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theabortionator
April, 2025

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I make surfboards, and threads

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DrZoidberg
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So I make things, and one of the things I enjoy making are surfboards. No I don't sell, I don't have intention of selling, this isn't an ad. Some people like these threads, so to those people, well, here you go. And it's getting warm, my hill is closing, the ocean is still cold as fuck though.

Number one, a 5'7"x18.5"x 2.75, thickness is questionable in terms of measurement precision. I was afraid to mess up the rocker. The idea was a fast, buoyant twin fin for summer mush with a flat tail rocker and normal nose rocker. I downsized from a 6'4" to this board, it was great, first wave was a .5 second barrel to a massive beating on an unusually large day for summer. Which was 100% worth it. Slid down the whole face (Twin fins, right?), stomped the tail to slow down, then got eaten by the foam. Pictures, which are out of order...

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Note the ghetto shaping rack and super thick board, pre rail shaping.

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Tons of tail, mid section and nose volume, for ultimate mush riding capability.

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Ghetto light setup to check rail foils.

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Glassed on fins.

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Fins, which got foiled more before glassing them on.

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I'm a chem major, it's urethane foam monomer, this is a polyurethane foam blank. US blanks red density, the 5'10" fish blank, for anybody who wants to know.

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Went overboard with the wax, I was so excited the night before riding it. Brought an extra board to the beach just incase it snapped or sank, but it didn't.

It rode well, for being a really thick, flat, mildly asymmetric shortboard. Turns quick, but the flatter tail rocker seems to create turbulence, it's approaching mini simmons tail rocker status. Plus the craftmanship could have been better. A bit more tail rocker and less tail volume could help.
12 years ago
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DrZoidberg
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Yeah it's a fun thing to do, plus you can make exactly what you're after, or close enough to that anyway for your first few. It's cool to throw it in the water and watch it not explode or sink or something. I got barreled on the first wave I rode on the first board I shaped, only for like half a second until I got swallowed up but still...

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Anyway, 3x 4oz s cloth on top. Should be fairly dent resistant. I wrapped all the glass around the rails to create some sort of parabolic frame to keep the blank strong. Rails have 18oz of glass on them now. If some noob drops in on me, his board will like be destroyed while mine laughs it off.
11 years ago
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DrZoidberg
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So anyway... Waves are coming, this thing is done and ready for testing.

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Curvier rocker than any other board I've done. Thinly foiled tail, kept some more volume through the middle and nose. The rocker is still not potato chip status, but it's curvy.

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Fluoro orange paint cause I will never have a plain white board.

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Cafe racer inspired paint job. Pretty normal, but slightly shorter and wider hpsb outline. Nice blocky tail cause wide tails are fun.

Final specs are 5'5"x19"x2.25". It's a bit taller than I am.
11 years ago
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DrZoidberg
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Tested it today.
Click for larger image

It was cold, water was like 43 or something, stiff wind blowing out to sea. Mini barrels in the morning, then it kind of got weird. Big, but you'd get cleaned up if you fell. Board seems to ride well. I was more concentrated on staying on the fine line between in the barrel, out of the barrel and too deep and getting blown up. I think I need a proper thruster setup too, I wasn't hooking early enough sometimes and I'd get destroyed because of that. But it's quick to respond and turn, like it should be. There's enough nose rocker to not kill me on these steep drops too. And it floats, didn't pull a titanic, so that's cool.

I head of two people hurting their backs because they got pitched and hit the bottom or something. Like, bad enough to have ambulances called.
11 years ago
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elinde
Posts: 1482 - Karma: 3,162
Yeah surfline said it was gonna be big and clean today in NY. I chose to ski due to my lack of a hood, but I should probably pick one up and a winter suit while I'm at it. What wetsuit did you end up getting? Would I freeze in my 4/3.
11 years ago
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DrZoidberg
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5/4/3 hooded body glove suit. Seemed to be the only small in new jersey, and I could have gone xs if they had it. This has a bit of room and the legs are a bit long. But I stayed in for two hours today, the wind was killing me and everybody else. I was big though, biggest I've ever surfed. I ate shit a few times trying to squeeze into a barrel, or just taking off even though I knew I was gonna get destroyed due to being excited. Much more of a beating than I'm used to.

