Hey guys just wondering if you could lead me in the right direction on shaping. Im considering shaping my first board. I know its a long process but it sounds like a good experience.First, as far as materials go, are the kits any good (ex: greenlight surf, FoamEZ etc.) or is buying the materials seperate the best way to go. Also, about how much does it cost all said and done to shape a board and what is the best way to learn. I have no knowledge on how to shape. I was thinking of maybe shaping something like the Ci biscuit, seems like one of the easier templates for a first board. Any help is appreciated, thanks a lot.
Kinda depends on your situation. If you are in the states, do a home depot from beginning and a kit. Make your observations and post them.
Next one like you will benefit.
Start here http://www.surfersteve.com/introduction.htm
Surfer Steve has a nice tool list. If you are a tool head, buy the stuff separately or incrementaly. If not buy the kit from the suppliers you listed. Be sure you get the right kind of blank for the board you want to make. Tell the blank retailer what you want to make and they should be able to set you up.
Buy a sheet of 4’X 8’ 1/8 thick masonite. Have the lumberyard cut the board into 4, 12" wide strips. Those will be your template blanks. Get you template (however) and draw it on the masonite (you only have to draw half the board 'cause you flip it over to…you’ll get it). Cut out the template, get your sanding block or surform and smooth out the template so there are no flat spots or divots or bumps. Lay it on the board and follow Steve’s directions.
Take pictures of the shape and post them here! Then we’ll tell you how to glass…
Welcome to Sways!
Snap,
First fill in your location in your profile, or let us know where your located. This is a generous bunch that will surely help. I’ve built lots of stuff, but I have to say, without some hands-on guidance on my first board, I may not have pulled it off. It can be intimidating. Once you complete your first board, you’ll wonder why you did’nt do it sooner. Welcome to sways, we are here to help and good luck !
hey guys thanks for all the help so far, as for my location, i live on the south shore, ma, which is totally opposite from california. Thanks for all the help so far, really helpful.
http://www.foamez.com/…&products_id=392
Is that a good kit to start with? The blank is a 6’2" and i was thinking of shaping something along the lines of a trifin 5’6" biscuit shape. Also, they sell shaping and glassing kits on there. Would the standard hand tool glassing and shaping kits be all I needed to shape a board? Thanks alot.
Hey Snap,
I guess it all depends…Greenlight would probably be the way to go cost wise…that is, unless you are set on using PU. GL complete kits comes with all the tools you need (other than power setup), blanks and the rest of the gear including videos, templates…as well his vision itself is fantastic. I personally met the owner the other day…just a great guy wanting others to make a “greener” board…
thanks for the advice.
another good read in addition to surfersteve
Project Frog board
http://www.swaylocks.com/forum/gforum.cgi?post=275731;search_string=Project%20Frog;#275731
Good luck!
Hey snap 10 -
First, you will need to decide on EPS vs Polyurethane foam. Both have their followers and both are available in sizes that will work for your “Biscuit” design.
The good news is you have a better selection of close tolerance blanks than ever before. EPS and polyurethane blanks are both available that would be an easy shape job for a beginner. Check “Fish” blanks for the specific design you mention… there should be several that would be good choices. The Biscuit is fairly wide and the closer the blank to the finished dimensions, the easier your job will be.
If you are looking to make things difficult, try a Home Depot slab of insulation foam. IMO, surfboard specific blanks are well worth the expense unless you are planning on something truely outside the box.
A close tolerance blank can be shaped with a cutout saw, a mini-plane and some sanding blocks. You won’t even need a planer or surform if you get a super coarse sheet of sandpaper from a rental yard that stocks floor refinishing machines. They have some grits that could be contact cemented to a block and would make quick work of most blanks. A mini-plane is nice for shaving the stringer down and if sharp and set correctly, could even be used for whittling down the foam.
Drywall screen on a soft foam pad is fine for finishing the surface before glassing.
Glassing is the other area where you have to make some decisions. Epoxy vs Polyester resin is the first obstacle and I won’t try to steer you either way. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. I use both.
Your choices may depend on the type of foam you use… polyester resin on polyurethane foam only. Epoxy can be used on polyurethane or EPS.
Assuming you are looking to minimize your expense, consider all the little things that add up quick… glass, masking tape, sandpaper, brushes, solvents, etc. add up quick. These could easily represent a big expenditure on your project.
You can shave some expense by recycling old containers for mixing buckets, etc. Herb Spitzer has used things like vertical window blinds as squeegees… there are lots of ways to trim expenses if you are willing to scrounge a little.
In any case, you have found your best resource right here on this website. Ask away… the responses are sure to follow at every step of the process.
