kellsmith
Miki Dora status
Reged: 04/18/11
Posts: 3728
Loc: South Bay
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i always enjoy threads like this so now that i can contribute one of my own, just finished it today… here it is, from the beginning, all at once.
this is the second board ive shaped (first sucked) but the first time ive done any other steps. im a total rookie.
the whole thing was a big learning experience. apart from tons of searches on swaylocks i was pretty much on my own.
started with an old 9'0 becker longboard. 1 stringer, 2 glue lines outboard. piece of crap, yellow and waterlogged and gross. for free from my friend.
stripped the glass, cut off the unusable parts. a ton of foam on the deck was rotted/waterlogged and the stringer was too. i put it on my roof to dry but the next day it started to rain and i wasn't home to take it off the roof… idiot. so i put it in the rafters to dry out for a few weeks.
here it is templated, template taken off a 70s lis.
i had to take a lot of foam off the deck due to the poor condition of the blank. used a shitty power planer for this. didn't have calipers and was worried about ending up too thin… outline cut and bottom roughed out. went for belly - flat - vee.
working on deck and rails. did rail bands with sanding block +120 grit. not the easiest but it worked. my "shaping stands" are pretty janky
shape is done, fins marked, ready for lam.
lam sched: 4 + 4 x 4, all s cloth, and RR epoxy resin w/ orange tint. strong.
my crappy shaping stands turned "glassing stands". used the boxes so the board would get up off the wide arms of the sawhorses. tarp on the floor. ha ha.
bottom lammed. it was pretty stressful, first time ever lamming a board. was listening to tool (album: salival) and it stressed me out even more. not relaxing! laps were tough, i was bumbling my way thru it. luckily the epoxy has a long working time and just slowly gets more and more gooey. could not have done this without epoxy! or maybe uv cure poly…
shitty cutlap.
top lammed. this time i listened to van morrisons astral weeks and it went a lot better  ..
made my ultra trendy label in a free program called inkscape.
made the mistake of using brown tracing paper for my logo lams. no rice paper. didn't soak much resin and it cured kinda weird under the cloth. oh well..
here are my fin panels. 22 layers of 7.5 oz volan and another smaller panel of 18 layers. i tried to inlay paper (words) into the layup but it didn't work. dumb mistake, used vellum paper, completely de lammed while i was cutting the fins out. the paper was only 2 layers down though so i didn't lose too much thickness.
here i am cleaning up the inside curve. i was proud of my little set up to hit the inside curve. dremel clamped to act like a spindle sander. its the little things….
more improvisation, fin foiling station. was pretty itchy after this
foiled with 4.5 inch angle grinder. like butta. mains are rocket fish template tweaked slightly. canards are based off bonzer runners
fins tacked on with hot glue. that is my cant template, 5 and 22 degrees (more bonzer influence). thanks to twinzerfan for some help with the placement numbers 
about to glass em on! nervous at this point cuz i have no idea what im doing. had another try at inlaying my text into the fins. used rice paper this time. worked great.
tried to trim the excess later that night. i decided to abandon that because i felt like i was delamming the job i just did and it wasn't cured enough. it was late and i went to bed. bad idea.
next day, everything was rock hard. what a bitch! didn't realize it would be hard to find the true fin template with all that excess cloth. it was hard.
hours of sanding later, i was satisfied. stoked at this point cuz it looks like a real board.
read lots of horror stories about fisheyes in epoxy hotcoats. paranoid so i prepped really well. sanded 120 immediately prior to hotcoat. went well, only 1 weird spot which i filled. did the same on the top and it was ready for sanding round 1.
wayne oak was nice enough to offer one of his rooms (as well as one of his milwaukee sanders) for me to sand in. as soon as i hit the hotcoat for the first time i realized how bumpy my lam and hotcoat was. ha ha again.
sanded round 1.
around this time, i made myself some real stands. super solid, 4x4 and 2x4 set into two 60lb buckets of cement. stained the wood , stapled on some padding and i like em a lot. they don't budge at all plus the padding is a certain texture that the board doesn't slide on em either.
lots of weave showing, hotcoat 2 necessary. did some pinlines first. the one on the deck came out lame. did it "cheater" style with 1/8" masking tape to space it. too thick. ditched the crutch on the bottom and got a little more creative. came out way cooler. i was more careless with this hotcoat and got some fisheyes but filled them and all is well.
sanding round 2 at waynes again. lots and lots of sanding…. sanding around and on the fins was pretty damn tough.
