Any Sways here from the Great Northwest? Wa State, Oregon. Southern Washington Northern Oregon Southern Oregon? Hello? It might be cold, but we still surf up here. Just watch out for the Jellyfish.
Hi,
I just joined this forum and I am living in the Great Seattle area. I go surfing every week end at Westport. I started to shape my first board and look forward to shape more. I am looking for people who can show me how to shape better and share the same interest as well...
You are living in Everett, right?
I might go to Westport on Saturday. We could meet there if you want.
-Nico
i’ll be in downtown Seattle this weekend for a conference
not in the mood for your cold water
but if you waterlogged duckshoes types want to get a drink or bite to eat this Friday or Sat PM me.
To Mike Ewaliko and Kalani I’ll try and drop by Precision Shapes if its still around to say hello if I can get some wheels
Bernie - Don’t forget to give a shout if you ever make it down to Portland. That drive I can do… Ha!
Believe it or not, I live in Ellensburg and shape (yes, I know what you’re thinking). I recently finished a new shaping room. Check it out.
Nice work on the room…
Do you have any pics of the board you are making?
If you ever go to the coast to surf, pm me so we could either caravan or meet there…
Were you at the Clean Water Classic 2 weeks ago? I entered the contest and ended 3rd on Men’s longboard… It was a great experience for a first contest!
-Nico
I’m making a variety of stuff right now. I have a wakesurfer (for behind the boat) ready to hot coat. I have to finish the deck lamination on a 6’6" summer shortboard. I currently have an 11’6" SUP in the shaping bay. I have four summer boards people have ordered that I haven’t even thought about yet.
All this, and no time to surf. You can check out my stuff on facebook, here. http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/First-Fruits-Surfboards/114139175270928?ref=ts
I just checked your pics… How long have you been shaping for?
Could we meet one day so I can show you the longboard I shaped (9’0). I did not glass it yet as this is my first board and I do not want to spend $250 on resin if the shape sucks (although it looks nice to me)… I was going to shape and glass a 6’0 single fin before glassing the longboard…
I would love your opinion on the longboard…
-Nico
Nico,
I’m pretty new to shaping and glassing myself. Getting advice from me not get you very far!
You mentioned you didn’t want to spend $250 on resin. That sounds really high. I’d be surprised if you even use a half gallon of resin. A gallon of resin and with enough catalyst shouldn’t cost any more than $50. You might be able to do both the 9’0" and the 6’0" with a gallon of resin.
Throw some pictures of your 9’0" on here. Let’s have a look at it!
Chad
I was looking at http://www.fiberglasssupply.com/ and was going to pick up the kit (Resin + cloth + finbox…):
A17-0903 | 8'9" to 9'3" Longboard Surfboard Kit, includes 1 9'4"B US Blanks Blank, 10 yards of 6oz glass, 1- 10.5" fin box, 1- 9" black Dorsal longboard fin, 1.5 gallons of resin, logo paper, 1 leash cup, catalyst, and surface agent. | $320 |
I already have the blank shaped so that would remove most of the price… They put 1.5Gal of resin to do the board (Top + Bottom + Hotcoat), do you think this is too much?
Do you get your resin and cloth at a cheaper price than FiberGlass Supply? Where do you get all your material?
Thanks
-Nico
PS: I will take a few pics of my longboard in a moment and post them here…
Here are a few pics from Board #1… The ding in the foam on top was made before I even started to shape it (I was carrying it down the stairs and hit it against one stair…)…
Nico,
I purchase a lot of supplies from Fiberglass Supply. It’s nice having a blank distributor in Washington so that we don’t have to pay shipping (although the gas to get there is a little much). I buy all my cloth, fin boxes, and miscellaneous parts from them. I’m going to be getting into epoxy on the next couple boards, and I’m buying that elsewhere. I have purchased a lot of stuff in bulk because I know I have other boards coming, so I’m not sure if the kits they are selling have too much resin or not. I guess it’s better to be safe than sorry. If you’re planning on doing more boards, get enough of everything to do it all as the prices go down the more you buy.
