Is there a standard measurement for a spin template?
Or are they all a personal preference?
Does anyone have a template of a spin template, (Huh?!?!)
they could post?
Thanks for any help!
Trying to shuffle 3 or 4 full board templates on top of a blank sounds like a pain in the ass to me.
whether it be a full,half or spin template..............the template size depends on the board size...........period !
all a spin is : one side is from the tip of the nose to just past the mid-line,and the other side is from the tip of the tail to just past the mid point.
it's also called a flip template.
make your own !
get some butcher block paper and play with it for awhile until you can get the hang of it.
herb
Here’s a diagram that shows what’s going on with a spin template…
[img_assist|nid=1064985|title=spin template|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=377|height=549]
Now there’s a great answer to a question I didn’t even know I wanted to ask until someone else did first. Swaylock’s does it again - thanks Herb and Andrew.
There once existed a time where skilled itinerant shapers favored spin templates because they could travel with them more easily, and shape in different places. A good or great shaper can tweek his templates in so many ways, that most here would have a hard time understanding. Still I would suggest making full templates of one side of the board because its easier even for the neophyte to see the bumps, and perhaps get them out. I came from a time and place where refined spin templates were cherished, coveted, and guarded as treasure.
I have and make my own half templates, spin templates, fin templates etc. While I have not… or ever will… shape as many boards as many…it’s not that hard to understand what a great creative tool a template can be. To me they are like giant oversized french curves (which I would love to have by the way). I think I get the message that Ghetto is communicating…templates are much more than just a way to “cheat” ???
In the example diagram for example I can see… fish/swallow tails…D fins…thruster fins…keel fins…a mal…a fish…a multitude of LBs, eggs, concave depth measuring tool…a stomp Patch outline, Fin Patch Outline…the list goes on but I think you get it…oh yeah one more…bet there’s even a thruster in there too! My templates have marks all over them, pencil, sharpie, even scratches with a blade, they all mean something to me because I made them. Some templates I made from jjlam’s site (which is awesome btw!), some from Brian at Greenlight, some with a piece of 8’ quarteround moulding and finish nails…but they all get tweaked and become unique. Amazing how many boards and elements of boards you can make from a couple of great templates. My boards aren’t great…but I’m working on it!
One last note…the diagram is excellent but needs one more thing…read Herb’s post…there’s an important element there without it you will get a big bump right in the middle!
As long as you can plot some key dimensions on the blank and shift the spin template around to connect the dots, the exact dimensions of the pattern don't matter all that much. It doesn't have to line up with the stringer or the ends. What does matter is that you make a smooth curve along the edge of the template and that it can be shifted around to fit. Of course this is with the understanding that we are dealing with a hand shaped 'one off' custom and not a pro level computerized machine shape where thousandths of an inch are part of the equation.
On my own boards a smidgeon here or there often doesn't matter anyway... I'm not that accurate and I'm not that sensitive in my surfing ability. If I am plotting a curve on my blank and the template doesn't exactly line up with one of my dots, I make it up as I go and, within reason, change that dimension accordingly.
PM with a general idea of what you are planning and I can trace a spin template or two on paper and mail to you.
I like mdf and full templates, but i always modify it 2 or 3 times before it looks right. Shit, my square tail grovelling shortboard is now a round tail, courtesy of a spin template from an egg. I was lucky to get that spin template off a very experienced craftsmen, and with a little practice, i can use it to make curves other than the obvious one.
I’m with Woody and John - a giant “french curve” to make a smooth curve between the key points. I am planning on making one for myself to see how it goes. I mostly make each board as a one off, and “connect” the dots with a batten from an old sailboard sail. Once again Sways providing motivation… Gotta freakin’ love this place!!!
I use MDF or even 1/8" luan plywood. Sorry about the spelling. In comes in 4’ x 8’ sheets at Home Depot. I have them cut it for me, 4 pieces @ 12" x 8’ or 8 pieces @ 12" x 4’. I use the 8’ pieces as half templates or spin templates for longboards. I like to carry the curve all the way to the end of the template material. My 6’ fish spin template is 4’ long. I start by marking the 12" from tail and nose. Dead center and where ever the wide point will be. Soon enough they have marks all over the place. As mentioned before, these can be used as big french curves. I’m not real good with a batton, but sometimes I can get lucky by blending as many as 3 or 4 templates to get a real smooth elegant outline.There is even a place that sells 1/4" luan plywood in 4’ x 10’ sheets really close to me. Again sorry about the spelling. Once I am happy with an outline, I like 1/2 templates better than spin templates.
I try my best to provide you guys with the best way to do things, but is like you guys are in a cave as Plato would say. By making full templates you can get the curves right, then you can make spin templates off of the good full ones. A good template isn’t a big French curve its more than that. Using a batten to make a curve on anything but a template is a waste of energy. My level of frustration with some of you self-proclaimed craftsmen is taking a toll on me, still I don’t think it will ever cause me to lose sleep. Making good templates helps to make good boards, yeah I sound like a guy who thinks he knows it better than most, but that’s because I do. If you want do it the hard way make spin templates first before you understand full templates. Oh I do this stuff so people voice their opinions, and make this place less boring, so if you want to call me out and say I don’t know what I am talking about, oh well.
