I just forwarded this thread to my 16 year old son. My same advice but hearing from someone else may just do the trick. Thanks guys!
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You hated carpentry?
Yeah. First job I ever had I was shipped off to work on Lanai. Straight onto a roof with a grumpy 60+ year old Journeyman all haggard from working hard his whole life… All I thought was no way that’s gonna be me!!! Hahahaha!! I ended up on a Framing crew working for the fastest, hardest working framers in Hawaii for years… We used to literally run while we worked racing each other building sub-division houses… Once the Hitachi Nail gun came out, it was a crazy pace! For awhile I really got into it… I used to get into big trouble if I skipped out to surf… Failed the apprentice program because school always started in September when the waves got good… The Union let me slide because my company liked me even though I was always volunteering for lay-offs so I could surf… The Union pulled plenty strings to keep me working which was like a curse to me!!! I was ALWAYS trying to find a way to get out of work to surf… I didn’t last long doing it… 12 years was all I could take!! Hahaha!
thanks heaps everyone. since i posted this thread ihave had so many ideas on different things. I spoke to my uncle who is a carpenter and said he might be able to help point me in the right direction, he also surfs alot and rekons it is the perfect thing to do for me so i will have to see. i also spoke to my manager from work who is also a fiery he rekons it is awsome but im not sure if it is what i want to do.
oh well all i know is that whatever job i am going to do i am going to do it propelly and all ways make time for a wave
Hi Shaun,
You might want to also consider teaching as you always get summers off to do what you want to do. It’s a great field that’s always in demand anywhere in the world. The pay isn’t great but it isn’t as bad as some people make it seem. 'Just another thing to think about.
Cheers,
Rio
No man STAY AWAY FROM TEACHING unless you’re reallyreally heart and mind committed to it. My wife has taught high school math for something like 15 years and has the commitment. I know I don’t. I think I can be patient, but when you gotta ride herd on twenty little shitholes, you need the patience of Job, and excellent crowd control skills.
What you gonna do when some huge lug, twice your size and half your age, comes in stoned shitless or drunk? Would you have the presence of mind to ask him nicely, “Are you ready for the test today?” The guy isn’t even about to sit down for that, he shambled off.
One more time: stay outa teaching unless you are really really into that. Here in Hawaii they’ll pay you to teach while you go to the U, but beginning teachers get sent where there’s a need, right? And the need is always the shithole places that couldn’t hang onto the last victim.
Though I’ve been a civil engineer since 1980, at age 54 I still surf a good bit. I know I miss some good days, but I pull it down for the wife of 20 years, my 17- and 14-year old kids. I worked little shit jobs for a good many years, through college and after. The trade advice is pretty good as far as it goes, but the end of it you may turn into that grumpy 60-year old guy who hasn’t the dough to stop. He’ll work until he gets too stoned, or has an accident, then if he’s lucky he sails off into the sunset on insurance (does he have any? nope) or he croaks.
The steady job is the thing, long-term, and offers (my opinion) a settled long term future (good to think of when you can’t get that hottie off your mind and want to keep her… and the little ones).
So it depends on how careful you think you can be with what you earn. Respectfully, I don’t think you can assess that now. Fortunately, you have a lot of time to make your decision (though you didn’t reference your family status, or living arrangements).
I’ve told a lot of folks… There’s always room at the bottom.
A shaper in oz gets around 15bucks a foot.
A $300000 mortgage in oz cost $650 a week.
you do the math. then tell me in 10 years how many epic days you’ve missed cause your stuck in the dusty blue room. . I work as a coal train driverabout 50 hours a week 10 hr shifts. on saturdays I work as a rigger in a coal mine 12hrs
I make around 20 boards a year.That doesn’t leave a lot of time for mch else. In a few months I stop the riggers job , do more boards. And I have a list of the epic days I have missed, sure I have travelled and the job you want may not happen.
At 15 bucks a foot you will work long and hard to get anywhere.
Your a big boy now ,have a think .
I’d love to hear what master shaper Jim Phillips has to say about following his dream to do the best job possible.
As would I…although I know Jim is also a master woodworker who has built much, much more than just surfboards.
If thekingofdub got some good trades training to augment his natural skills, it may eventually be that he rises to the top of the shaping heap where Jim is now…but diversification is always recommended, and its nice to be able to pay the bills along the way.
Dale, what’s your personal evolution story? I’ve followed closely some of the bits & pieces about you that appear here - mats, dental devices, cast plastics, homemade tools, etc. - but how did you get started? Family furniture tradition combined with growing up surfing & shaping like Jim? Framing like CarveNalu? Jewelry like Silly? Medical devices like Blakestah? Pure surf & shaping? Science? I bet your story is a good one… 
Benny1,
In brief… I grew up in a small fishing village, starting in my early teens I worked on the docks and later on fishing boats, etc. Mostly inshore salmon and offshore tuna.