Plus side is, I have a better chance of fitting into tight barrels than big guy .That board actually floats decently well. I still don't sink real deep, but it sinks more than that second teal one with the stripes. I left a decent amount of volume in the nose. It actually isn't a pitiful paddler.
11 years ago
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WaffleMaster
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sick man, it's a goal of mine to learn to surf and make boards someday. What state are you from?
11 years ago
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Microcosm
Posts: 4765 - Karma: 153
damn this is sick, it's too bad I never surf winter because all I'm seeing are nice waves all the time. sounds like we're living pretty close, don't think I've randomly bumped into someone with any of the boards in this thread though.. but I usually don't pay that much attention I guess.

how many people around here would you say shape their own boards? the process looks like it's worth it and you seem to enjoy shaping. my plan has been to save a bit of money and hopefully approach a local shaper to make something well suited to the east coast and my style, or lack of ha.
11 years ago
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DrZoidberg
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I'm from jersey.

And yeah, winter is a hell of a lot better. Riding those tight barrels is hard though. I got absolutely squashed a few times. The fin setup wasn't helping but, I was also noobing it.

I think a lot of people at least shape one board in their life time. Not everybody who's ever surfed, but, there's a lot of people doing it. It's really not that hard to make something that floats. Making a good board is harder, not that mine are amazing, but, I don't have any issues with them. Do your reading and keep it simple if you're shaping one. Lot's of people do one, then have a new respect for their shaper and a better understanding of boards.

And definitely hit up a local shaper. No reason to buy a 600$ channel islands when your local guy can give you exactly what you want, which will work in our conditions, and probably do it for less money. Plus that dude probably loves shaping boards. Talking to a shaper is good, because he should be able to turn your wants/needs into foam and glass.

Go to swaylocks.com, there's a ton of info there and a ton of weird old people who don't know how to use the internet, but can shape great boards.
11 years ago
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theabortionator
Posts: 52501 - Karma: 173,015
I've fixed mine but never built one. Don't even get to surf much anymore though. Hopefully going to get out a bit in the spring.
11 years ago
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gnarnia.
Posts: 1346 - Karma: 55
it was absolutely mental in MA last weekend. just got out this morning, small but fun, maybe head high on set waves.
11 years ago
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DrZoidberg
Posts: 5676 - Karma: 4,299
Hi NS.

Decided to give myself a late graduation gift, in the form of another surfboard. While it is getting to be winter, it's still not huge and barreling all the time. I've wanted a longboard for a while and noseriding is super cool, and the biggest board I own is 6'4". Time for something bigger.



8'x20.5x3"

Pintail for sensitivity. Wide point back, hip shape for turning off the tail, blended into a straight, gently tapering section for stability and control from the nose. Planning for a very light single concave into flat mid section into a flat but kicked tail rocker, to aid in nose riding but not push the board towards any one speciality. Hard rails all over.



US Blanks 8'4" SP in normal density. It's too tall to stand up straight in my room. Those are numbers 2 and 3 next to it. Normal density will have a nice weight to it, and be quite difficult to damage with the right glass job.



Arts and crafts. Template made of paper and cardboard from a box for a ceiling fan for... Sustainability?



More cutting work.


Finished template. It'll be aligned by a point on the nose and tail on the blank, to assure symmetry, and hopefully tacked in place during tracing. I don't think the tacks are long enough, but we'll see.

In other news, the 3rd board looks awesome before an early morning surf session.
11 years ago
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DrZoidberg
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Did some work today. Let's get to the pictures.



I had the outline placed closer to the tail than seemed optimal, the blue line, so I pushed it up, the black one.



A little blurry, but, one side cut out.



Some cutting and surform work later, I got some nice clean edges.





Today was my first time with a power planer. It was... educational. I think I did decently for my first try. The blank still exists, so, yeah... I'm happy.



Planer lines, which are sloppy, but, whatever.



Winter comes early, in the form of polyurethane dust. It does snow in new jersey. That's the scrap foam I tried the planer on.



The best part about using a block plane is the curly wood that comes off. Dad boner.



After cleaning up the planer work to change the volume distribution a bit and overall thickness, cleaning up the outline and planer lines, we get this. Hip shape that seems to be common to noseriders, with a pintail for sensitivity off the tail. Straighter section to the nose for stability while riding towards the front. Nose is slightly asym, but, I'll fix it. It'll drive me crazy when it's not perfect, but I don't wanna over shape it and symmetry tends to be a useless pursuit. Water doesn't care if it's 1/32" asym, but your eye hates it.



