Me too Keith! I’m just waiting to be named “Shaper Of The Year”…
That’s when the checks start rolling in right???
1. it's fun ! [WHY else would we do ANYTHING ?!]
2. makes a change from making fins
3. need something to put my fins into [ the ladies I knew don't like that ] Which kinda reminds me of Occy's sister's quote in the 'Occumentary' dvd ..." the only thing Mark ever wanted to get into , was ...his WETSUIT ! " [GOOD for him , less problems that way ! :) ]
4. because I must be a masochist
5. because I needed convincing of terry fitz's quote " all boards work ...some better than others " [mine are the 'others' , rather than the 'some' , I think ?!]
Why…???..Becasuse nobody makes 'em how I like 'em…
6.
because I'm a low performance 51 yo surfer , today's "high performance" boards , off the racks at the local surfshop , for $ 850 each [?!!] aren't going to "do it" for me ...and , if they snapped after three surfs [or waves?] , I would be absolutely GUTTED !!
[which I think ties in with what Paul just posted , simultaneously]
Because at the end of the day, im always smiling
whether you are making them for yourself, or thousands of people, you are stoking out someone, a first timer… a ripper… a old school legend… it doesn’t matter what your making…what your riding… it matter what you get out of it… what you can do to not only make yourself but also make those around you happy… i’ll be broke for the rest of life but i can tell you i will always be happy.
cuz im stoopid!!
"The next time you’re in your sanctuary, ask yourself; why do I shape surfboards? "
My goal was to become a Glasser...no one wanted me to glass their boards........... Because I was a no name........
I'm sitll a no name.....but I shape and glass pro quality surfboards in my own little workshop. Why do I shape? Because I have to......Can't be a great glasser without boards to glass......someone has to shape the boards...me.
I shape the boards. And, I have a full time job. And I do side work. And I have investments.....Gosh.....the world of Butterflies and Unicorns has passed me by.......at what point in time did my workshop become a Sanctuary???
Why do I shape, what a excellent thread.
I do it because people told me that I never could, well fuck em…I CAN…
I Shape because in it I find solitude, something that sometimes surfing cant even give me, I find peace, I believe ive even found myself, and that is digger the backyard shaper with a planner in his hands.
I shape because i want to pass the craft onto my boy and keep the art alive, that is shaping by hand, heart and soul. He has aspergiers and a few other things which I dont want to go into, but he will never fit into mainstream society, and he can already sand a board dead flat quicker than I can, something which Im so proud of and Im sure even griffen would sit back and go wow, he is only 7
I dream of rail bands, bonzer concaves and channels, eight of the buggers, one day.
Ive now been forced into the situation of not being able to keep being forced to move in the rental market, my kids cant hack it with thier anxiety levels, so we have bought a 40 foot bus, so no where for me to shape now, could be over for a long time, im gutted but happy for my children.
I plan to one day take a extended trip, just start the engine and leave all behind, im selling all our possesions as im over society telling me what I should own and watch, what doesnt fit into a single suit case I no longer need for life, im giving our fridge and washing machine to someone more needy than me. I plan to go somewhere with no destination in mind, if I cant help my children financially I can at least leave them with with everylasting memories of thier childhood and their crazy parents who took them all over australia and didnt care about what people thought of them, one day chipper im pulling up in front of your house, so in a year or two look out for a bus honking its horn at midnight to wake you for full moon surf with the sharkies.
Why do I shape, because its who I am, I dont consider myself a shaper and will never be, but I shape because its me.
the psychiatrist said,‘‘what do you want to do?’’
I said’’ I wanna shape surfboards.‘’
he said “why dont you do that?”
never went to see him again
saving money on boards and therapy
for 44 years.
…ambrose…
what day job
old enough to fiddle
while rome burns…
....a wise psychiatrist !
reminds me of a NUN , who
[so the story goes] once asked Alby Falzon the same question .
" I want to make a really nice movie , showing what surfing is"
the nun said the same thing in reply , that your psychiatrist said
and voila !