After I left home, I apprenticed and worked about 25 years in the sign industry, specializing in handcrafted one-off projects… utilizing wood, metal, glass, plastics, foams… from brush lettering and graphic and neon design, to pin striping, airbrush, gold leaf, sculpted architectural foam, lighted signs…on vehicles and objects of all sorts, panels, walls, etc. Ranging from ground level to 90 feet high, from tiny to billboard size.
Beginning in childhood, I’ve been fortunate to build and experiment with many skim boards, skateboards, sand boards and a wide variety of surf craft. Some for my own use, some for sale.
I’ve also been employed in a lumber mill, by a newspaper, as a bodyguard, as an on-air personality for a classic rock radio station, invented and marketed nationally, had photos published, sold paintings in fine art galleries, made musical instruments(luthier),etc.
Along the way I’ve learned my share of carpentry, painting, plumbing, electrical, mechanical and other useful skills. I know what it’s like to have plenty, and what’s it’s like to live with very little. I’ve always worked hard to do my very best at whatever I’ve chosen to do.
I’ve learned that life is filled with surprises, both good and bad. Integrity, knowledge, common sense, perseverance and the ability to put it into action is power… as my Grandpa used to say, “Learn all you can about everything, sooner or later you’ll probably need it…”
Thanks for that Dale. Great stuff. I love the variety of skills and range of creativity that Sways people bring to the discussion.
Similarly, my grandfather always scoffed at the idea of ‘jack of all trades, master of none’ by saying that if you have the skills to master one, you can always pretty easily add a couple more. Just like learning languages.
I’ve happily cashed paychecks as a whitewater guide, naturalist, firefighter, movie actor, carpenter, electrician, heavy equipment operator, recycler, expert witness, and photo-machine tecnician. And sold furniture, toys, tools, and a couple of surfboards. With inspiring guys like you leading the way, I feel like I can keep this crazy (and on my own terms) life up for at least another 5 decades
Take care, guys like me are counting on your example, and guys like thekingofdub are going to really benefit from you sharing all this experience…
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In brief… I grew up in a small fishing village, starting in my early teens I worked on the docks and later on fishing boats, etc. Mostly inshore salmon and offshore tuna.
I’ve had a similar range, and of all of them, fishing offshore is the only one I miss. It’s a different kind of life, in every way. If you can do it, and a lot can’t. you’ll never have a moment of wondering about who you are.
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I’ve learned that life is filled with surprises, both good and bad. Integrity, knowledge, common sense, perseverance and the ability to put it into action is power… as my Grandpa used to say, “Learn all you can about everything, sooner or later you’ll probably need it…”
Absolutely.
Integrity with regard to yourself, not what other people think. At the end of the day, they’re gone and you’re still there.
Knowledge: there is no useless knowledge. Sooner or later you gain a critical mass in a particular field and you start coming up with new stuff that’s an improvement over what was there before.
‘Common Sense’…ain’t all that common. Don’t get trapped in ‘how they do it’ , think about the possibilities.
Perseverance - always good, though don’t get hung up on dead ends. You can be wrong, completely, and hanging on to that out of pride is just flushing it all down a rathole.
The ability to put it into action - now, that’s the trick. Every good idea starts someplace…why can’t it be you.
doc…
I left school in 1975, half way through year 11. I only stayed at school after doing the School Certificate because I had know idea what I wanted to do.
So when a job came up at the advertising agency my father worked at, I jumped at it. Not because it was a job in their tv and radio production department, but because it was a job. It was a start. It was a way of financing a growing passion for making my own surfboards.
So after a couple of years working in an industry full of egos and a 12 month trip around Australia in 1979. I came home and landed a job in the composite boatbuilding industry. I was now surrounded by resin and fibreglass and dust and fumes. But it is where I stayed for the next 25 years.
It was not until 1995 that decided to go to TAFE and become qualified as a Shipwright. I now work for myself doing surfboard repairs and restorations. I use the skills I gained from working in the composites industry in the work I do now.
Personally I think it will be hard to find a job in the board building industry on the Central Coast. It has become a cottage industry again. Mainly one man operations, who send their boards to be glassed at one of a couple of contract glass houses that operate on the coast.
It may be easier to find work in the industry in Sydney or the Gold Coast where there are large operations producing large numbers in house. Where you could get a start. But you would have to be prepared to start at the bottom. Sweeping floors etc. Because there will be a bunch of young hopefulls like you, trying to get their start also.
