This is my first post on the Swaylocks website. There is some really great information on the website and I have enjoyed having a read for the past few months.
I am in the process of designing my first surfboard to shape - however given that I live in an appartment I was wondering if anyone would know of any studios / shaping workshops that can be rented in the Sydney / Northern Beaches aea of Sydney? I’ve searched high and low on the internet (and this site) and haven’t had any luck in finding anything.
I was thinking / hoping that it may be possible to purchase the surfboard blank and associated glassing equipment and then utilise a studio somewhere that supplies tools etc (obviously for a price) where I could shape the board…thereby killing few birds with one stone (namely my lack of space at home and not having to purchase all of the tools).
I live on the Northern Beaches.
Any helpful suggestions would really be appreciated.
your best bet if you have time would be to visit some local shapers / surfboard factories and see if they would let you use their bays after hours/when they are free if you did some work for them like sweeping up the floors, fixing dings, supplying beer for the shop or something along those lines.
thanks for that…I’ve been doing some further reflection and have deicded that Board Number one is going to be shaped with hand tools in my garage - that should keep the cost of tools down, be manageable from a space perspective and still give me some experience with shaping.
I have just shaped my first board at home in my back shed with little room and not the best lighting and with just the simplest of hand tools. This is a great way to go if you can accept that it’s your first board and it’s all about the experience. To be honest I just couldn’t wait to have ‘everything’ before I started
I bought a 2400x1200x80mm slab of EPS from the hardware, some 40/80/120 grid sand paper (the yellow one on the roll type), a cheap handsaw and a sanding block with handle. Just using the hand tools is fine, it gives you time to do things a small chunk at a time with no pressure, just keep wittling away and enjoying the process, I had a ball even if it did take about 5 hours
It did make a huge mess in the shed but it cleaned up pretty good with a good sweep, blow everyting down with compressed air and another sweep. Next time I might put a tarp down and up the walls (I have seen a pic here somewhere) and chases up a couple more fluro’s for the sides.
I was quite happy with the way the 40 grit took down the foam, if I need to take heaps off I’d use the hand saw to about half an inch from my work points/lines then woirk it down with the sand paper. A plane would be good but unless you plan on making heaps of boards in a hurry it’s not absolutely necessary. It doesn’t take that much longer and the process is enjoyable anyway IMO. I won’t be rushing out to buy one at this point anyway, I’d rather buy some more materials for the next board.
Anyway, have at it and have a good time, good luck!
“The Hardware Man” Unanderra, it was about $135, it’s only light EPS though (2-3mm ball size, I’m guessing that’s the lightest??). It’s cheap enough and you can get 2 - 8 footers out of it if you want.
To cut the rocker I ‘thicknessed’ or foiled the board from the bottom and left the deck flat. I plan on glassing in the rest of the rocker ala surfersteve’s technique with the wall plugs and weight it down. I just finished fine sanding the blank but I’m now waiting on some decent weather to do a seal/filler coat before laminating.