Single concave blended into a flat mid section. Planning on putting some vee out the tail, so cause a bit of drag and suction and to help turn this thing.



Another concave shot. Concave under the nose generates lift while noseriding, which is good. You'd sink otherwise. This is my first time doing a concave like this. It's not too bad for my first time, I think.

So yeah, it's coming along. I'm waiting to see if greenlight, where I get my stuff, has a black friday sale. Big boards need lots of resin and glass, which adds up. Still need to plan and do the rails and vee out the back. Probably gonna take some thickness from the top as well, as well as actually measure the total thickness along the stringer.
11 years ago
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NinetyFour
Posts: 8650 - Karma: 13,410
Looking beautiful man. Can't wait to see how it finishes up! And without taking away from the thread too much, here's one of my favorite videos from the summer that is just surfboard shaping and riding perfection:

https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/774474/Teatime-With-Rabbits
11 years ago
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DrZoidberg
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Lovelace boards are hot right now.

Anyway, I did some work.



Testing some rail band dimensions. Rails are cut as flat surfaces, then broken down to approximate a round surface, then screened (with a sandng screen) to actually make them round.



First rail bands cut.



Second rail band cut.



A little squiggly, but, it all works out.



Creating the 1/8" tucked under bottom edge, to be rounded later.



That tuck under fades out to a ahrd, 90 degree edge about 14" up from the tail. Hard edges release water, hold and are faster than really round ones.



Here's the rail profile in the mid section. It's like an 80/20 profile. Hard edge still for speed and release. Round edges suck water and cause drag. That helps turn and keep power through turns, but, I'm trying to get a sensitive, fast board. So I ran the hard edge from nose to tail, where it goes to the 90 degree edge.



Rail profile at the nose, before cleaning it up a bit. It's still hard. I want to noseride this, so I figured it'd be important to have these hard edges to shed water and skim across the top, rather than something rounder that would tend to create suction and drag.



This is the nose. I do square noses. It's my thing, not exclusively, of course. Plenty of people do them It does look like the tail of a square tail noserider though.



Vee out the back. Vee makes it turn easier, and it's easier to work rail to rail. Imagine if your skis had convex bases. They'd roll easily. It's called vee cause the hull is v shaped, unsurprisingly. Vee also creates drag, and suction by virtue of increasing tail rocker, which is good on a noserider. If the tail goes down, the nose goes up.



Gotta finalize some things, then glass. Thinking a cranberry red pigmented bottom, messily lapped onto a plain white top, with similar numbering to the 03 one, just 04.
11 years ago
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DrZoidberg
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And apparently this didn't make the cut the first time...

11 years ago
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DrZoidberg
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Cleaned it up and made it pretty. Glassing eventually.

All I know is all the waves shall be mine. I compete with longboarders on my 6'4"x22" single fin cause I'm so light. Not that I like to compete for waves, but, sometimes you need to.
11 years ago
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Rafiki
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not a big fan of the color schemes but you make beautifully shaped boards. not sure if you mentioned it but you better run a nice big single on that longboard...
11 years ago
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DrZoidberg
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Rafikinot a big fan of the color schemes but you make beautifully shaped boards. not sure if you mentioned it but you better run a nice big single on that longboard...


Ha thanks. I don't know about big, but, single for sure. I've got a 7.5" greenough 4a that I run in my 6'4" single fin. If that's too small I guess I'll need to buy something bigger. But I'm light footed and light, so I bet it'll be fine.

As to color; I'll never make an all white board, but, totally understandable of course.


Before glassing and color, of course. And this is the tail that's close to the camera. The nose does look like the tail of a square tail longboard. I'm waiting to see how many people ask me why my board is backwards. Hoping the high area nose will improve nose riding.
11 years ago
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Rafiki
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DrZoidbergHa thanks. I don't know about big, but, single for sure. I've got a 7.5" greenough 4a that I run in my 6'4" single fin. If that's too small I guess I'll need to buy something bigger. But I'm light footed and light, so I bet it'll be fine.