The board looks good. The true test will always be getting it done and surfing it. I know from experience that taking pictures of a shape doesn’t do it justice. What I see looks good, though, especially for your first board.
I glassed the logo on my first board today, and I’ll be hot coating tomorrow. So I haven’t even completed one whole board yet. I played around with some paint on the foam on that one too. I figured I would try a little of everything on the first one so I’m not experimenting with too much on the next one.
For me, the most important thing has been reading about, and watching youtube videos about each step in the process over and over. And right before each step, I read/watch again just to make sure. Even doing so, I know now what I’ll do different on the next one. Also, if you’re going to be shaping more boards, I would highly suggest setting up your shaping area with lateral lighting like the pros do. Those lights are definitely the best tool in my shaping room.
Funny note - I was shaping the SUP today. The blank came in at 5-1/8" thick, and the finished board needs to be 4-3/8". It looks like it snowed in my shaping room. I need a vacuum for my planer in a big way!
Yes I plan on making more boards…
I did not create a room yet as I do not own the house and we plan on moving out in August…
I read a bunch of stuff, watched a bunch of videos, bought the shaping 101 (really helpful video), bought a shaping book as well (dont remember the title)…
I found an interesting way to make templates of boards I like… I search for a picture on the net and retrace the board using Adobe Illustrator and some measurements (width and length especially)… Once I have a nice trace of it, I go to Kinko and have the board printed on a single piece of paper (cost me $15.00 to print the 9’0)… Then cut it and place it on the foam and retrace it on the foam…
If you want I can send you a few files (pdf format) of the few boards I have in mind…
I agree that the true test is to surf it… And I cant wait to go test it once I finish it (I kind of shaped it as a long skinny pintail board with some weight on the nose… Maybe it will be good for bigger waves)…
If you have to purchase things from Fiberglass, we could combine stuff… I live on your way there -> Lake Sammamish.
Thanks for the advice
-Nico
Your method for template creation is a lot like mine. I traced some boards I like using AutoCAD, then put all the templates in one drawing and emailed the drawing to the waterjet company here in town. I supplied them with a 4x10, 24 gauge piece of sheet metal. I got ten templates out of one piece of sheet metal. Pretty cool.
How much did you pay to have them cut?
I have all my templates (3 of them: 1fish, 1longboard, 1SingleFin: Joel Tudor Good Karma) as vector images… They might be able to use it to cut as well…
The 4x10 piece of sheet metal was about $55, and the cost to cut all ten templates was about $150. It came out to about $20 per template. It would have been cheaper if I had drawn the templates differently. The waterjet didn’t like the type of line I used, so it took a little longer. And since the waterjet is an hourly rate, I got dinged for the extra time. If you can find some scrap sheet metal from a HVAC company or shipyard or something, take it to a waterjet company and ask them. The guy here in Ellensburg is $200/hour to cut with a waterjet. The nice thing is that there is almost nothing more you have to do after the waterjet is done. A tiny bit of sanding is all that is needed to knock the edge down a little so you don’t slice your fingers all the way off - just partly off.
It sounds like a good idea…
I would never have bet there was a person shaping surfboards in Ellensburg.
Your shaping bay is rad.
Im in walla walla, wa. I try to get to cape kiwanda whenever possible. Also cannon beach if its going off. i have a love for kiwanda though, since i met gerry out there one day. I am shaping my very first board in the garage right now. its a 5’ 5’’ simmons’ish small wave board. just about to start laminating.
Hey Badhoudini,
where are you getting your eps? I’ve seen you around sways sourcing different foams. It looks like you have a handle on foam in Western Washington. I’m in Seattle by the way.
Editing to say I may have answered my own question. Are you still sourcing from Insulfoam in Kent or did you find something better?