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I want to get my dad a surfboard building kit for fathers day

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SnorkBoard
Posts: 311 - Karma: 821
He grew up in california, woke up early to catch a few waves before school everyday, but relocated to raise a family. Hes over worked and seems a little lost with life. He likes skiing, but I can tell it doesn't do the same thing for him that I think surfing used to.

Anyways I'm hoping to get him a kit that he'll start building in the garage, hopefully it will remind him of what life all about and encourage him to take sometime off of work and go do what he loves, instead of chasing that money dragon.

Hes sort of an old school guy, and likes things that look "classic" so I'm thinking wood over foam but I know nothing about about surfing at all. So I need some help.
May 11 2013 5:05PM
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SnorkBoard
Posts: 311 - Karma: 821
I'm also not made of money, but I'm hoping a weeks pay (about $300) will pay for it.
May 11 2013 5:09PM
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NinetyFour
Posts: 8650 - Karma: 13,409
NS Member DrZoidberg has built up a few surfboards. Get a hold of him. Also lots of board shaping forums out there that would be good places to join and start looking for more info. Good luck with it man, sounds like a cool gift/project.
May 11 2013 5:09PM
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will_powder
Posts: 3194 - Karma: 5,445
Paging Mr. Imlach....
May 11 2013 5:20PM
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NinetyFour
Posts: 8650 - Karma: 13,409
He builds surfboards to?
May 11 2013 5:51PM
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90053
Posts: 2565 - Karma: 3,728
he builds everything
May 11 2013 5:54PM
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DrZoidberg
Posts: 5675 - Karma: 4,268
http://greenlightsurfsupply.com/longboard_wood_surfboard_kits.aspx


Might be a good place to get glass and resin if you're on the west coast

Pretty sure grain surfboards stuff is out of your price range, but these guys know how to make a wooden board.

I believe the ones from greenlight need glass, but even then you might hit under 300 with all the resin and glass and misc items you need. I've built 2 boards, but foam, and you can do it for less than 300 if you have some tools and you make due with what you have. Call them up/email them, they're cool dudes and will help you out. First time I went into their store (I live close) I asked for some stuff and they told me I don't need all of it and saved me some cash. They were right too.

Does he surf, and if so, what does he ride currently? Killer gift idea though, it's great throwing something you made into the ocean and watching it float rather than do it's best impersonation of the titanic.

Consider epoxy too, polyester resin is kinda nasty. Smells bad, definitely no good for you, toxic, all that. Obviously you don't drink epoxy but it's a bit nicer than poly.


May 12 2013 12:00AM
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DrZoidberg
Posts: 5675 - Karma: 4,268
http://greenlightsurfsupply.com/wood-surfboard-faq.aspx

Of course I got curious. So you might need access to a table saw and bandsaw to do the greenlight ones. They ship the frame, but you'd need to rip the planks for the deck on a table saw and make them nice and thin with a bandsaw. Which makes sense, cause shipping that much wood would cost as much as the whole thing. So you'd have to factor wood into the cost. But it might be really cheap or free, if you find free wood.

But if you can figure that part out, wood boards are sick.
May 12 2013 12:17AM
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SnorkBoard
Posts: 311 - Karma: 821
He has what I think is a longboard stashed at family members house. Its not a short board but besides that I couldn't really tell you what it is, its pretty big.


Thanks for looking into it for me, I haven't checked that site out yet but I will right now.
May 12 2013 11:33AM
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SnorkBoard
Posts: 311 - Karma: 821
Just found this, looks like a full kit with wood, the price is a little..scary though.
http://www.grainsurfboards.com/boards/longboards/root/
May 12 2013 11:42AM
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E-Nix
Posts: 382 - Karma: 187
If you could afford Grain Surfboards kit then I'd do it. They are based out of my town and boy if you ever want to see a beautiful wooden then these are your guys.They are a great company in general really helpful and just a good collective of people.
May 12 2013 11:53AM
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E-Nix
Posts: 382 - Karma: 187
If you could afford Grain Surfboards kit then I'd do it. They are based out of my town and boy if you ever want to see a beautiful wooden then these are your guys.They are a great company in general really helpful and just a good collective of people.
May 12 2013 11:53AM
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DrZoidberg
Posts: 5675 - Karma: 4,268
Yeah that's what I was saying. Those are like top of the top wood boards. But if you can't do the thing with the table sawing and band sawing and general woodworking, maybe look into foam? Shaping a board is always a good time to try a new shape.

Which seems to have everything other than tools. And really, if you have a hand saw and anything abrasive you can shape it. Last one I made I taped sandpaper to a 2x4 to adjust the rocker and thickness. Basically taping sandpaper to various shapes of wood will give you a million tools. A surform is also good, and cheap.

Also look at the retro fish kits. The shape is retro (o rly) and they're generally good for longboarders that want a shorter board, cause they have a ton of volume and are fast. Also it's much cheaper and smaller. If he was really into surfing back in the day and you show him a retro fish template or board he might be like, oh I remember those things. I have no idea though, I'm not that old.

Look around in the kits section on foamez. Tons of options.
May 12 2013 8:11PM
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SnorkBoard
Posts: 311 - Karma: 821
The thing about the foamez is I'm expecting this board to be a wall hanger in his office or just the shop for the majority of the year, and foam isn't nearly as good looking as some high quality wood.


Though I can afford the Foamez, and with it being the first board built so if it gets screwed up somehow it wont matter as much.


I was also wondering if they make wooden waterski kits, I'll have to search around but thats sort of his summer hobby now.

But the whole point of this was sort of to get him back into surfing
May 14 2013 2:04PM
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