As to color; I'll never make an all white board, but, totally understandable of course.


i rode an 8' firewire tri fin for the summer and it was definitely less enjoyable than single's i've rode. fucking bomb board though.

i'm really a big fan of simplicity and retro styles. i've always been a huge fan of the aesthetics of lightning bolt boards (not to mention they're absolutely legendary and I would kill for an og Gerry Lopez board from the 70's) along with vintage Hobie boards and the stuff Midget Smith put out

mad respect for shaping your own boards though. it's something i really want to get into but there isn't much surfing in arizona
11 years ago
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DrZoidberg
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Today is the day. I've got my glassing stuff. Going for the dark red/white swirl and hoping it doesn't just go pink on me.


My lams printed on rice paper. I'll give it my usual numbering and little polyurethane monomer by hand, as I normally do.


Trying to make the right shade of dark red.

I'm gonna wear my go pro on my head, turn it on, and not turn it off till I'm done. So I'll post that later hopefully. It's good to document my swirling technique, or lack thereof, to see how I can improve on later attempts, including the top of this board.
10 years ago
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DrZoidberg
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Real happy about how this turned out so far.




The work light is making it look more orange and yellow than it is. They cream yellow colors are white in real life, so the whole thing isn't are orange looking.



You won't see the extra glass over the lams when I'm done with it.



Filmed the entire thing. I'll edit that later. It's 60 degrees and if all goes well it'll be hotcoated on both sides by the end of the day.
10 years ago
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DrZoidberg
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3 posts in a row in my own thread. Killing it. Lam'd the top, and it came out so good. Better than the bottom with much more white. I figured out the technique. And I made more white resin this time too, but, the way to do it is to not drag the pink/red over the white at all. Seems obvious now, but, everything is clear in hindsight.







I'm sort of upset this is the side you put wax on. It came out so good.

And yes, it's peppermint flavored.
10 years ago
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ModMommy
Posts: 10870 - Karma: 58,084
I know NOTHING about surfboards, but that is one pretty board dude.
10 years ago
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a_pla5tic_bag
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Rafikii rode an 8' firewire tri fin for the summer and it was definitely less enjoyable than single's i've rode. fucking bomb board though.


Cause an 8' board really has no business being a thruster.

I'll try and surf behind zoidberg to get some follow cam action if the board is ready to by next surf session. Should be lolz to try and get follow cam footy.
10 years ago
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DrZoidberg
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Freehanded the fin box slot and installed it. I don't have a shot of the hole, but the resin set quickly with the exotherm factor from having it all in one spot so it's in there for good.

The under the glass leash plug install worked nicely too, except it rotated a bit. Nothing I can do, but it will bother me forever. The slot where the little rope goes is a rectangle, and it's not parallel with the stringer anymore. And it's not like at a 45 degree angle, so it just looks off. But it'll work.
10 years ago
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DrZoidberg
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[video]
10 years ago
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DrZoidberg
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https://vimeo.com/113571050

So apparently embed isn't going to work. There's the link.

If you want to watch the process set to Belle and Sebastian, well, here you go. If you want to watch and you don't like Belle and Sebastian, substitute your own music. There's no sound in the video so you're not missing anything.

Excuse my editing skills. I made no attempt to edit to the music or anything. I tried to cut it so you get the process, but it's abbreviated so you don't have to sit through twenty minutes of me tucking the laps.
10 years ago
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NinetyFour
Posts: 8650 - Karma: 13,410
Looks sick man! That resin colouring looks like some trippy wooden face grain. As far as board layup goes what weight of glass do you use and how smooth of finish do you get from it?
10 years ago
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DrZoidberg
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The deck is 2 layers of 6oz, the bottom is just one layer. The finish gets very smooth once sanding is done. It dries all glossy and not well, though, since I'm a noob at hotcoats still. I usually sand then use some sort of spray finish, since they go on nice.
10 years ago
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DrZoidberg
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I'd call this one done. Testing thursday, I hope. I'm gonna miss this great part of this swell on wednesday unfortunately. Today and tomorrow are supposed to be nuts, but, probably hardly surfable. On to pictures.






It's not asym, I promise. It's just the resin.


The round pin end is the tail. The nose is square.

Final stats:
8'x21.5"x3in
Epoxy on polyurethane
2x 6oz top, 6oz bottom
Low, hard rails all over
Single to flat to vee out the tail
Single fin
Fun.