and then its done! came out pretty good for my first build, at least i think so. im stoked! stringer says 5'6 20.5 2.5 buts its not exact…
note the pinline difference...
the fins are lyrics from a rage against the machine song, "know your enemy"
they say "compromise conformity assimilation submission greed ignorance hypocrisy brutality the elite all of which are american dreams"
overall, im most proud of laying up/cutting/foiling/glassing the volan fins and the inlaid text
everything came out pretty far from perfect, to be certain.
its waxed up n ready to go! riding it in the morning, hopefully first impression ride report to follow. if it goes fast and banks turns i will be stoked  hopefully the first of many
 
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The glide shall not be truncated 
- roy
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Havoc
Tom Curren status
Reged: 09/10/07
Posts: 10000
Loc: The OC Life
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epic build 
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"motions of rippage is initated by the hind leg"-Northern_Shores
"Lemme know. I got endson gas"-20W
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littlewave
Gerry Lopez status
Reged: 11/15/09
Posts: 1224
Loc: Orange County
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Ivan_
Michael Peterson status
Reged: 12/16/10
Posts: 1831
Loc: Cabo, Mexico
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keep recycling! new life to an old board... and what a board! beautiful work!
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Cabo!
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FishFace
Michael Peterson status
Reged: 08/07/09
Posts: 2907
Loc: Del Mar, CA
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ghostshaper
Billy Hamilton status
Reged: 01/22/05
Posts: 1600
Loc: 1134
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Pinlines and foiling your own fins on #1?
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They've done studies, you know. 60% of the time, it works every time.
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KevinPhan
Legend (inyourownmind)
Reged: 09/05/10
Posts: 184
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Dude...
Shaping my first next week and if it comes out half as good as yours I'll be STOKED.
From the old rotting blank to the fins to stand to hotcoat.
On extremely SICK build.
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b123
Nep status
Reged: 05/17/09
Posts: 918
Loc: Santa Barbara
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Awesome, awesome post!
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Gallery
Nep status
Reged: 06/08/10
Posts: 629
Loc: Monmouth Co., NJ
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That is gonna be fun! Awesome build thread! Love the fins!
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Gallery Blog
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ifallalot
Duke status
Reged: 12/17/08
Posts: 18043
Loc: Carlsbad, CA
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fark YEAH
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The only two things in life that make it worth livin is guitars tuned good and firm feelin women
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WarrenC
Michael Peterson status
Reged: 11/30/08
Posts: 2761
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5 stars and then some... epic thread
man, the board turned out beautiful imo
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What fin sets work well with this board.
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averagejoe
Michael Peterson status
Reged: 05/28/08
Posts: 3374
Loc: santa cruz
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that's pretty cool. good job man
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6' 165 lbs 40 yrs old and i hate thrusters
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GDaddy
Phil Edwards status
Reged: 01/16/06
Posts: 7171
Loc: Carlsbad
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This project has it all. Salvaged blank shaped on sawhorse stands, resin tint in epoxy, handmade fins. I can't wait to see what your next board is like.
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prjwebb
Nep status
Reged: 02/13/11
Posts: 907
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Such a good job, love those fins!
Good work!
I was tempted to try something similar at home with an old board but I don't think there's enough foam on a 6'2" 18.25" 2.25" HPSB to do much with 
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retodd
Tom Curren status
Reged: 02/22/09
Posts: 11195
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Quote:
This project has it all. Salvaged blank shaped on sawhorse stands, resin tint in epoxy, handmade fins. I can't wait to see what your next board is like.
safe to say this is the BEST #1 i have ever seen !
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hackeysaky
Miki Dora status
Reged: 12/19/02
Posts: 3826
Loc: NJ
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First off, awesome job and great narrative thread.
Secondly, coincidentally and totally NSR, I was listening to that album while working in the lab yesterday and was planning on posting those exact lyrics as a nebulous facebook post last night, but wound up posting about how I discovered my youngest daughter likes Metallica while driving in the car with her and she got upset that I was not able to play "For Whom the Bell Tolls" a second time (we were listening to the radio).
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Sorry I'm late... there was trouble at the lab with the running and the exploding and the crying...
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oakfoils
Legend (inyourownmind)
Reged: 10/01/04
Posts: 426
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Kelly did a great job for his first complete shape and construction. Kelly has been by the shop many times and we’ve had long chats about design theory and shapes. I was surprised as he would mention things about shapes that most shapers didn’t even notice, I thought to myself, hmm… hes’ has really good eyes, he has the potential to shape.
