What in the board building/designing process do you want to improve on? And how do you plan on doing that? Could be something dumb and easy, or complex and difficult. I’d like to get a lot better at foiling fins. I can make a good looking and performing fin, but want to work on foiling the same fin templates but just fouling them differently to see how they work.
Cut laps
Cutting my outline with the handsaw more evenly and symmetrically, as well as creating more durable templates than the ones I hastily made out of cardboard ha!
I would like to get better at my rails and rail bands as well as bottom contours. I have never had anyone to consult except maybe a visiting friend who also surfs, but has zero shaping skills. I always seems really happy with my rails in the bay, then after glassing I get the thing home and I find things I dont like. Too boxy, or not tucked enough etc. They always end up looking pleasing to the eye and surfing really well, but would like to improve. Again, learning the true ways to cut in concave and Vee or belly roll or double concave seems to baffle me. I do a proficient job and achieve desired affect but always have questions. Did I go deep enough, did I start it in the right spot, is it too shallow, am I even doing this right? Those are all questions I’ve asked.
Finally, my sanding technique I wish to improve on. Hand sanding is no problem, but sanding rails with my power sander is not something I have done yet. Flattening laps and hot coats is no real issue, but just too nervous to power into those rails.
Plan on improving by just shaping more and always reading and watching videos. I want to visit a real shaper while he is working so bad, but feel like I am a burden. Also I never have time to make that happen.
Pretty much every screw up I make happens the instant I introduce color. I’m no arteeest. Shaping…no problem. Clear glass jobs…no problem. Any attempt to paint blank or tint results in something that ranges from just OK to horrific.
Easier for me to just stick to clear boards and let whoever take paint pens to it. ;^}
Sanding and fin foiling
Better lighting in your shaping bay. The proper color of wall paint to contrast a white Blank against. Tools like a contour gauge, level/straight edge/square and flexible shaping blocks. All crucial. One of the reasons so many shapes are “half a bubble off” on this site is that too many blanks are shaped in “shaping areas”. Some even outside. Hard to Shape a Blank with any true definition and symmetry outside or in the corner of a garage. With all the visual interference it is difficult to see so many little imperfections that become glaring mistakes once a Blank is glassed
My inter-personal relationships and a more cognitive view of my navel.
I found pastel colours on the blank rollered on with clear epoxy worked well. Before this I was trying epoxy and pigment which streaked badly.
I don’t have UV protection though… I guess I can just spray with lacquer for that
I want to get better at preventing glass strings and fluff without using something like bamboo fibre, which I can’t find the right version of. Also I need to get better at making masking tape dams for hard edges. All detailed images of this seem to have disappeared off hosting sites.
These are things I need to work on as well. Half my templates are on single wall cardboard and the other half on big brown paper
I basically use the planer for the initial cut to break the shell and do a lot with sanding blocks, pads and other hand shaping. I would like to master the planer and be able to shape a board in under three hours instead of five.
Dennis, you’re doing pretty damn good now. Shouldn’t mess up a good thing.
3 axis of progress:
- improve my work place, 1 room 3mx4m in wich i make boards up to 10’ from eps block to oven cured epoxy sometimes with vaccum bag Wood skin, so everything need to find is place. For the moment i Work on a new noise less filtered ventilation seystem i build arround an industrial impeler…
- finalise my tech to have the best durability/feeling/cost ratio i can do. From my mate i find a good compromise for weight/dynamic flex with great durability, some were exclusive pu/pe wich Help a lot in this work. Material cost is lower than pu/pe for me but i still have to improve some tools to reduce work Time…
- last is to improve my shape with a better understanding of dynamic flow. For long Time i just try to make clean looking curves, but know i try to make them mechanicaly more efficient…
I want to understand materials like LeMat, chambering like Gene Cooper, blanks and stringer builds like Jim Phillips, double resin pinlines like Roger “cleanliness” Brucker, epoxy like Greg Loehr, balsa guns like Dick Brewer…and I want to ride barrels better too!
Being at board #6 now, there is obviously tons of stuff I need to get better at, but keeps annoying me is the foil of nose and tail. Not regarding transitions or anything, but the very tips of the board. always seems to turn out weird and I am (still) afraid to take too much material away.
Rough template thru the overall shaping process and when you are near the end like just before screening; retemplate the nose and tail. Cut with the saw or just Surform to final outline. Then clean them up with a sanding block and screen. If you are cutting your outline before you start roughing; reverse the process and wait until you have roughed and taken the blank down to thickness by planing top and bottom before you template. You are screwing up your template during the shaping process. Save cutting the outline until later on in the process.
Nump
Agree with McDing…I like to foil and thin the blank before templating. Mainly longboards. Make multiple light passes instead of opening the plane up and mowing 1/4" at at a time
Jim phillips taught me to shape. Still use same technique.
I need improve on every part of board making. The area I need a lot of help is finishing. I’m trying to do a wall hanger and I don’t do polished boards, so it’s a challenge. I’ll be learning a lot about polishing epoxy this week.