Testing thursday. I plan to wear a go pro.
10 years ago
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DrZoidberg
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Ski season seems to get shorter every year on this coast. Surf season is all the time.

So the first day I got "test" the board, I actually didn't get a single wave. It ended up being like 40mph offshore winds. We were out for about twenty minutes and my brother's board literally flew out of the water and hit him and the face. We thought his nose was broke. It's not, but there was so much blood and I missed it on camera.


That's his board. Mine had blood on it too somehow.

I finally got to test it today. The waves were actually decently sized too, perfect for shortboards. I decided to lug this thing into, got over my fear of dropping in on big boards and had a shit ton of fun. I had to stop because my feet were frozen. Investing in better boots seems like a good plan. This was my first time riding a board this big. Otherwise I ride a 5'5", 5'4" and a 6'4". This is 8'. The go pro angle makes things look a lot smaller and I should have aimed it more forward.

[video]
10 years ago
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DrZoidberg
Posts: 5676 - Karma: 4,299
DrZoidberg[video]


Wow videom embed fail...

Here's the link if I suck at embeds twice in a row http://vimeo.com/116921191

[video]
10 years ago
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DockEllis
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Hell yeah man, that's awesome.
10 years ago
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NinetyFour
Posts: 8650 - Karma: 13,410
Man that is wicked. Looks like a good time. The board though, the more I look at it the more it looks like a giant whale tongue, aha which is awesome.

Bummer about the ski season. I always get an unnerving feel when winter seems to come up short. Looking around it seems like winter sucks everywhere to.
10 years ago
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Steezy_IN_KC
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You're a great surfboard maker, and a solid thread maker too... I know nothing about surfing but really enjoyed this thread! Keep up the good work.
10 years ago
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Lucas
Posts: 4882 - Karma: 1,597
That is awesome dude! I just started surfing this past summer and would love to try my hand at making a board.
10 years ago
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DrZoidberg
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I have a job now and greenlight had a thanksgiving sale... You can see where this is going. What better way to celebrate having less time to surf than with a new surfboard, right? I will apologize for being (somewhat) verbose in advance.



The outline is similar to the second board as this is an evolution, if you will. While #2 isn't bad, it could be better. The new outline has a more neutral wide point to create more projection and less drag. The curvature near the ends has increased to add more curve to the overall outline. Volume distribution (shown in pink) is now adjusted to make the overall board thinner, with emphasis on making the tail very thin and sensitive. Volume is now under the chest (when paddling) where it needs to be.

This board will share the same 5'4"x20.5" dimensions as the other one, with a 17" tail (at 1' up) and 15" and more or less 7/8" at the front.



The biggest change will be the bottom contours. #2 follows the flat and fast adage, which while is successful, lacks in certain areas. In my experience, such a board is fast in trim but lacks the get up and go a concave board has. I also feel that concave boards generate speed better during pumping. Furthermore, I've really been trying to analyze how this board works as I'm surfing it. A lot of water goes across it, from rail to rail.

As such, I'm going to put in a short rolled vee entry (like a boat hull) into a long double concave of about 1/8" depth. There's various theories on why this works, from generating high pressure and lift to channeling water from nose to tail and into the fins. The concave will fade out behind the fins, where a vee will take over to help this very wide board get on rail, which is the same as on edge for skis. Imagine how easy you'd go on edge if your bases were convex.

And for the few of you who get stoked on materials... 6oz glass, vector net (which is carbon fiber in a diamond pattern in a poly fill), some futures boxes, purple pigment and a leash plug.



What I'm hoping for with the carbon stuff is to put it between the glass on the deck. That should increase the stiffness of the skin and hopefully help distribute force from my feet and other impacts. It may or may not lead to a decrease in dents on the deck. By having it between the glass, I'm hoping it'll sort of act with both layers. But I have to do some reading around to see where it's best applied.


5'9" 2lbs/cubic foot eps blank


I decided to be daring and switch it up to an x style support. Couldn't be bothered to rotate them on the computer.

Going for a similar look to the red, pink and white longboard but with purple and white. You'll never see me on a plain board. It will get the same cafe racer style numbering, but 05 obviously.
9 years ago
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DrZoidberg
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These are printed on rice paper. Once the resin goes on the white part will go clear. It's my fifth board, hence the 05.


