over and over again. Easy and cheap. Works for the Chinese.” 

Thats Me !!

Still the question was - does it matter to the customer ,90 +% of board purchases show that it does not with who they buy from .

44

Thing is Greg, I know you can use that Skil 100 on the right shelf of your shaping room. You know the one one with the Super-charger exhaust.

Dust that thing off and mow some foam.

It’s more than for decoration.

Music to my ears is the sound of a well worn Skil 100 planer running down a blank.

It matters to me because that’s the way I was taught.

Guys like Zack give me hope that this craft will live on.

He seems to get it.

Hopefully not the last breath of a dying artform.

 

45

Atta boy Zack!

Keep it up.

46

I love this place!

47

Barry, in France, but i think it’s same everywhere, everyone can buy a machine shaped blank they can design with free soft on internet. Those suppliers sold kit with, more or less, all what you need to finish board. Some guys that start can’t finish and contact me to do. Facts is even finish a preshape can be wrong lol.

48

The way I see it surfboards are a bit like guitars; that is guitars were, in the distant past, exclusively built by skilled craftsmen. These days most guitars are mass produced in factories. Thankfully there is a place for hand built guitars, as there are those who still desire the hand-built product.

In regards to surfboard construction I can see a lot of the mid-sized board builders going under. They won’t have the economies of scale to compete with the big (increasingly overseas based) factories, while also lacking the personal touch of the smaller “back-yard” builders. There will always be a place for a good designer, but as others have pointed out being a good designer these days does not necessarily amount to being a skilled craftsman as well. So basically the future for hand crafted surfboards is for very small operations producing small numbers of unique and beautifully crafted surfboards. The people buying them will appreciate the personal touch and all that entails. That’s actually quite a few people as I see it. If you’re really good at hand shaping surfboards and are good with people then I wouldn’t worry too much about the future. 

As for me I just make boards for myself and a few friends because I like it. Money has very little to do with it. My intention is to keep doing it. I have enough hassle running my small carpentry business to also want to try to make a living from making surfboards! (Also my boards are pretty rough, so I doubt anyone would ever want to buy one!)

 

49

Hey Jim, thanks for saying I “got it”. It wouldn’t have been there to “get” if you hadn’t taken the time to share. Being in that double shaping room with you was a rare privilege.

(The now-infamous Magnolia St. factory had a 35’ long shaping bay with 2 sets of racks end-to-end. I got to watch Jim work while I was hacking, and he was right there to offer tips and beat on me every time I reached for my surform lol)

I’m really glad I got to learn and shape and work during what (in retrospect) now looks like the golden era of handshaping. Designs, blanks, and surfing moved forward a lot during the 80s and 90s, it was fun to be involved.

To address the OP; no, it probably doesn’t matter… The train has left the station, I doubt we’re going back. 3D printing will be here in a few years, etc. Hope there will always be a few handshapers but whether there’ll be enough demand to keep PU blank companies going is another matter.

Happy Labor Day weekend for those in the US!

50

"My Prediction is this. In 5 years The CNC machine will start being Phased out for Board Production.  Boards will be printed on a 3 D Printer.  The New Surf Shop will have a couple of 3 D printers you will select the design color graphics fins and the the board will be printed as you watch.  When you want a new board bring the old one back to recycle and Print out a new one. "

yep, the buyer will research the shapes, select one, pay the intellectual property fee, input desired dims and volume tweaks, have the shaping alogrithm sent to the 3D printing center of choice, goes into que, ready for pickup or delivery shortly.  Perfect solution for the masses grazing on all the disposables they are convinced they need to have a better life.  The latest car, tablet, smart phone, app, surfboard…get it now before its outdated by the next one…

Hand shaping, though, will never go away.  Just as there will always be guys wrenching and customizing old rides cause it’s what they do cause it’s who they are, there will always be some foam covered yetis running a planer, their customers waiting impatiently for their latest hand crafted icon…

 

 

51

It’s like all of the other lost crafts.  People become numb to what is available and just accept what is mass produced.  I make a good deal of my own furniture out of solid wood and you just can’t compare it to the mass produced crap.

52

My younger brother, God rest his soul, made incredible all wood furniture, no ply, no MDF, native New England pines and oaks, he and his partner couldn’t make it

 

53

This is a Zack shape from this week, most likely a few under 30 at this point, he shapes, glasses, sands, makes his own ply fins

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54

“Ya know I would be a liar” Jim Morrison

Feel like a hypocrite!

I made my bones in HVAC controls prior to any kind of electronics.

As the microprocessor developed the need of self-adaptive loops became apparent.

That is when your knowledge and programming pays off!

However,

mistakes or human error…

Things of legend and soul.

55

I think you dream a bit about 3d printing. First one I saw was in 1999, I worked in a company that built airplane motors, they used it to add material, métal plasma, for retrofit parts. No really massive progress since their only lower price small units monomaterial, mostly thermo plastics. The massive progress is more accessibility to cheap CN units to build all kind of tools like cutter, printer, painter, etc…

56

“Shapers that can’t use a planer, does it matter really.”

Answer : 

It does not matter to over 90% of surfers today .

Handshaping is great but it limits your reach to new customers , places and friends .

You have only so much time , its your choice how you spend it as a board maker .

57

No it doesn’t matter at all, innovation doesn’t come from the blades of a skill 100 it’s just  an insignificant (yet awesome) tool in a huge process.  innovation will come from the mind of an intelligent surfer/surfboard builder. 

90% of the “shapers” are BUYING pre shaped pre rockered blanks cutting out their template shaping it then  sending it to a glasser and then selling it to someone who probably couldn’t tell the difference between that board and a lunch tray.

“Shaping” oftentimes doesn’t even involve setting the rocker! for production boards Don’t give a shit whether they use a CNC machine or a planer or a monkey… 

Build it from SCRATCH, glass it yourself,  ride the board, compare it to others take lots of notes what was it SUPPOSED to do,  does it do it? Does it do anything unexpectedly well.  What do others do well and badly .  measure the shit out of them… follow up with the owner, figure out what they like and don’t take back the pieces when it breaks to understand why then make the next one better by using shape thickness,  or materials  a combination  to overcome your weaknesses while retaining it’s strengths. 

Make it better using new  materials, shapes, rockers, stringers, no stringers, adhesives, inserts, do so understanding what is happening, what you are changing and it’s impact on weight strength flex and cost. 

The industry is super resistant to change innovation, or anything that might hurt profitability 

still squabling about  PE or Epoxy resin 

still squabling  PU or EPS

still 8 oz glass on top and 4 oz bottom 

still lamenting the closure of  clark foam. 

still squabling about planer or CAD.  

in my opinion if you are certain it can only be done one way you have likely finished your days of making truly exceptional innovative boards as you have convinced yourself their is only on way to do it…

Know your tools what they can and can’t do and decide when is the right time to use one or the other, or when it simply doesn’t matter. 

Make awesome boards, strive to make them better than anything else out there. (including YOUR last board)  use ANYTHING you can to do that. 

  

 

58

3d Printers and the demise of Poly foam.  Seems that smoke has been blown up my ass before.  Oh yeah that’s right;  last week on Swaylocks by the same people.  Lol!

59

Massive Swell

An invite to the “Sin bin”

You seem worthy…

 

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60

love it…

i like surf boards, i now like making them for myself, makes me stoked.

I have done hot wire, eps, eppoxy, PU PE, compsand, finless and almost normal, and i always have 5 ideas in my head for the next boards i want to make.

MMMMMM cedar stringers from the wall panels i took out of the house. hope i get to sand the laps on my current one of three active projects this arvo. maybe get a wave in this weekend…

yew.