No, I don’t think anyone is saying all CNC is evil - and I don’t think handshaping and the art of surfboard making will ever completely die out - swaylocks is a big part of keeping it alive. Ace is just pointing out that handshape artists like him (who cut their teeth on production shaping), are a dying breed. The backyard contingency is strong, and there are always a select few artists and craftsmen who survive or prosper against the odds.
Ghost shaping and Production shaping were the training ground of the best in the business.
Wise words from someone that knows afew things about the Art of Shaping. Well said Ace
Hand shaping isn’t gone out n Monterey bay! There’s quite a few folk’s still mowin n scrub n FOAM… Hand shaping won’t die if
we don’t allow it to.:)) I think many out here love the ‘art’ side of it - vs cnc…
I agree with ACE about doing something over and over to make it something that can be done almost automatically.
There no more production shaping jobs where guys churn out boards over and over, machines do that. There are still the guys that do boards by hand, but I seriously doubt there is a shop where you could learn the way the old production shapers did.
The factories have moved overseas, and I bet they use machines first then have a bunch of scrubbers. It’s a lot more cost effective and that’s what’s taken over, finding ways to make things easier and cheaper.
If I decide to get a board from someone else, I don’t worry if that board started out on a machine. It’s the finished product that matters. I know that the guys I get boards from started back way before the current machines were invented. There was time when many of the big shops used a type of shaping machine to get blanks rough shaped.
you are right shark country, been trying myself. been working with Ed since 2009, started out doing odds and ends, repair stuff, minor sanding etc. couple years later he made me his glasser, since then I’ve gained a lot of skill from watching him work and glassing his boards, and learning how to make my mistakes disappear. I always shape my own, but without shaping everyday i fear i won’t get that ‘automatic writing’ side of shaping as a job, and I would never try to shape and sell boards in the area because I don’t want to compete with my mentor. The guys looking for handshaped boards aren’t as plentiful as the lemmings buying eggshells with cool brand names, but they do keep the shop floor cluttered with repair jobs. Had to cut my time at the shop down to part time to my dismay, but life moves on and I have to pay the bills.
The art of shaping may not be fully lost, yet. But it is rapidly disappearing.
…it s like beating a dead horse
-when you have almost all the 60s shapers (production ones) using the machine (and arguing how good that s…) or passed away how do you feel the perception is?
In production right now over the globe machine is more than 90%; only finishers remains.
“Art” of shaping only with the custom shapers/boardbuilders; however, in a future, all these rapidly will be transformed and you should “hide” the factor that the board would be handshaped due to the perception for the masses that s not a good product like the machine does (aided by the crappy handshape techniques you see in the internet)
…of course is a dying art.
handshaping by production shapers may be a dying art but handshaping by normal surfers making their own boards is on the rise! and you can be very creative on a computer and very uncreative using handtools - its all up to what you want to do! there is intrinsic worth in something hand crafted but a good board is a good board! i dont use CNC for shaping but there is nothing wrong with it…
Hand shaping will never be a lost Art in fact the cnc machine has moved hand crafted boards from a craft to an Art. We no longer need hand made pottery yet it is still there and loved by many. I havea small collection of hand thrown pottey. by some truly talented people. Same is tre for hand blown glass. It is an Art now one that commands respect around the world. Same with hand crafted furniture. We can buy mass produced food yet we are willing to pay to eat at the table ofa master chef. People connect to those things of beauty that are made with love talent and skill. Surfboards are no different. Not every hand shaper will rise to the level of Artist. Not every hand shaper will survive as more and more turn to cnc cutters.