Thoughts about change

General Discussion
1

I have been using Swaylocks now for maybe 5 or 7 years, I remember when one did not need to log in.

It is, without doubt, the best site dealing with surfcraft manufacture, technology and Theory.

Its a credit to Mike, the Mods and posters at what a fantastic resource it is and has remained.

I have been enlightened, entertained and educated on this site, I hope some of my comments and thoughts have been of interest to others.

Just saw some postings recently, and something that came up in the back of my mind.

This is not a negative comment, but it just felt funny to see postings about swapping files for shaping machines.

This site has always been - to me at least- about backyard builders, but is it not remarkable how things have changed, now we are talking about computer program files as well as electric sanders and messed up gloss coats.

I was going to comment on one of those postings, asking was I the last of the Luddites, and should there be a seprate forum for Computerised shaping, but I’m glad I did not - I guess it is just another aspect of shaping, but it still feels a wee bit funny.

It reminds me of something learnt at school :

Omnia mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis

(All things change, and we must change with them)

And Im sticking with surform and my Saw - cheers

2

“In the struggle for survival, the fittest win out at the expense of their rivals because they succeed in adapting themselves best to their environment.” C.Darwin

The only constant is change.

Has anyone ever actually seen time?

3

Not changing…evolving…

4

Evolving is a subset of change.

5

what’s a surform?

:slight_smile:

6

“Form follows function”

7

A surform is a rasp from Stanley tools. Dunno if it has a different name in the US

8
Quote:

“surForm follows surfunction”

9

Hey,

I remember the earliest “shaping machines”:- Hand operated jigs which pushed a router along a rocker profile.

Not sure when the first of these appeared, but I’d bet it was in the 60’s…

They were quicker, and gave a more accurate bottom curve.

The catch was, you still needed to have a good curve. If the rocker profile template was crook, well, it did’nt matter how much quicker it was.

The same goes for computer shaping. A surprising number of backyard crew can access one of these machines, but the knowledge needed to get a really good shape off a machine is still critical.

I can’t countenance any form of copying, and nicking a shapers file remains theft of intellectual property in my opinion.

In the hands of a designer who has the “knack”, a shaping machine is just a giant planer.

I also believe there’s a degree of magic in a spontaneous decision by a skilled planer monger, a moment between the blank, the man and his tools.

However, please understand that the guys who have pushed a Skil 100 up and down a blank countless times have a right to be over it.

There’s a lot to be said for something which helps a guru shaper prevent his arthritis getting worse!!!

Change…basically its a runaway train…get on it or get left behind. Its not a choice for the pros.

There’s still so much that has’nt changed:- Like, most of the rest of making a board…I use sqeegees by a brand called “Thalco”… the same man Robert Thal was a colleague of Grubby Clark at day one, and the squeegee remains the same.

I look at the possibilities for 3D printing technology. Imagine designing your board and having it PRINTED…

There’s one I’d like to try before the tech filters down to where you can get one at a yard sale!!!

Speedy

10

…if a computer machine is a giant planer, like you say, well the shaper and the guy who signature the board have be the same…

so, no guru shapers there…

11

roughed a board three years ago

left to collect dust

pulled it down last night in the twillight

shapd well into the darkness

mind you I have no lights

lest you consider the ambient light

from the moon and doorway 15’away

an

this guy stops by excited

bout his board being repaired

his little girl needs to use the head

I stop and turn o the light in there

the erie light from the obscure glass makes

a glow that shadows the rail

I mention to Kaimi that boards

have been made in this neighborhood for a thousand years

I believe that I am on the continium

there are spirits tht brought that little girl

to illuminate the tail of this 10’ 3’’

the stringers are wedged

it’s 33 and ahalf

its a bullet

change?

clean boxers

same shorts I wore last nite

covered with dust

put on my swaylox annonymous2003 t-shirt

with the surf for world peace screen on the front

we are all in this existance together.

change what you will

the awareness of what remains the same is your choice.

sand paper

a granite sanding block or the balsa ergonomic rail

a new fangled inky poo v.s john henery the steel drivin man

these are the times that try mens souls true yet souls are being morphed as we speek

the kid watching saturday cartoons aint the same cartoons

there aint no beanie and cecil

anime is queen?

my periferal perception makes my vision jerk

to see who just walked up to the shaping zone

I see no one but sense many

the spirit drives me

the micro drops of tropical rain kiss my bare arms through the dust

this often known as the hawaiian blessing

alerts me to …

I must be doing somthing right

for some one will see a new /old perspective.

the spirit drives me

I owe this to some on I never knew or will ever Know

past and future.

Not an industrial enterprise…

The Inky poo didnt kill john henery

his spirit lives on

I see that george pal puppetoon

in my mind’s eye like it was last saturday

more shiney than an mtv rapper

perhaps the greatest cartoon ever.

all on a saturday morning

no offense micky

but a machine is a shaper of another kind

I cant wait to see what that 10’3 looks like done.

but i will have to wait.

the spirit that resides in me

will be encased in poly and glass

and live to spirit the ocaen waves.

an industrial product will find its way with a spirit all its own

yet diffrent.

…ambrose

bless us all

and our passions.

12
Quote:

…if a computer machine is a giant planer, like you say, well the shaper and the guy who signature the board have be the same…

so, no guru shapers there…

Yes, I feel strongly about the integrity behind a signature…If a guy neither designed nor personally touched a board, the signature becomes merely a brand.

I’ve done the planer time, as well as a handful of machine shapes and signed them proudly…My designs and my finishing…

When is a shape not a shape? Because it was cut with a bigger tool?

I say it again…In the hands of talent, a shaping machine is just a giant planer.

Speedy

13

I didnt rub out the 7’3

I shaped the swaylox raffle blank

from Ghunt from 2004

sat down the kid from long beach longI

and stepped it off starting with the router

nonstop shaped it all.

the gaggle of birds of a feather ensued

and I went to eat a cheese sandwiche.

fell asleep for an hour

and went back up to the shed

and glassed it.

to one side I evesdropped the kid (who aint no kid)

saying somthing to me woife

I just kep goin an later he rrepeated it to me

‘‘better than shaping 101’’

I never saw it,the video ,

but I believe the zen shape is a real alternative

I didnt measure the thing to distraction

I probobly used the tape three times

once to meas the length

and once to match the second rail…

routing the template

used the tiny caliper on the rail

twice to show lwin

how close you get

just counting strokes.

close tollerance blank

6+4 on the bottom

a moment in time

september 22 2007 is

represented

I signed it

it’s 7’7’’

red yellow and purple

named it 'a

found it on the bottom right

on the first page of the

hawaiian english dictionary

by mary pukui.

…ambrose…

change what you wish

but the only real thing you can change

is youorself. Except when you are a newborn baby

then some one else has to change you.

am I goin’ or not goin

october getin closer

this board will fit in the bag…