Trash Boards

Salvaged a couple blanks and thought I’d share with you guys. I’m not entirely sure how to imbed photos so this will be a series of posts. 

 

case 1: 6’1"x 19 3/8"x 2 3/8"

This board came about after I found an old delammed 6’4" in a trash can as I was driving to go surf one morning. Me being me I grabbed it and figured I’d do something with it one day, if nothing else I would toss it myself if I couldn’t find a use for it. Original dims were 6’4"x 20 1/4"x 2 1/2"+ so not really any room to reshape. Thankfully the glass peeled off very cleanly 

After I peeled the glass off of it I let it be for a while until I figured out what to do. A few months later I shaped a board for a trip that came out too narrow so I scrapped it after setting the fin boxes. Since blanks aren’t cheap I thought of ways I could make it wider. My solution was to splice it together with the board i found in the trash. I snapped chalk lines and ripped it along the stringer. 

The glue up. I wish I took more pictures of the blank making stage but this gives an idea of what I did. My biggest mistake was using an epoxy slurry to glue it. It made shaping harder and left a hard line down the deck that later had to be repaired after a few surfs. The finished blank was pretty funny, 6’4" x 24" with varying thicknesses. The rocker was also screwed up and had to be fixed after the fact with more scraps. Oh, and it already had a center fin box set at 3 3/8" inches up from the tail that had to stay put 

The cut outline. Notice the center box. 

 

This is a blending curves template. A few of the old timers on here gave me shit a while back for not making my own templates. Saying I wasn’t a real shaper. And you know what, they’re right. I’m a surfer who likes to tinker with surfboards. If I wanted a board that worked I’d get Al Merricks’ sons’ ghost-shaper’s computer to make me one. 

A pic during the shaping, I used a pawn shop black and decker planer to chop through the epoxy cabosil mix because I was scared to mess up the blades on my hitachi. You can see here how many pieces of foam went into this and the craters that had to be filled where the epoxy glue ripped out the foam. All of these were filled with Dap fast-n-final. 

Glassing. Standard 4/4+4 with epoxy resin. Since this was an experiment and the blank was hideous I decided to try out the tinted hot coat sand through effect I’ve seen before. I did black for the lam and grey for the hot coat. I also glassed it at work one weekend without anyone knowing so I didn’t have to take over my garage like usual. Shh don’t tell anyone. I’m also quite proud of this pallet glass rack I threw together on the fly 


The finished sanded through board. I love how the glue lines showed through, even though one had to be grinded down and repaired from it not compressing under my front heel. You can see the black patch in the first photo. At this stage all it needed was a $14 Amazon track pad and it was ready to surf. 

 

the board is a blade, thinner and narrower than what I usually ride but it really goes. Has a bit of flip in the tail and which I think makes it feel more nimble than I’m used to. Feels incredibly snappy and I was able to lay down some pretty decent turns in chest high plus surf. It has me rethinking some things about the boards I’ve been riding. 

It’s getting late so I’ll post case 2 tomorrow

I gave a like to each of your posts.      Well done. Bravo!

Thanks Bill! That means a lot coming from a guy with your history of board making. 

 

case 2: 5’8"x19 3/4" x 2 3/8" 

note that this board has yet to be surfed. It was just finished yesterday. But that might change in an hour or two once the tide fills in. 

This one started the same way, finished blank that I deemed too narrow so I bailed on it until I decided what to do with it. My solution here was to go the opposite of the last board and instead add width in the center as opposed to the rails. I read through a lot of old posts about using xps insulation foam as a board building material and decided to go with it. I was a little worried about delams on it but when I watched the stab magazine special where Jake Vincent bought (and ripped) the board yorky did a build thread on a few years ago I figured it was legit. Great build thread and video for those who haven’t seen it. 

 

anyway I dumpster dived some construction sites at a nearby new development for some 2" thick green xps. I think it 1.5lb/ft^3 so I planned on adding strength during glassing. I also couldn’t find a full 6’ piece so I had to glue up two smaller sections with a scarf joint. This time I used gorilla glue so it would be easier to shape 

 

From here I cut the poly blank down the stringer, and then used the wooden stringer as a template to draw on the xps. When I cut it out I went wide to make sure it would be thick enough. I then glued it up and made sure the rockers matched this time 

The original board was a fishtail but I wanted a squash on this one so I used offcuts of pu to extend the tail. I think the finished blank was 21"+ so I had some width to work with. Here’s the new cut out shape. At this point all I had to do was minimal rail shaping to get it ready to be glassed 

Finished shape. Again dap fast n final was used to fill any holes. You can see where I used it on the finished blank because the paint is lighter in those areas. 

For the paint I got a large thing of sky blue acrylic at Walmart for $4 and added green until I got a color I liked. I rolled it on with a foam roller and let it dry with a box fan before setting my fin boxes. I also had some basalt strips that I’ve had laying around for years that I used to hopefully add some stringer strength (and because they’re super trendy right now)

Glass schedule for this was 4/4+6 epoxy with 4oz strips down the center on each side. Feels like a regular poly board underarm and sufficiently stiff enough. All that was left was to sand and add another Amazon track pad and she’s ready to surf. I’ll go out here in a few and report back tonight how she goes


Great way to salvage trash boards, hone shaping skills and creativity.  I like the way you added scrap foam.  Endless design possibilities there.

 Well Done.



Very well done and a nice save.