I’ve posted a few updates in various threads on here, and some info about me, and what I’m doing with boards.
I read stuff on here all the time, so in the interests of sharing my journey, so others can learn … I thought I would start a thread on here for all my stuff.
A few of you have probably already seen the FFW Surfboards blog … that’s where I post up the pics and details, so I have a central place for it all, and my own ‘journal’ if you will …
If you’re in Oz, I’m also on Real Surf under the same username, so feel free to say g’day over there too.
I’ve posted a couple of updates to the blog over the weekend … so if you’re interested, have a look here: http://ffwsurfboards.wordpress.com/
There is also a FFW Surfboards “page” on Facebook, to which the blog posts are updated … so if you use Facebook and want to get the updates when they happen, feel free to ‘like’ the FFW Surfboards page, and you’ll then get the blog post updates as they happen. The Facebook page is here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/FFW-Surfboards/487446967942476
I’m always happy to get feedback … good, bad and ugly. It’s all part of the learning process.
Hi wing nut, Zac and I are both on the Northern Beaches in Sydney so if youre within Cooee of Sydney, drop us a line, always happy to talk , share or just give things away.
Fantastic blog btw, so much info and depth of thought, well done…!
Hey Wingnut, glad to have you here. You asked for feedback, I’ll share mine.
You say this is a “thread on here for all my stuff”, but I didn’t find anything but a bunch of links. Blogs are OK, but there are so many out there that I’ve kinda given up on trying to keep track of which are the good ones, and what they say lately. Most allow a comment, but really aren’t set up for the kind of interaction that I enjoy on a forum like this. Honestly, I have several blogs myself, and rarely even go on to my own blogs anymore.
Facebook is generally a no-go for me. I used to belong, but I deleted my account long time ago, and don’t really do the facebook thing anymore.
Maybe its just me, but I’ll read and check out what you post here, but not really interested in chasing down a bunch of links to find the “story”. If you’re gonna start a thread for your story, or all your stuff, why not share some pics and info? Its no harder to type it in here than on blog and fb, or just copy and paste. Then when I click on a thread entitled “backyard boardmaking story”, there will be an actual story. Or just title the thread “my facebook and blog links”, then I can just skip it. Hah hah, I guess that sounds kinda harsh, but its just my honest feedback.
"This is the home of FFW Surfboards … boards designed and made by me, Wingnut2443. I say ‘designed’ because I know I’m not a ‘shaper’ and I respect the people who can take a blank and ‘mow the foam’ to create a functional board. I’ve never had much luck with starting from a chunk of foam, so I’ve embraced technology and decided to use AKU Shaper to “design” the boards I want to make … then by having the file used for the machine cutting of the blank, I have a better than average chance of turning the result into something that resembles a functional surfboard.
Oh, yeah, BTW … I subscribe to an R&D philosophy … that’s R&D as in “rip off and duplicate” … a lot of my ‘research’ and then things I’ve implemented have come from the internet … google is my friend …"
My feedback, since you asked, is that what you are currently doing isn’t exactly inspiring or creative…Learn to shape and glass…I have little respect for those unwilling to put in the time to learn the skills of traditional board building and that includes glassing…
What you are doing would be similar to me designing furniture on a computer, then having someone else do all the cutting and assembly, I sand it a little, then it gets handed off to a paint shop to be finished…Would it be right at that point for me to claim to be the furniture maker…???..
Thanks for your honest and, in my opinion fair comments.
FWIW, I started the blog to make it easier … one central place, so for guys like you who have one point of contact, and for me … I can just post the link and you can quickly get the latest update. and for me, rather than have it on here and on Real Surf, and Facebook, etc. … I started the blog as a central spot for the pics and write up.
I’m not in it for the money, this is just a hobby, and I wanted a record of my journey.
Someone out there may learn from my process, who knows, it’s all a journey …
So, if you’re keen to see pics, etc … all you have to do is click the link when I post an update here. Pretty easy for you, and me.
Thanks for the feedback and like Huck, I think your more than fair …
I’ve made that ‘fair point’ because I’ve read a lot of negative stuff on here, and sometime it seems people take criticism the wrong way. I prefer to see us all on different paths, a different journey, and so, we’ll have different views. That’s cool, as long as we are all fair in how we expresss them, which, as I’ve said I feel both you and Huck have done. So thanks.