....." morning of the earth " was born !!
ben
my girlfriend said
"if you shape another surfboard , I'm leaving !"
gosh I'll MISS her !!
:)
[ the 'Swaylocks' twist on the 'if I go surfing once more ' t shirt , that says the same ...maybe it's time for a swaylocks edition 2 t shirt ?? ]
[quote="$1"] Why do I shape, what a excellent thread. I do it because people told me that I never could, well fark em.............I CAN....................... I Shape because in it I find solitude, something that sometimes surfing cant even give me, I find peace, I believe ive even found myself, and that is digger the backyard shaper with a planer in his hands. I shape because i want to pass the craft onto my boy and keep the art alive, that is shaping by hand, heart and soul.
...I shape because its me. [/quote]
Good post there digger, wish you the best!
I shape surfboards because...
...I wanted a replacement for my beat 80's 6'6" Surfclub board with some minor tweaks to the bottom contours.
...of the stoke I got on that first waist high Uppers wave on my very first self shaped board when I realized immediately that it worked better than the old board I copied and tweaked a little.
...my brother liked that first 6'6" so much he wanted one too.
...in 2002 I wondered if a 6'1" noserider would work. It does.
...I needed a 6'1" 5 fin bonzer with the nose of a 6'4" Infinity twin fin from the late 70's and a round pin tail from a 2000ish 7'5" Craig Hollingsworth Lightning Bolt gun.
...some clear cedar black painted hand railing needed to be repurposed into a 6'6" alaia with a single to double concave out the back.
...there are boards in my head that need to be shaped and ridden.
...I was once told that I would need to shape at least 10 boards before I got a good one. I have only shaped 5 but to me they are all better than good.
[quote="$1"] I shape surfboards because...
...in 2002 I wondered if a 6'1" noserider would work. It does... [/quote]
got any pics of that one?
Thought I did but I looked and apparently I don't. Will clean the board up and take some pics tomorrow.
[quote="$1"]
Thought I did but I looked and apparently I don't. Will clean the board up and take some pics tomorrow.
[/quote]
Thanks!
Not to hijack this thread - feel free to post the pics on this thread http://www2.swaylocks.com/node/1022687. I have been interested in the subject for awhile now, but haven't attempted to build one myself - yet.
Not that I want a short noserider per se, but what I'm really after is a short board that rides like a longboard (which would obviously include noseriding, but mainly I want the 'cruise and trim' features), and love to see pics and get ride reports on others' boards.
I started back in the 80s because I was facinated with it after a visit to a local surfboard factory when I was 12. Made a bunch of crappy boards in the 80s and early 90s then went back to production boards.
Five or six years back I pulled an old late 1980s Richard Price / Natural Art board out of my crawl space and rode it after having not ridden it in a decade. The board was still magic. I searched every shop within 30 miles for a board even remotely similar and found nothing. The only way I was going to get a new board like that old beat up Natural Art would be to make a copy. And so the quest began.
Now with 3 groms coming up I am making boards for them, myself and a few friends.
The magic surfboard that got me back into it along side my first attempt at copying it.
Thanks to everyone who has shared. It has been an honor to read your stories. I truly am in the company of the shaping Gods. Please keep posting. I enjoy reading the many stories of how we all got started. Thanks again for everything guys and gals!!
1stly- got my family interested in surfing shortly after I started so I had to build a board for the kids because I'm too poor to buy them one...and I love woodworking so its HWS
2ndly- it gets me out of the house and across the yard to my workshop where nothing exists but tranquility and tools...
3rdly- every time I look up at the board rack on my living room wall I think, G-damn those things are beautiful and get off my arse to go to the workshop...
4thly- I absolutely love the idea of a non-disposible wood board made by myself that just might last a very long time (if the kids don't smash it up!)
5thly- my wife and my brother are waiting patiently for me to finish a longboard for myself and get onto the boards THEY want me to build, what have I started!!???
6thly- I must be unbalanced upstairs, lol
for the money…no, really…please stop laughing…