Kirby, thanks for posting your repsonse and pinpointing everyone’s inadequacies and general lameness.
I’m not sure where you got the notion that I hated Homeblown and was in love with Clark and Ice NIne. I merely call it the way I see it…or more correctly, report it as I experienced it. About two years ago I met Ned and we joined forces to make Homeblown US aware to the public. This was only in a very small way; I was asked if I would make a donation to the SB Maritime Museum fundraiser event that would generate money for establishing a Surfing History Museum here in Santa Barbara.
I suggested supplying a shaped custom Homeblown blank that people could bid for as part of the silent auction. Ned agreed to supply the blank, and I would shape anything the lucky bidder desired. I supplied some information for the people setting up the room that Ned made available and the bidding went well. I was personalyl thanked by Travis Shannon. Travis was the event organizer and was Vice President of the Merrill Lynch office in Montecito. Travis said my contribution, along with Ned’s generosity in supplying the blank, raised $1,000 toward the effort of establishing the local historical museum.
I purchased a number of Homeblown blanks after this event, and had mixed success with the foam which Ned and I discussed. This was a frustrating time for me, as I was coming back into the industry after an aprroximate hiatus of around 5 or 6 years. Clark had expired, and there were many new foam suppliers to sift through finding the best material available.
Somewhere along that timeline I was either contacted or contacted Ice Nine in search of a workable foam that represented the same ideals that Ned had dedicated himself to. I sincerely gave Homeblown my best try and came up short. As far as Ice Nine, I stated earlier in this thread that I had “mixed results using their MDI (Cane) foam”. This was brought up and was relative in the sense that I opened up the thread a bit to include discussion about MDI foam in general.
As I have evidenced over the last couple years, many Sway’s threads take on a life of their own, or are opened up from the original poster’s question and sometimes even get waaaay off track sometimes geting downright silly or in the worst case scenario, self destruct and end up deleted altogether.
I suspect you are probably a control freak in that you feel the need to come in and categorically go through and hit everyone who has contributed to this post with some of your omnipresent knowledge on each of our personal and private lives. The only problem with this is that it wasn’t your thread in the first place, and my original response to the person that created the thread wasn’t derogatory toward Ned, nor anyone associated with Homeblown U.S. .
As far as ‘being in love with Clark Foam’. I had decades of good experience with Clark Foam as my primary supplier of foam blanks. But I also spent one good decade (80’s) conducting R&D and building leading edge sailboards using EPS foam. Matthew at Clark Foam contacted me during that period stating that Gordon wanted to talk with me about my sailboard production and would Ioffer a comparison of my experience using EPS and his product. That concluded with a conference call that Matthew set up while Grubby was in Hawaii.
In the case of Ice NIne Foamworks, I make no secret about working pretty extensively with them over the past year or so. The company has a great attitude, and Jon Stillman and Stu Kropoff have supplied foam to me because they value my experience and ability to elaborate on the product they are evolving. Simply put, I enjoy working with progressive companies that are dedicated to improving their product. If their attitude had been different after I reported some frustrations or less than flattering observations while working with their foam, I might have felt the need to shit can them and move on to the next foamer.
I have been equally open about my experience using U.S. Blanks, Ice Nine, Surfblanks, Homeblown or EPS for that matter. The comments I have made have included the attributes and challenges of each particular supplier. When I’ve found good foam and shaped it, I’ve been stoked and shared my experience accordingly, regardless of who makes it.
I respect quite a few of the knowldegeable people that contribute and generously share their insights on Swaylocks. From your neck of the woods that includes Mike Daniels and Greg Loehr, from other locales these include (but are not limited to) Kokua, Bill Barnifield, Paul Jenson, Huie, Bert Berger, Maurice Cole, Nick Carroll, John Mellor, Surfding, Hodad, Lonely Tyrant, Ambrose, Cuttie, Atomized, Al Gibbons, and too many others to list here. There is a great group of guys (and some gals) on this site…all good fun.
I don’t know who you are nor the credentials you may have. Since there are many who choose to lurk on this site, it is no stretch of the imagination that you may be someone that is deeply vested in your own commercial enterprise with an agenda that none of us are aware of.
I feel just fine with sharing what I have learned along the way…I sure as hell can’t take it with me, and since you clearly have looked at and read some of the posts that I have made, you can elect whether to read them or not. Nobody is twisting your arm. If you find ‘no value’ in what I offer, don’t waste your time reading it. But you sure as hell are not going to CONTROL what I choose to contribute.
And that is putting in mildly, as we like to keep it friendly on Sway’s…
P.S.
This isn’t spell checked, is that allowed?