The hardest part about today was making the printer work. We've been to the moon (years ago, no less) but printers still suck. This is the full size template that will be glued to cardboard then cut out. The cardboard was free, which is why I'm not dropping money on masonite or something. I took care of all my printing needs today since the printer functioning is a rarity.

I'll see what I feel like doing after work tomorrow. Should be a bump of swell in the middle of the week. Unfortunately there's no chance this'll be ready. It'd be perfect. Temps go from 50s to 60s through this week so I don't plan on skiing any time soon (Read: won't be possible to ski soon). Should be good glassing weather for December when it's 60 out.
9 years ago
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roddy116
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how much did this all cost? I've mad a few skateboards and a couple pairs of skis but I've always wanted to make a surfboard.
9 years ago
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DrZoidberg
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roddy116how much did this all cost? I've mad a few skateboards and a couple pairs of skis but I've always wanted to make a surfboard.


It depends on the board size. I got the blank, 3 fin boxes, purple pigment, the lams, the glass and the vector net for like 100 bucks, on sale though. I have resin and tools, which takes a decent amount of the cost off. A longboard blank is more than a small one and you'll need more glass, resin and all that for bigger boards. So cost scales with length and size. And if you have to have a blank shipped, which I don't, that'll cost you a decent amount.
9 years ago
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dyer
Posts: 619 - Karma: 964
the first one looks super thick like a longboard
9 years ago
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DrZoidberg
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dyerthe first one looks super thick like a longboard


That's (mainly) because I was a noob, but also because it was sort of an experiment to aply a very thick foil to an otherwise pretty skinny board. It's not actually a horrible board, although the design certainly could be involved.

Anyway, this is a pretty boring update. I did them template. The inside edge is unfinished because it's aligned by the two end points, and of course there's a straight line between two points.





I guess tomorrow I'll cut the outline and do some other stuff. Maybe I'll adjust the thickness and get to the vee panels and rolled vee up front. There's potentially a bit of a wave tomorrow afternoon so I'll keep an eye on that too.
9 years ago
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DrZoidberg
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The coming swell didn't pan out and the WSL didn't run the pipe pro, so I figured it was time to mow some foam.


Put the outline on the blank and took a look at the fin placement. It turns out the distance from the stringer on board #2 is slightly too much for this, so I'll be taking them in a bit when I do all that stuff. Sides 11" up at 3 degrees toe, which is measured from a line parallel to the stringer. The rear is 3" up. Those numbers match board #2.


Cutting this stuff makes that tiny squeaky sound you get when you rub two pickles together.


Dat lens flare tho.


The nose has a hull or rolled vee style entry, whichever you'll call it. This should push water around it when paddling and maybe keep the nose out of the water in nose down situations.


The tail has a rather lengthy panel style vee of about 1/4". The original rocker is very low, so it's still not all that curvy. This will help the thing turn, since it's quite wide. I'm hoping it'll give me a bit more control of speed in better waves too. You can see that the tail is quite thin now.


Just some more ways to visualize the vee.



I pretty much banged out all the convex features of the board, plus I brought it down to 2 1/4" thick. The tail is now very thin. I might take some foam out of the nose tomorrow. It's still got a lot of meat to it. Otherwise I have to cut the double concaves in, then do the rails and all that. The fin boxes go in after that and I'm hoping it'll be nice and warm this weekend so I can glass it.
9 years ago
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DrZoidberg
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Cut up and smoothed out a decently deep double concave, which will function as the motor so to speak.


Chopped up the rails with the planer. Rails are cut as "rail bands" which are just flat surfaces. You increase the number of flat surfaces from one to two to three, approximating the curve (and more if you're inclined) then screen them with a sanding screen to get them round.


This is what a double concave is, for those who don't know. This is my first time cutting one and it's not all that bad looking. You can see that the rails meet the concave at a pretty defined angle and edge near the side of the image. That'll promote water release. Either it's in the concave or being released off the edge to stop causing drag.


This is what the rails look like after screening. They look quite thick, but the board is 2.25" thick so they're no too thick. I still might take a bit of thickness out of them, or off the deck. I might just leave. Unsurprisingly, I'm not sure yet and I need to look it over. Don't want to lose too much more volume, as it is a small wave device.


