Templates

how many templates do you guys have?  do you make a template each time you make a new board? i’m just gearin up to make my first jump into shaping out of my garage.  

thanks.

jd

have collected a lot over the years. make a few of some boards you like the look of. mix and match, use nose for the tail and the tail for the nose, etc to get the curve you want. when your board is done, take a new template off that. some make a new template for each board and run a router along it to cut out the outline. i like to mix/match different curves on the blank and then maybe tweak it a bit so that method doent work for me.  make them out of luan, masonite, pvc sheet, cardboard, plastic wall sheeting, tar/rosin paper,etc you can use flexible rods (fishing poles, thin wood strips, etc) to bend a curve. you can use household objects - plates, bowls. take templates off fins too!

I print out a lot, but then I do a sanity check with a piece of 1/4" x 1/4" x 8’ piece of cedar stripping.  That seems to give a nice curve…

You can make flip templates to expand your options. Some people save every template some don’t. Or use boardcad and print them out. It’s up to you if you want to keep every template or
Not. Just shape and enjoy the stoke it brings

Hey Jd

 

another member on here has a website called blendingcurves.com

if you are starting out it might give you some ideas.

 

Hey JD

I made roughly 5 basic templates to start with and now im doing as grasshopper does by mixing and matching. I basically just used the aku shaper software to get my outlines then took them down to my local print shop and got them printed full scale. I then cut them out and glued them on to mdf ply with spray adhesive then cut out with a jig saw and smoothed with sanding blocks and gauze, mdf is quite soft so its easy to get nice curves with the sandingblock and gauze.

thanks all for sharing the knowledge. 

hack - yeah i had stumbled across blendingcurves in my internet searches for printable templates along with hitting up brian at greenlight surf supply for one or two of the templates they have on their site.

zack - i had gotten ahold of the akushaper software a bit ago; but, something is up with my computer so i’ll have to get that figured out and revisit it.

grasshopper - sounds good. i think i’m gonna start with masonite the first go round and see how that does.  right now i’ll probably collect a bunch to start and then pear down as i get more experience. i liked the blog.

 

jd