I have now been bit by the shaping bug. Where to begin?

[clinto]

You guys on here have inspired me to try my hand at shaping. I have at least 4 different boards i want for myself and it seems that i should try shaping them myself. I have skills with woodworking, ceramics, sculptures and pretty much anything 3 dimensional that i try. I have looked online and found full kits with everything for shaping including a hitachi plane as well as the whole setup for glassing. I am about to regain control of my garage once my house addition is finished and all of the gym equip goes inside. I feel like starting with a 9'6" longboard or a 7'6" funshape is where i should start prior to spending the bucks and time on an SUP. I also have a few older boards sitting out back that have various degrees of dings and delaminations that could be re purposed and stripped for a first try. Thoughts or suggestions are greatly appreciated.

[supuk]

Start small,start with a fresh new clean blank and start researching all the steps there is mountains of info on here and swaylocks if you do a bit off goggleing. Best of luck.

[jrandy]

-Read through Greenlight's 'how to build a surfboard' website
-Read through surfersteve.com 'how to build a surfboard' website (useful counterpoints)
-Get with local shapers and watch
-Buy a complete DIY kit for the 7'6" including blank and glass and resin. Also consider a slinky hose (if using planer), shaper's square, and other bits of kit you do not have already
-Make stands, figure out side lights
- A used/cheap planer with good blades is enough for now, save the modded Hitachi for later. Hook it up to the slinky hose and shop vac to contain dust.
-Use proper safety gear for each task
-Enjoy Swaylocks but don't let it overwhelm you. Learn how to search it and search before asking.

Be safe, have fun. -J

[surfcowboy]

I agree, that 7'6" is a great start. The planer is the hardest and most intimidating part for me. Know that I just sinned my blank and then used 36 grit sanding belts on 1x4 wood to take the rough shape down.

Be patient, be willing to mess up and waste materials lol and you'll have a blast. The best part is that no matter how bad it is everyone will be stoked and throw you praise. it's incredibly rewarding. Now I almost have to have something out in the garage to work on.

Also feel free to hit us all up here. On here we've collectively made every mistake you can make (and also quite a few great boards.)

[clinto]

Great info so far. Thank you all. Swaylocks is very detailed and awesome. Greenlight is great too. I found FoamEZ website for tool kits and would be able to get everything but a power planer which i may do without for the first board unless you guys think that would be too much work. Anyone shaped a board without a power planer? I did find a "WEN" planer on amazon for $38 so that may be worth a look. I have a surf source warehouse just up the street here so the blank and all glassing necessities can be bought there without shipping. I am going to start this soon and will let you see my progress once i begin. Please keep any other suggestions coming.

[surfcowboy]

I did my haterade only using the planer to take off the crust. A 36 grit sanding block would totally get you done. The shaping is easy, sanding the resin is the crazy hard stuff.

[lucabrasi]

.......Buy a complete DIY kit for the 7'6" including blank and glass and resin.....

All good stuff.........
where would someone find one for 12'6"-14'+??

[clinto]

where would someone find one for 12'6"-14'+??

I was wondering the same. I found one place that has 12' touring blanks but the shipping is more than the blank for me.

[surfcowboy]

There's a reason no "kit" comes in 12' or so. It's simply too much for the average first timer to take on. You could try but if you're thinking of saving money, know that a bad lam attempt could cost you $300 in fabric and resin on a board of that size.

Better to build a small board for yourself, or a deserving friend, and let that be your test case. The 12' will become way easier as a 2nd board though laying glass that big still intimidates me after 3 glass jobs.

Everyone says it but all of us have to find out for ourselves, so I'll pass it on now that I'm a few boards in. This isn't a cost saver unless you are making several boards. Expect your first board to cost you a ton of nights and weekends and at least $800 in parts and tools for something 7' -9' long, if you shop carefully and own some stuff already.

Just making a set of shaping stands is a long afternoon.

You might be better at this than all of us, but I struggled, with a buddy helping, to get glass on a 7'5" SUP with slow kick epoxy for my first one. Now I just finished a 9' longboard by myself with poly resin and little to no drama.

Make it easy, do a fun board for your first 7'6"-8' and it'll be a ball, you'll finish it and you can hang it on the wall or give it away, or ride it behind a boat if you're not near the ocean.

Also, I built 2 hand planes out of Home Depot foam before I did a big board. That cost me $100 in materials and really helped me learn a lot but in the end, I should have just made my buddy a short board and learned that way.

In composites, bigger isn't just more, it's harder due to the time constraints of resin kick times.

[clinto]

Im with you surfcowboy. I am def going to start with a single fin funshape. I am a beach rat so it will get used for sure. I was just inquiring about the larger blanks for later down the road. I plan on doing multiple boards in the future with my funshape first, then a noserider longboard. After im good with all of the that, i want to get into SUP building. I dont like overdoing it on my first project for sure. I want to enjoy the process and not dread it.

[lucabrasi]

There's a reason no "kit" comes in 12' or so. It's simply too much for the average first timer to take on. You could try but if you're thinking of saving money, know that a bad lam attempt could cost you $300 in fabric and resin on a board of that size.

Great points. Makes sense and good advice but.....I not interested in it to save money really. Just a project to do and I would imagine the market for such a thing is maybe about as big as.......less than half the people that would see this thread? Did a Kaholo kit and I would like to do a foam board sometime.

[surfcowboy]

Oh if you guys wanna know where to get a race board blank you can either buy a chunk of foam or if you're in SoCal, there are a ton of places to cut you one. Not sure about other regions but on the AkuShaper and Shape3D sites they list people with shaping machines.

I love the Marko Foam people myself.

Personally, my hand shaping days are mostly over. I can't beat the machine and like finishing and glassing more myself.

[supuk]

Yes I would totally agree learning on a 12 is crazy I wouldn't attempt it even as a second or third board. Glassing it will be your main problem. No matter how much research you do you will make mistakes, just getting all the glass down before it start to kick is hard enough but when you f!!k something and you will you will have at best hours of work sorting the problems and worse a huge mess you may as well throw in the trash. Less than 6' has been more than enough for the people I have taught to deal with trust me I have done a lot of boards most 12+ and they still give me a headake time to time. Maybe do like the cowboy did and start with a few hand planes then when you can get a perfect one of them go to a short board for a few and slowly work your way up.

[jrandy]

If one is using PU blanks, look into Polyester resin with UV catalyst for longer working times.

If/when one is using EPS blocks, look into hot wire cutting to save time and mess.

Lots can be done with sanding blocks as Surfcowboy mentioned. The places that rent floor sanders have coarse paper with 'sticky' (PSA) on the back.