any idvice on making a board with a tepdeck. saw one last week and fell in love with the lines.
don’t make the step straight across board rail-to-rail as it will snap right there.
take a look at the Harbour Cheater (my favorite stepdeck)…if it were me, i’d shape until it looks like that…then i’d stop.
the step should be more abrupt in the center, but should be a much more smooth transition out at the rail. then, just blend it all together. enjoy.
The stepdeck i sawn was a harbour…
Take a look at the original stepdeck a Yater Spoon, Yater was the man and did these the best. If possible look at a 60’s version.
Another good one to look at would be the Surfboards Hawaii Model A …
Agreed, and Hanson made one even a Da Cat is modification, it just had that Art Decco stepdeck that was done to keep the board from breaking.
Beach beat on the sunshine coast (australia) make a step deck. Mick Grace shapes them and the guy’s that have em ,love em. They are a retro fish thruster , whatever configeration you like , most go two big one small. maybe BEACH BEAT have a web site.
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The stepdeck i saw was a harbour…
i’m not surprised…the Cheater is such a sweet board…it just looks so smooth.
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Or was it Simmens that made the first Spoon?Take a look at the original stepdeck a Yater Spoon, Yater was the man and did these the best. If possible look at a 60’s version.
Sorry, yes of course Simmons was the genius who first applied both the hull and the spoon. That TSJ article was great.
Aloha! I believe that during the last days of the longboard era, the step deck was the state of the art in current board design. The thinned-out, flexy nose gave surfboards the performance boost that helped to light a fire for the shortboard revolution. The boards made back then were the pinnacle of design and craftsmanship. I’ve been longboarding lots recently, and I think I’ll shape me a new step deck. The way they ride is a “step” above a more conventional longboard. Aloha…RH
the best step deck i have ever had-and i have had many- was built by greg liddle. everything about it was bitchin’, fromthe rocker, template, to the way he made the step. a magic machine that could handle surf from 1’ on up to 12’.
well by all means, matt…post some pix! and i’d be curious to know the rocker specs.
Epac,
Leave it to you to come up with a great pic. Some poo-pooed the step-deck as a mere novelty back in the day while others swore it made a quantum difference in noserides. Step-decks came and went fast, as the short boards invaded the scene and sent the long boards to the back stage. At the risk of sounding like a "name-dropper, Mike Hynsen visited my shop about two years ago. We spent the afternoon talking story. It was a real privilege for me to get to know my 60s hero. He shaped a step deck board for me (a Mickey Dora tribute board), which I cherish now as a wall hanger in my living room. According to Mr. Hynsen, the thin nose flexed as you walked to the nose which served to flatten out the rocker and give a “push” into the wave as the rider hung out on the nose.
The tricky part of shaping the step-deck is the issue of the end-grain in the stringer (stringers) as it drops into the nose, exposing the end- grain of the stringer (s). A clean transition of the stringer (or multi stringers) from the high deck to the lower nose area is critical. The best of shapers pull it off. Long live the step-deck.
Richard
i guess i need to get a camera…
Aloha Mr. Richard Mc – San
I don’t think you are name dropping, I love the story…. what an opportunity you had!
I just had one of the later (1967) or ’68 Yater spoons in my shop a couple of weeks ago. A friend and collector brought it by for us to use if we wanted. I brought it over to Yater’s shop for an analysis… he laughed when he saw it, but dated it by the balsa wedge and red glue lines and tail block. Being that it was the end of the longboards, it had an early box w/ a Greenough inspired plastic fin (kind of like a waveset) that he thought was original. He talked story about his old partner Dick Perry, who glassed for him. He posts here on Swaylocks as “Viejo”.
Epac,
With all due respect to Michael, I noticed I mispelled his name. Hynson with an O. Though I’m not a glasser, it’s always bugged me that the shapers get all the credit, have all the decals all over the boards, and get the fame, while the glassers with all their knowledge and expertise are seldom known at all. I once asked my glasser to sign his name on the bottom of one of my balsa boards…glassed by… He looked shocked. In his 22 years of glassing he said no one ever asked him to sign his work. A pristine, high gloss, flawless job is an amazing sight to behold.
Enjoy the ride!
Richard
I’ve been riding my Spoon for 8 months now and love it. It’s a “classic”, shaped last year. According to Renny, it’s pretty much exactly what he was shaping back then… The step in the deck is much more subtle than some (I just saw a Hynson last week that had the most extreme step in the deck I’ve ever seen!)… Also, it’s true that it sort of comes to a point instead of cutting directly across the deck. It hadn’t occurred to me that would be for strength, but it makes sense. Don’t get me wrong though… the step is effectively pretty straight across, the ‘peaking’ is very subtle.
I’ve seen some steps that were more scooped out than others, too. I’m not sure if the center of the nose on mine is actually concave (lower than the rails)… but it sure is on the Surfboards Hawaii Model A! That thing is nuts, especially since there’s a really severe concave underneath as well! The middle of the nose has a spot that can’t be much more than fiberglass…
The issue of flex on stepdecks is interesting to me. I know there are models that were designed to do that (the cheater, for instance)… but it certainly sounds like Yater put the step in only to reduce swing weight. I’m really not sure if my board will flex at the nose much at all. There’s a lot of glass, and a V stringer through it!
It will be a while before my balance improves enough to spend serious time on the tip of this board, though… so I guess I’ll have to wonder for a while 