FWIW, the first few boards I glassed myself, and the minimal, the nineteen 97 I just finished I glassed. However, due to a skin rash I’ve had to bail on the glassing for a while … but want to get back to it ASAP. The cost differential is about $160 a board, and I’d rather put that into another board …
The computer design, machine cut process is because I know there is absolutely no way I could shape what I want … I’d aim for a 6’4 x 19 x 2 1/2 and end up, by the time I was finished with a sub 6’0 x 18 x wafer thin beast …and with that, your furntiture making analogy is spot on. That’s way I do not call myself a “shaper” … but rather a board ‘designer’.
In time, after I get a few designs out of my head that I want to try, I intend to ‘mow the foam’ … that’s something I can always come back too. But for now, while it’s only costing about $30 a board to get them machine cut, and as I have the usual family and work committments, the time saving and end result easily weigh up for me to stay on the machine cut route.
I’m just sharing my process … my journey. We’re all different, but, thanks for your feedback.
PS - I just click through to your website and blog … mmm, see, people like you are very different to people like me. I have none of the craftsman skills that you obviously have … and I take my hat off to you and all those like you, in fact, I’d say I could be envious even … it’s like the stuff I see speedneedle (Josh Dowling) or Kayu (Currumbin Woodwork) do. True craftsman with the patience and skill to produce a handmade product. I have none of that … never had, and doubt I ever will … it’s a patience thing, and dare I say it, a fine motor skill with my hands. The old saying “measure with a micrometer, mark with chalk and cut with an axe” is a fair summary of my ‘craftsmanship’.
Some advise…Get comfortable with a planer and a high speed rotating disc / grinding tool…Every day grind away, and plane away on something…Anything…Hard and easy…Foam, plywood, old fencing, anything that you can cut…
Learn what tools feel like and what they can or can’t do…Get as familiar with that as you are with a computer…It’s worth the effort…
You’re still asking the good people of swaylocks to leave the internet’s best surfboard forum where topics can be debated and discussed to go and view your amature dongle swinging adventures blog??!!
Just post it on this website, but most people know how to pick a blank up from the APS machine and drop it off at the glassers.
But before you think I’m being an ass, imagine the responce you’d get if you went onto the best wood working forum, anounced that you were a ‘designer’ and asked people to leave the forum and check out your amature designs being made entirely by other people?
Or if you went on a hot rod building forum, anounced you’re a hot rod designer, someone else builds the car, you fill the tires up with air on the way out, ‘check out the car I built’!!
A boat building forum, ‘I’m a boat designer’, I bought the plans and had it made entirely at a boat yard?
When I started, I looked at BoardCAD, Shape 3D and AKU Shaper … for me, AKU Shaper seemed the easiest.
They have great tutorial videos … WATCH THEM … it is the best way to learn. I downloaded them so I could watch them over and over … well worth the time watching to learn.
They’ve just upgraded the software, so you can go onto the new version (3d rendering is smick … and a few of the new features like the rail measure points at 1/2, 1 and 2 inches were handy for my last round of tweaks) … or you can use the old version.
New version will cost $ per month … 3 months free trial so you can get the feel for it.
Old version … no cost, but I believe there is some bug with the latest version of Java? Hasn’t affected me, because I use the new version of the software.
Just google AKU Shaper …
Oh, yeah, they also have some ‘template’ files to get your started … like a basic shorty, fish type board, mal, etc … all very basic but great to get started and learn the software.
Let me know how you go, and if you want any tips, post in here, or shoot me a PM.
I hear when you’re coming from … that’s why I do not call myself a shaper … that would piss off a lot of people, and rightly so for a the reasons you note.
Just to also restate it, I have been glassing them myself, but due to a skin rash have had to bail from that for the time being … with a $160 cost difference, the outsource glassing is costing almost as much as the next whole board if I glass it myself. I’d much prefer to make another whole board!