Not speaking for anyone else but myself…and maybe a few…esp the new guys…and some more might agree…
Ghetto, I actually agree with you (I think). The reason I say that is that I’ve only been doing this a few years and like a lot of other people on here I can buy surfboards…but I don’t want to buy…I want to build…I want guys like you…who seem to think that the master craft of surfboard building is dying or is dead to help guys like me…and esp guys younger than me to understand and appreciate what it means to “master” this craft so that is doesn’t surrender to programmers…and mold makers…and it doesn’t die. The only way that can happen is for you guys who have the knowledge to pass it on and you have been generous. Hell that’s why we go through the trouble to be here…and the expense of our screw-ups!
Sometimes you piss me off with your words…but I know I have learned a ton of good information from reading your posts. I don’t mind being challenged but please don’t assume that I or others like me have zero appreciation for guys like you! We do!
We just don’t want you to kick us in the nuts all the time that’s all…
Ok you can kick us in the nuts once in while…just to keep our attention!
P.S. You do make this place more interesting…that’s for sure.
it's not the rifle..............
it's the shooter.
herb
My bad. I thought the thread title was “Spin Template Question”. I wasn’t trying to counter someone’s advice, just offer my opinion. A couple of years ago Bill Thrailkill gave a seminar on shaping at the Surfing Heritage in San Clemente. Many people brought and shared templates. I brought a roll of butcher paper and later glued it to some MDF. I think everyone there used some of the paper to get templates. Soon after I was blessed to have Lance Carson in my shaping room to help me make a few templates and also help me with my first few shapes. I helped him build a couple of shaping rooms and he helped me in return. Really I was just trying to pass along some of what I learned from these experiences. Maybe next time I’ll just stay in my cave. Nah.
Come on Getto - give it a rest. Some of us, probably many of us are not looking to, nor worried about production speed shit. If you think using battens is a waste, then good for you. But I can not see any benefit in making a buch of full half templates if I am not planning on making another board with the same exact outline. Try to remember - I think - most people here are to learn about making boards and how they work, not to make boards as fast as they can to make money. Given your view, I guess the spin templates are a waste too.
You might be a master craftsmen G rat, but a condescending arrogant arsehole master craftsman is still a condescending arrogant arsehole. If you want us to fall at your feet saying "were not worthy, were not worthy oh great surfboard guru", it probably isn't going to happen. Maybe in the nursing home it works, but not here. No, it isn't 1965 anymore, and yeah, making surfboards might be more accessible today than then, but that doesn't mean doing something easier doesn't produce a similar result. I think you're a little bit stuck in nostalgia. Maybe we should all chip in and get cable TV for your nursing home.
Why can guys like jim philips etc share happily without the attitude, but others, like you can't?
:)
Taylor, you don’t get it, a crappy template is just that, doesn’t matter if was made with a spin template or a full template. My point is you can’t see what’s not there, and the odds are much higher your spin template will not fit well, because of the guy making the template can’t maintain the flow, because he can’t see a bump from a dip. Some people like some who have already added their opinion, and have posted pics of their boards can’t even see how bad their crap looks and they act like their Merrick, and the monkeys chine it on how great their stuff looks when its crap. Anyways have fun and enjoy the process. The reality is when someone who knows is looking over your crap and you have nowhere to hide, and believe me, I have been beat down by the best, and my advice is like mother’s milk compared to what I have heard about stuff I was proud of.
Oh and to all the guys trusting someone else’s template because you copied them, from a piece of butcher paper come on making your own templates is one of the best parts about hand shaping, and most of you want to skip that step. We called people like that barneys and kooks when I was growing up, and that’s how I still feel, but that’s only my opinion and not PC. Since I am on a rant a template still has to be cut out and trued up which is a skill in itself most here haven’t come close to mastering. If you really desire to get better you’ll see the wisdom in my advice, and that all it is.
I have a perfect copy of a spin template from one of the best longboard shaper’s in Ca. so I can do his stuff when I have time, but guess what? It has a dip and a bump in it, but we both know it so it never shows up in his boards. Furthermore, I know if the template was a full size, it wouldn’t be there, because it only is visible when the full outline is drawn out, and that is why I wasted so much effort on this. So these aren’t the ravings of a lunatic, but of someone who has already been to and shaped for those shapers you dream of.
We bow down before thee, oh great G rat. We await our humiliation and criticism of our crap surfboards. Please berate us, as we are but heathens, in need of guidance....
Wow ghettorat. Is this what happens when a bitter runt grows up and is still pissed that the cool kids stole all his lunch money? If someone I respect is offering me a chance to copy his template and all I have in my truck is butcher paper. I am using the butcher to copy the template. I could care less what you think. I have shaped 7 surfboards in my life and never said they were good. I posted pictures here because it is fun for me to do so. Again, I don’t care what you think. I earn a living as a contractor. I shape surfboards as a hobby. I think you got picked on as a kid because you were probably a bit of a dick. Congrats for being a better shaper than me. Now maybe work on getting some character.