I’m shaping a board for the first time. I plane on shaping about an 8’ long board. At this point I really just need help knowing what it is i need to buy, and how much i should expect to pay. I need to know the complete basics of everything i need to buy. Assume i know nothing, because I’m close to that. My buddies and I are all making boards. how much should each of us plan on spending total? including tools and glassing equipment. Any help would be great.
Springs, For materials: Blank, 9 yards of fiberglass cloth, 1 gal. lam resin, 1 gal. sanding resin, 1 qt. gloss resin, center fin box, side plugs, sand paper (regular and Wet-or-Dry), polishing compound, and a few items I probably forgot. You can plan to spend around $250.00.
Tools are many and varied, but the basics to start would be: Electric planer, (you can do it with a block of wood and 50 grit sandpaper, but it’s slow) sanding block, surform (10" or thereabouts), block plane for stringers, Fred tool (look at Shaping 101 to see what it is), sanding screen (used for drywall sanding: the bigger, the better). Router (for fin boxes) and a drill (for FCS plugs if that’s what you want to use). Don’t forget shaping stands. You can make them yourself. I saw Donald Takayama’s shaping stands. They were made out of plywood…very simple.
Try to look at a shaping video if you can. It will help immensely to show you where to go and how to get there.
Good luck on your new adventure. There’s nothing like riding your own board. Doug
Download and read “Surfboard Design and Construction” it has a section on tools and the shaping process. This book has been out of print for some time now, but several of us (myself, doc, LESider, Sean…) all have this on our websites for download.
http://fundingcashflow.com/surfing/Surfboard_Design_and_Construction_1977.pdf
then look at http://www.foamez.com to get an idea of what blank you might want to use, and for suggestions on tools and prices. They also have packages, which include blank, glass, fins… Look at all the tabs as things aren’t where I expected to find them.
then check the archives “Search Swaylock’s”, there is a lot of discussions about the use of different tools and what you need vs what will make life easier, and what you’ll want if you are going to build a lot of boards vs just 1. (ex: clark foam modified planer vs cheap www.harborfreight.com planer).
good luck
The good news is, if your friends are also shaping, you can order blanks together and split shipping… up to four blanks to a box via Clark Foam. Use a freight company.