I am having trouble wrapping my head around the best way to trace a board template onto hardboard/masonite. I have a 6’6" round pin Arakawa that is my magic board anytime the waves get really good. Naturally, I have surfed it to the end of its life and want to try to shape the exact same thing.
I am wondering whether you tape the hardboard to match the rocker of the board or if you leave it flat while tracing? My brain tells me that if you dont match the rocker with the hardboard then there will be some distortion in the traced template. Right now I have it taped on the bottom matching the rocker.
That is a good idea, I had’nt thought of that yet. My brain can’t quite wrap itself around which method would cause the most distortion or none at all. On the one hand, If i match the rocker with the hardboard and trace the template and then put that template on the blank - the rocker of the blank won’t match up with the rocker of the board causing some distortion but it should be minimal.
I have put the board bottom side up with the masonite on top.
The weight of the masonite will kinda help it follow the rocker but I made sure it was taped down all along the stringer. Then I used a carpenter’s pencil and traced the outline making sure to keep the angle of the pencil completely vertical the whole way through.
My $0.02.
Depends on what the blank rockers you will be shaping are like.
Bottom rockers are greater and will distort planshape length and curves most.
I like to use the surface with the least rocker induced distortion — flatter rocker.
Deck rocker is typically flatter than bottom rocker. So, I prefer planshapes based on and applied to the deck.
That makes sense. That “rocker induced distortion” you mentioned is what my brain was having trouble grasping. I am going to have to go back to the bay and assess it. Thanks!
I also taped it down on the bottom. I think carpenter pencil like you mentioned is the way to go. I was going to use a sharpie but realized that it’d add 1/2" to the overall shape due to its thickness.
IMO the best/most accurate way is to measure the board width (rail apex to rail apex) at regular intervals. (Dowel with 2 mobile pieces of wood, perpendicular holes drilled in them — that slide along the length of the dowel.) Connect the dots with large curves and or battens.
I don’t do any of the above. Except lay down a vertical half sheet on a flat table, put the board down on the Masonite deck or bottom depending on how extreme the rocker is. Line the middle of the board up to the straight edge, tape it on each end. Draw my line with a flat carpenters pencil to the wide point of the surfboard. Usually nose first and then do the same with the tail. Never any noticeable distortion. It’s an outline not a rocker line.
Another thought about the distortion: The way I’m learning to shape is that I put in the entire rocker and thickness foil of the blank before I cut the outline (as opposed to some folks I’ve seen who do the outline much earlier, as it kinda sounds like you’re doing), and when I’m in boardcad (long live boardcad) the outline I’m making is based on a rocker as well. So if you take the outline off your board from the bottom, measure the rocker, then shape in the rocker before cutting the outline on the new copy, I think you’d be golden…?
Of course in my description above, I take into consideration the width of my pencil. If you draw to the mid-point and flip the edge, it becomes a “Spin Template” and winds up being only half the length of the board you are templating. Since some of you are concerned about rocker distorting the outline; What happens when you lay down your template onto the bottom of a blank that doesn’t have the same rocker or hasn’t been adjusted yet??
That is the problem if rockers don’t match.
Templates from big bottom rocker on the original board increase board length and flatten planshape curves on blanks with less/flatter rockers.
Least distortion comes from the side of the board with the flattest rocker (typically the deck side).
If blank rockers and original board rockers match you are closer to a good replica.
Probably have had no problem it’s a nice weekend
the idea with the carpenters pencil is a good one
Have you thought of and I’ve seen no mention of using the original boards shadow … using a good light source that is movable
If your blank is stringerless you might want to make a stringer template …
To extend the length of your tracing , have you thought of using a paint stirring stick or yard stick the type you find at the hard ware store …
I never thought of this before but maybe someone who is from another country might answer what do they call a yard stick ? A 91 centimeter stick ?
Way back when; Mike Doyle noticed a pencil outline on the sidewalk in front of Pat Curren’s shop and realized it was the famous Curren big wave Gun template. Grabbing a pencil and tracing paper he attempted to lift the template from the sidewalk. As he’s doing this Pat Curren walks up, gives Doyle the eyeball and walks on. More than a few years have passed since I first heard this story, so I may be a little fuzzy on the details. I think Doyle mentioned it in his book. Pat Curren ever the innovator on the cutting edge. Doyle always the copy cat.
Wow, how things have changed over the years at Swaylocks. I remember someone , probably me, asking about taking / copying. / replicating a professional template / plan shape and I got howled down by the most fair of judges saying……
It’s THEIR Intellectual Property you’re stealing.
Design is exactly like art, you can’t copy FCS fins or Coca Cola signage without drawing a lawsuit, same with anything to do with surfing.
Just because you can , doesn’t mean you should.<<<< THIS IS BIG.
Stealing someone’s design is like taking their food from their table, this is how one shaper distinguishes themselves from every other. Even if they are multinational environmental polluters and slave labour enthusiasts. No disrespect or identification of any board maker, just saying it’s a possibility, but I believe all foreign board workers are paid handsomely and treated with high regard by all and sundry.
Replicating Templates, surely the most easiest and recognisable aspect of any surfboard design is only going to cheapen their professional reputation through mimicry and subtle confusion.
Why not take on the Spirit of Swaylocks and build your own ??? Sure, there’s always going to be in the design a bit of a nod to this maker or whatever but saying you want to rip a specific manufacturers planshape is just not what Swaylocks is about.
I am a defender of IP. But…
Lots of old shapes aren’t made anymore. And you gotta have that magic board once again.
More than a few original custom builders won’t give you the time of day when you try to contact them about a build.
Just sayin’
That is a genius way to bypass the rocker distortion. Seems like a lot of the PU blanks I get don’t have a ton of rocker in them so sometimes it is hard to get the desired rocker. Someone told me the blank manufacturers used to cut your desired rocker for you back in the day. Would be sickk. Thanks!
Surffoils,
Thanks for bringing this up you made some excellent points some of which I had thought about and others I hadn’t. I’m fairly new to the game (only made about 20 boards at this point) so I appreciate insight into the shaping culture like this.
I would like to clarify my intention with taking the template I mentioned. Im only shaping for the love of surfcraft and surfing. The board was passed down to me from an older ripper who got more barrels on it than I probably will in my whole life. In my mind, taking a template and shaping something similiar is a way to pay hommage to the greats.
All of the other boards have been my own design from my own templates which Is why I am lost on the proper way to take a template. It seems from the responses above many people have taken templates before. So where is the line drawn with intellectual property? Does taking templates in order to learn and purely for the love of surfcraft violate someones IP? I definitely think copying someones board, claiming its your own design, or even selling it, should be avoided at all cost. Let me know what you think. Thanks!
(I’m not trying to argue or disrespect shapers before me - just trying to learn from others)
Yeah at least a few other more experienced shapers have mentioned that a lot of blanks these days are made thicker and flatter to accommodate machine cutting…