Quote:
Hey snap 10 -
You can shave some expense by recycling old containers for mixing buckets, etc.
I found a great resouce for mixing containers. Here in Fl. there are a lot of retirement trailer parks. On recycle day the majority of them are full of one gallon plastic jugs. I talk to the manager and get the OK and drive thru grabbing what I need. Most of the time the containers have held bottle water and just need to be rinsed out.
Snap,
I am just finishing up my first board in 25 years. Here are some things i have learn.
Swaylocks: The best. Continue to review the archives and read post. When in doubt, ask. There are millions of opinions here and the majority are good:)
I have cut and pasted about 20 pages of various post into a Word doc that i can’t figure out how to upload. If you do this project, PM me and i will email it to you.
Foam type: I used PU and got “second” blanks. I would use PU on your first board because it has a tighter cell structure. This means that you are not ripping cells out of the foam with a shurform. EPS should be spackled before glassing(or so most of the post here say). So, if you are ordering it thru the mail, they both seem to cost about the same. I would like to try EPS or XPS. I have been to EVERY Home Depot between Portland, ME and Newport RI and all i can ever find is the pink 250 XPS in 2" thik 2x8 sheets. Two request here, if you find any usable eps in the Boston area please let me know or if you decide to order PU let me know and we can order together, shipping is as expensive for one blank as four.
Glass Schedule: I used Greenlight bamboo cloth and Resin Research epoxy. This has worked out great. The Greenlight glassing videos are muy detailed. The double sided tape is the way to go on your first few boards. This prevents fraying fiberglass threads all over the place on your laps.
i would suspect that if you bought the entire Greenlight kit that the Shaping videos could be very helpful, but you can get those separately… Also, youtube has a ton of shaping videos. Good Luck
ok sounds good, If I happen to come by EPS at the hardware store or something ill let you know. I was thinking of ordering this kit http://www.foamez.com/…&products_id=392 off foamez. Chillysurf, is the bamboo cloth and RR epoxy easier to work with? I am just wondering because RR is roughly twice the price as lam resin. Thanks for the help from all you guys, you dont know how much it has helped.
My advice is to use polyurathane foam and polyester resin for your #1
reason is, epoxy must be mixed accuratly and very thourghly
and it takes forever to go off and dosnt polish as easy and the foam cores are tricky to sand (just a little)
poly resin can cure quickly with UV catalist (thank you Jesus)
the foam is easyer to shape and paints easy
ok so i guess that would not be a good choice, the kit on foamez costs around 200 for all the materials but i would need to buy all the necesarry tools seperately, as well as fin plugs. Does anybody know of a blank company that sells a blank close to 5’6” x 20” x 2 ¾. Also, I was thinking about putting a light orange resin tint on the board. However, I want to make this process as easy as possible so a rough blank close to that size would be great but if adding tint is a lot of work I will probably stay away from it. One more question, about how much will all the tools, glass, blank etc. add up to. Thanks a lot, you guys are helping out a lot.
I found RR and greenlight bamboo cloth the easiest. Kensurf is right about the mixing tolerance (see my post this weekend Tacky Epoxy). But, RR is 2 to 1; Very Easy is you dont try to scrimp. Plus, you use half as much epoxy so the cost is actually the same. Plus, it does take longer to set up like kensurf says but that means you have more time to work with it. I glassed boards for a year in a production room in 1979 and did maybe a thousand boards. The first ten PU i really screwed up. The fiberglass frayed all over the place on the laps, resin was smoking; all sorts of stuff. Once you get the hang of glassing with PU it is faster than epoxy. BUT the first few with Greenlight, they give you the video… Teach you how to tape the laps (real glassers wouldnt be caught dead doing this and it takes about an hour just to lay out the glass). Etc.
As to color, it did yellow from fiberglasssupply.
Here was my cost for 2 boards (i started doing this again as projects with my 16 year old son):
Remember-this completed two boards:
second walker pu blanks 118, RR epoxy kit 110, greenlight glass and video 98, buckets/squegee’s 15, sandpaper 20, shurfoam 10, spokeshave 6, tape 10, pigment 11, spraypaint and acyrlic paint 11, I am doing leash loops so dont need plugs.
Wow, guess i have $400 into this; well that is $200 per board
that kit you showed comes with a leash plug and glass on fins so you dont need fin cups
200$$ is a good deal just have them give you a bag of UV catalist and you can work the glass as long as you need
when your happy with your laps and lams kick open the door and let the sun shine in,in 10 minutes youl be onto the next step
Keep the first one simple
no tint and freelap the glass
one more thing, is putting FCS fin skegs in hard? If it isnt too hard I want to put these on instead of glass-ons, thanks.