This is what it looks like in its current state. It's nearly finished. I might adjust the nose rocker since the transition from hull to concave is kind of odd looking at the moment. Other than that it just needs a bit of finish sanding, fin boxes and the hole for the lease plug, all of which are pre glass. Glassing should occur this weekend since it'll be oddly warm out.

Funny enough, I missed some fun looking waves today to bang out that shape before work. I got up, shaped, showered, ate then went to work. In retrospect I should have surfed this morning, and banged out this shape early tomorrow and saturday.
9 years ago
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SammyDubz
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Forever wishing I had a talent and passion for something like this.
9 years ago
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DrZoidberg
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Checking the fin cant angle. Rather than being normal to the surface of the board, if the board were flat, fins lean a bit. It increases maneuverability. It's a bit more difficult to get it right with complex bottom contours like I have now.


Got all three boxes in.

I put them in with resin and I'm waiting for them to set. Of course I'm sitting here worrying that the resin won't harden, even though it probably will. I'm gonna put a bit of clear resin over the boxes during glassing so their color shows through the purple and white. After they're set I can glass the bottom, and maybe the top tonight as well.
9 years ago
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Tinga
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I like watching things be built. Acting like I understand. Threads.
9 years ago
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DrZoidberg
Posts: 5676 - Karma: 4,299

This is my fifth board, hence the 05.


Now that the boxes are set, they get an extra patch of 6oz glass to keep them in place. The slit cut out is to prevent the glass from tenting, which is when it gets tight over the raised fin box and therefore doesn't sit flush on either side.


Rolling out the 6oz glass for the bottom. One layer of 6oz is good for durability and it's still not too heavy.


Much crosslinking later... It's pretty much exactly what I wanted and I'm super stoked. It looks better in person, since this image is all noisy and whatever. It's more contrasty in person, at least compared to this screen.


It's not sparkly, that's just from the flash. the fin boxes didn't show through as much as I hoped they would, but whatever. I tried. I have to see what it's like when it's all done.

Otherwise that went well. I wore my go pro, so I'll cut up that footage eventually and montage it like last time. It's a nice dry lam, as indicated by the zipper sound my squeege makes when I drag it across the surface. I might do the top later, depending on how quickly this hardens up. That'd leave the hotcoat for tomorrow, then i'd give it some time to fully harden before sanding.
9 years ago
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steezysteeze
Posts: 1739 - Karma: 1,012
So I've gotten a work term at a box factory and I'll have access to a Kongsberg cutting table and I figured I'd try my hand at cardboard core surfboards. Others have done it and has had some pretty decent results:

https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/800574/Cardboard-Surfboard-Ernest--39-s-Cardboard-Chaos

I don't plan on using the honeycomb construction they did but rather something that id be able to do purely on the cutting table, like this (below)

What is that software you're using though? There are files for this sort of thing already available but I want to come up with the shape myself.
9 years ago
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DrZoidberg
Posts: 5676 - Karma: 4,299
steezysteezeWhat is that software you're using though? There are files for this sort of thing already available but I want to come up with the shape myself.


Software is called boardcad. You can export to .stl files and other stuff. There's also akushaper and I think one or two more.

Anyway... If you ever want a reason to kill yourself, try cutting aramid fibers with dull regular scissors.

Shit's impervious.


I had scraps so I figured I'd go for the extra tail patches.


I like to make these to last, so even my leash plug gets a little bit of glass in its hole. This is a pre glass install on the plug. I like that better than post glass.


I did make it, but... It's pretty damn sexy with the vector net. It's between two layers of 6oz glass. I'm hoping that'll do something. Cool looking board for sure, though.


Those who are up on the composite engineering whatever will realize that the vector net is cut straight across the board, rather than in some sort of curved or angled cut, and that's generally not cool as far as this goes. I don't think it'll be an issue. It's like this because, as I said, this stuff is impervious to scissors. I don't have kevlar shears, or sharp scissors, and I neglected to sharpen them with a file. Bad choice. Wasn't gonna struggle for two more cuts.

I guess I'll get to the fill coats tomorrow. World summit on climate or otherwise, it was 67 degrees here today and it'll be the same tomorrow. Thanks Obama.
9 years ago
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