I have made around 7 or 8 boards now. Pleased with the results but I am about to start a new one and wanted to ask this as its a recurring problem I have. I always struggle to get nice amount of rocker. By the time I have planed the skin off and started shaping it seems to get too flat. Are there any secret tricks to getting a nice bit of rocker? This board needs a good amount of rocker so I thought it was about time I asked in case there’s any tips or tricks I could use! thanks
Here’s a tip for you. With only 7 or 8 boards under your belt, order your next blank with the desired rocker already in it. If you’ve got enough time to read thru endless comments on rocker here on Sways; You’ve got enough time to order the blank you need with the rocker in it already. You haven’t been shaping the rocker out of your previous boards. The average blank these days is designed as low rocker. That’s what’s in vogue. It’s also the easiest to shape. Especially for our ever burgeoning beginner population, who can’t paddle a board with any rocker in it into a wave. After all they learned at a Surf School on a vacation to Waikiki or Maui and we’re pushed by their instructor into every wave…
LOL. Mcding, your brutally honest and spot-on answer made me laugh out loud. Let no one ever accuse you of beating around the bush.
@Helter: good to see you pop up on sways again; seems like it’s been a while. I have struggled with the same issue myself on almost all of my boards.
Best wishes to all.
Like McDing says, until you get the hang of it just order the rocker you want and then basically leave it alone. You can do your foil from the deck. .
Based on your description, what it sounds like is happening with what you’ve done is that you might have been taking thickness off of both ends separately, as opposed to walking the planer from end to end and taking similar amounts off all over.
Thanks all. Ha, nice reply McDing. Good points too, except you conflated two issues. You suggested if i had “time” to read endless posts on here, I would have “time” to order a blank with rocker. The thing is, time isn’t what’s needed there, money is what’s needed. and I have more time than money, but admittedly not a surplus of either. More importantly, I already have the blank! I can only afford reject blanks (slight defect or ding somewhere). So I have what I have and no chance of another. There is rocker in the blank (it’s a US Blanks 604EA). My quesion was a bit more generic though as I find I struggle a bit every time with the rocker side of things. Everything else I am confident but rocker always seems tricky. I wondered if i need a tool or just tips! I did glue some 60 grit around a broom handle once and that helped, takes a while but i did get better results that way. That was a good few boards ago and I had forgotten til now! Re the other comment - yep i plane end to end walking, i definitely don’t take some off at each end separately (do people do that?!) I guess I will just read what I can find but glad I helped get your beef with the burgeoning newbies off to your chest ;-D
I didn’t know flatter rocker was in vogue, i am never up with fashion! I think I will just skin the blank, then start hacking away with curved plane and see if i can improve the rocker the blank came with (which does look pretty pathetic to me, but it certainly has some).
cheers
Helter why don’t you post the actual rocker measurements of your blank , then perhaps someone on Sways will help you achieve what you want
If you can’t swap the blank you have for something flatter then it might make more sense to go back to the drawing board to fit the design to the blank.
I saw a short and descriptive vid a while back where the shaper (Kazuma) was demonstrating how to flatten the middle to reduce the overall rocker but that results in lower numbers for both ends, not just the nose.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2ujSFl6x90
He’s a highly skilled shaper, so that’s how he makes getting the nice smooth curve at the end look easy. It’s not.
Go watch the Fiberglass Hawaii video of Ben Aipa shaping a high performance Shortboard out of an Oversized Fish blank. You want rocker; That’s how you get it. But, as a beginner if you are going to be so concerned about rocker, buy the blank with the rocker in it. At Millennium they don’t glue up a Second until it is ordered. Which means you can get the rocker you want even in a Second. If you think that a tool or some little trick will help you put a particular rocker into a blank you are mistaken. For example; you cannot get certain rockers out of certain blanks. Some blanks just cannot accommodate certain rockers.
Excellent thanks McDing!
Yes I could do that. I will do it once it’s skinned. To be honest I have done measurements before but tend to just go by eye now, which doesn’t help in explaining “how much” rocker I want! I just noticed (as mentioned above) that these blanks despite having rocker, seem to have very little and it’s hard to find the good old fashioned upturned noses of the past, which is more what i want (not too exagerated, just more than the modern blanks seem to offer). I will have a play and get some measurements when I get back to the board thanks
yep everything I have watched looks 1000 times easier on the TV than in practice! Good videos though thanks for the link.