On the flip side, for the sake of our discussion … how many board makers do you think are out there using CAD programs and machine cutting? Then outsource the glassing? It’s a numbers game for many … and when a machine cut costs $30, compared to the labour cost of ‘mowing the foam’, it add’s up over say 10 boards per week. Many are doing what I’m doing but on a commercial scale because it helps them make money … I do it so I can work toward getting the boards I want by tweaking each design and learning from the feedback processing of riding them, tweaking, riding, tweaking etc …
For those of you who don’t mind opening a link in a new tab or window (so you don’t have to leave Swaylocks), here’s a link to some new pic’s on the FFW Surfboards blog …
Nothing too inspiring, but for those of you starting out and thinking of going the computer design machine cut route, a couple of the pic’s will give you an idea of what you can expect.
Sorry to say the Machine has really screwed things up for the artist/craftsman/designer thats is a true surfboard maker.
Caused/forced a lot of GOOD people to go underground.
Why?
Being a thumb drive shaper, its easy to fool the public. People are making (sorry selling) boards as a hobby/2nd job on the weekend. Sitting at a computer. It gives you a rush selling a board with your name on it.
I’m confident in saying at least fifteen of my old friends are now making boards (by machine to contract glass shop), their now ‘shapers’. And I’m asked advice about design consistently. Some are going real well and because there mates, thats great. But how many orders have I missed out on, their mate used to order boards from me. Hundreds and hundreds of orders! But thats just the way things are now.
Good marketing skills!
Social media.
You say “you’re not a shaper” on here, but, when a customer picks up their new board, are you a shaper then?
Your manners are great, and you give your time to reply. And seem like a nice person.
Try hand plane 3 boards a day, you’ll soon get the shits with surfboard designers selling boards as a hobby. But why? Because, they have forced the prices down so much and potential customers are fewer.
It a common saying among shapers these days “He stole my customer” WTF. It is, after all, the customers choice. But work is scarce and if you’re not great at marketing yourself (like me) its hard!
Please pick up the planer! My Friend, keep Traditional shaping alive!
Peace!
PS Nth NSW. right? Me too. For $100 per hour i’ll teach you how to shape, and you will become a shaper!
I’m not doing this to sell them, but that aside, I tell everyone I use the computer to design and machine to cut, and FWIW, when it’s been glassed by someone else, like the last one, I’m happy to say someone else did it … I’m not into claiming the work of others as my own …
Like a lot of guys like you, I get annoyed, when like you say, someone sits behind a computer and ‘produces’ a board, or boards, but calls themself the ‘shaper’.
This is my “hobby”, and over time I want to get better at all aspects of it … my plan was to start with design, glassing and sanding but with a skin rash issue putting the chemical stuff on hold, I’m now just looking at design … when I have a few of them out of my head, the plan is to try my hand again at ‘mowing the foam’ … then thesre’s the whole Epoxy route and vac bagging … I needed to start somewhere that I could manage … maybe, that’s the wrong plan, wrong path, but, either way, it’s the path I’m on …
I take my hat off to guys like you (heck, making that chunk of foam, the one in your thread, into a board, is a skill I appreciate) and would like to learn that skill. Time is my biggest issue with work and family committments, etc. meaning I have to prioritise my development and journey into this ‘board making’ lifestyle. But, thanks for the offer to teach.
Hey wingnut
Yorky is right. Take him up on his offer. (god If I lived near him I would…)
I have a blog too… But I post pics here for feedback and questions… Not just to see how many people I can get for Google stats.
I understand mate where you are coming from … Im Time poor, 2 kids under 5… Not a good shaper. But you know what … If this is a hobby for you, you will enjoy it more if you do it all and learn from your mistakes… I have kept every board I have made (over 40 for myself) and look back at what I have learnt over time! First 10 were really crap… But when I rode them I was stoked!! And made changes on my mind for the next one! Couldn’t wait to start the next to see if those changes made a difference!
I’m now at the stage that my mates want me to make boards for them… But won’t as it takes too long the way I make boards and still feel I’m not good enough to take sales of people I respect in this industry…
With your skin rash… Everyone who sands fiberglass gets itchy and rashes. I haven’t used fiberglass for 4 years (mainly for the kids health as sanding at home) but found some great materials that isnt itchy and now can sand in boardshorts!!
It’s all about what you get out of it! If you just want people on your blog you are doing great! If you want the satisfaction of building your own creation from start to finish… Hit up Yorky about lessons!
Cheers