Or you could go on to year 12, do your HSC. Then get an apprenticship in a trade. You are probably thinking, why go and do my HSC if I want to do a trade? Apprentichips are getting harder to get these days. The more you know the further you will go. A company will pick you ahead of the person who has only done his or her School Cert.
While you are doing your trade you are getting paid. You can hone your skills making boards at home. If it is still what you want to do when you are a tradesman go for it. But you will have a trade to fall back on if things don’t work out.
I read a while back in one of the longboard mags that Southcoast Longboards were sending their two apprentices to TAFE. To do the Ship and Boatbuilding trade course. This is the same trade course I did. It is the closest trade course to the surfboard building industry. (Which has no trade course.)
Grab the local Yellow Pages. Phone the local shapers and speak to them. Tell them what you want to do and ask if they think it is a viable business to get into. They are the ones at the coal face. They know how the industry works. There is no point in doing it fulltime if you can’t make a decent living from it.
Hope all this ramble is of some help. platty.
TAFE = Technical and Further Education (click for Wikipedia explanation)
thanks platty makes heaps of cents.
i think i am just going to worry about my school cert next week and then have a look into some different things.
" thanks platty makes heaps of cents."
hehe
Doesn’t matter what you do for a living. But working a job is no way to make a good living. Make sure that whatever you do 10-20 years down the road you have your money working for you in other opportunities. Yes you have to start out with a job, we all do, but it doesn’t have to end that way. Surround yourself with knowledge, become an expert in something…anything. Then invest in that knowledge. That’s the way to real worth and peace of mind.
People here say that an education isn’t important, a high school degree is enough. That is a very microscopic view of the real world. The only ones saying that are the ones that don’t have a higher education. You can loose your job, you can loose your wife, you can loose your mind…but you can never loose your education.
Yes there is the abnormality of the college graduate that becomes a fast food worker, but if your lazy…your lazy. You still have to be motivated to do something with your degree. The college degree will only open up door for you, It’s still up to you to be motivated and make it work. But the goal is to have opportunities open up. Nobody said life is easy, don’t limit yourself. Think big.
Make surfboards for fun. It’s more enjoyable that way.
Allow me to disagree. Somewhere, someone’s got your dream job. How did they get it? In most cases, they just went for it, did whatever it took to make it happen.
So if you want to shape, really want to shape, you’ll find a way to do it. In any career, you’ve got to start at the bottom, so even if you’re sweeping floors, you’re still hanging around surfers and surfing. Shaping’s not like particle physics; there are a basic set of skills and a dollop of creativity.
And if you have good business skills, you can overcome most any lack of creativity!
Give yourself 10 years of complete dedication, and if you’re not close to making it, you’ll still be young enough to go 180 degrees. I’ve been inspired by a friend who wanted to be an oceanographer…she started in community college, put her head down, and 10 years later gets to travel the world, diving and performing coastal experiment…
Stop and dream for a moment. Imagine yourself as a respected 40-year-old shaper with 24 years’ experience. How cool would that be?
I say this as someone who took the path of least resistence, and wound up at age 37 with a job that at the end of the day I can take or leave. Pays the bills, supports the family, but doesn’t inspire me very often. Can’t surf as much as I’d like to, either.
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Allow me to disagree. Somewhere, someone’s got your dream job.
yes, maybe SOMEONE SOMEWHERE has his dream job, but the problem is there are 1,000’s of young guys wanting that job too, it’s such a tricky industry to get into and even more so to make a decent living at. by the way, after chrissy i’m off up the coast for 2 weeks with my boards and then of overseas for 6 weeks and my mortgages are great thanks for asking!!! as a tradie myself I can only give you my experience and my opinions based on that experience, take it all in Shaun (king of dub) and take what you want and leave what you don’t, good luck in the school cert too matey.
…Im a board builder from 20 years or so
not only a shaper
I do all the stuff
I do mainly customs, but the surf shops came and buy summer bulk
also made boards for brands like Billabong here.
well. let me tell yo that I MISSED a lot of good surf days
and Im still dont have money to surf trip around the globe…
and is really frustranting in the end, to see the clients came in their big trucks to pick up their trip boards and me sweaty trying to finish them, and never see those waves
and I notice that everyday I cant maintain my good surf skills…and its a fu…g pain
is exactly like a ginecologyst
work where the others have fun!
AND Jim Phillips started in other time (the world was other …)…now is more difficult became a real very good shaper…
ALSO, I m a musician, and Im starting to study Systems Analyst (4 years degree and very good money. this is the stuff that I had studied after H School, but I started with the boards)
because I want to surf more and work less
Sure Jim Phillips started in other time, but he’s the Eric Clapton of shaping- rockin state of the art.