PS - I am looking for more rocker here, not less.
PPS - The only way I know how (just the way I have tried before and it worked a little, but I sure found it hard) is to take more off the chest/deck area and then use a round sanding tool (40-60 grit on broom handle or similar) and spend a LOOOONG time running it from the middle up to the nose with varying pressures by hand). That’s my ‘way’, if it can be called a ‘way’!!
Thanks guys, this did help, will watch some more videos and read more threads
I think this video helps to explain my question way better than I did with my original post!
https://invidio.us/watch?v=2KEuu57NiPY
At exactly 1 Min 22 seconds in - THAT is where I get hesitant and lack confidence. When planing the deck side, if you go end to end, you keep the profile of the blank, and i want to increase the rocker. I think what I did last time was lighten up the plane towards the nose or not use it there at all (it lifts off itself). I have got no skill with my cheap ass planer to twist the screw (adjust depth of cut) as I move. I can do it a bit on the bottom where it’s obviously way easier, but on the deck I think i will just leave the front quarter alone (with plane) and use hand tools only round there, hopefully leaving more foam to allow for some increased rocker.
Another thing I have just realised I should have mentioned… I am fine with getting rocker on the bottom side. (That’s easy of course!). Its the top side, where the planer and any square object won’t ‘fit’ due to the upwards curvature!
https://invidio.us/watch?v=2KEuu57NiPY - This is pretty much exactly what I do. It looks a bit “beginnery” to me (no offence to the guy on video), as it gets bottom nicely but also flattens the deck and my son wants to SEE the rocker in the nose from top side, as opposed to just ‘having’ it (which is of course the most important thing) on the water facing side!
I never build a foam board, so this advice may be totally bullshit but:
if you cannot get the rocker out of blank, why not try getting it into it!
Sounds weird, but take a rocker profile, cut it into 6 or 8mm plywood creating a new stringer, then rip the original stringer out to the foam blank and glue the foam halves to the new stringer, voila no wood planing anymore, just pair and match the foam to the stringer and you receive the rocker you wanted.
Some simple logic:
Bottom rocker curve would have greatest effects on wave catching/riding performance.
Deck rocker curve would have greatest effects on foil shape/flex and volume.
Just my $0.02.
hahaha. I wont be doing it but that idea is SO frikkin brilliant!! One day I am gonna try that, love the logic!
Sorry, I got called away and just back home and faced with this blank! I have skinned it with plane, and now having a huge brain fart! It’s been too long since I did the last one and stressful times here, my brain isn’t working well at all. Could someone give me a few bullet points just to remind me what the best order is for shaping?! Should I do the bottom side first to get the bottom profile and rocker etc, then move onto the deck? I stood and stared at the blank for half an hour and felt like a rabbit in the headlights 
I am after some advice. This board is for my son, he is surfing well now and says he wants super hard rails virtually right to the tip of the nose! He doesn’t know a lot about construction though and I am a bit concerned it may be unsurfable. grateful for any comments by more experienced people here (surfers as much as builders). Images below show that I have shaped it and its ready for glassing, IF I leave the rails as they are.
They are 90 degree hard around the tail to around 3-4 inches in front of side fins (tri fin setup), then pretty much carries on with a TINY tuck, and I mean like 1/32 if that! I am thinking I should maybe add to the tuck to make it 1/16 to 1/8 all around except the hard tail. Could someone advise how it will perform as it is now? Will it just be super responsive (which was his hope)? I really love the shape and the glassing job he wants is insane and gonna take me forever, so I really do’nt want to end up with a board he can’t ride! (and he is no use for guidance as he doesn’t know how it will perform either, except what he read in books about hard rails are more responsive). Thanks
https://i.postimg.cc/nLJ1Pq6f/signal-2020-08-12-195305-002.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/GpxjwHC8/signal-2020-08-12-195305-003.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/QtNJXh86/signal-2020-08-12-195305-004.jpg