Well I was stoked and enthused when he brought his board by to sand, as most guys that talk about starting to shape are totally reliant on me for the help or, never follow through. Myself being completely self taught was impressed with Kelly’s initiative to shape his board totally on his own. The beauty of this process was his ability to improvise, and use what was at hand. This brought up some of my memories of my early days in my parents garage. Garage days revisited!!
It’s been a very, very, long time since a beginner has brought in a board virtually all self made and has sparked some inspiration in myself for the future. Hopefully, this will be just the beginning and many more will follow.
American ingenuity still lives! Independence, Self reliance, improvisation, and drive still goes a long ways! Rock on Kelly!
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Oak Foils Customs
Keep Kustom Kulture Alive!
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LESider
Michael Peterson status
Reged: 11/25/03
Posts: 3534
Loc: LowerEastSide NYC
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Amazing post, beautiful board! can't even imagine the feeling of riding that after all the work you put in.
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yes, I ride a pool toy.
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meegoreng
Grom
Reged: 03/12/10
Posts: 131
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Saw this on Wayne's blog yesterday. Good god, that's a great job man!
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gracepark
Billy Hamilton status
Reged: 09/23/07
Posts: 1421
Loc: no man's land
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sooo good sooo stocked
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beachside
Legend (inyourownmind)
Reged: 08/02/11
Posts: 406
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Well done sir, an inspiration to us all.
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beer of the month
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lawless
Legend (inyourownmind)
Reged: 04/07/09
Posts: 225
Loc: ILM, NC
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VERY impressive, especially for #1!
Loving the lyrics on the fins, unique approach, haven't seen that before. The foil on the fins looks really good to.
Can't wait to hear the ride report.
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centralcoastlurker
Gerry Lopez status
Reged: 12/11/03
Posts: 1106
Loc: 35.1800° N, 120.7308° W
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Fark Yeah!!!! 
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In the abundance of water, the fool is thirsty...Rat Race!
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kellsmith
Miki Dora status
Reged: 04/18/11
Posts: 3728
Loc: South Bay
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thanks all! 
hackey, good taste in music 
prj, I think u could make a pretty cool dual finned paipo simmons tube shooter out of that hbsb...
and wayne, thanks encouraging me and stoking me out. you are the root of my inspiration for this.
ride report!: today at south oc's favorite a frame. knew it would be small and clean an perfect test track for my board. and it was.
first wave, kinda weird, feeling it out
second wave, ok it's not a dog!!
after that the board started feeling great. rocker is so flat it's crazy fast. didn't even come close to hitting the top speed. ate up pockety walled sections like nothin. super loose too and I was just getting all these banking wrap/cutbacks an it felt great ! Perfect board for those small slopey corners. i also caught more waves than anyone else, by far  . I couldn't be more stoked that it works how I hoped it would.
good times! and thanks again to the erbb for the stoke
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The glide shall not be truncated
- roy
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tenover
Phil Edwards status
Reged: 01/17/03
Posts: 7099
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Nice! It's so nice to see a build thread in here again instead of all the comparisons of this model vs. that model. Awesome job!
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"It’s always better to feel good about what you did than what you haven’t done...." - Terry Martin
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avt__
Gerry Lopez status
Reged: 07/15/11
Posts: 987
Loc: Santa Barbara, CA
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You did a resin tint on epoxy for your first time glassing a board?? Wow.
Did you have any foam left to put in some tail rocker? Or is it really flat, Mini Simmons style?
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drewtang
Grom
Reged: 04/15/05
Posts: 91
Loc: Saint Auggie FL
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safe to say this is the BEST #1 i have ever seen !
Second that. I'm having a hard time picking my favorite pic!! Gotta say the flipped over domino table/ foil station is on another level of ghetto fabulous!!!!!!! Love it, tight work.
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sofradis
Nep status
Reged: 08/18/08
Posts: 554
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i've got nothing to add
just
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kellsmith
Miki Dora status
Reged: 04/18/11
Posts: 3728
Loc: South Bay
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Quote:
Gotta say the flipped over domino table/ foil station is on another level of ghetto fabulous!!!!!!! Love it, tight work.
I was cracking myself up with that..
Avt, I probably could've put a bit more tail rocker in. its like ironing board flat, I like it tho. Didn't know epoxy tints had such a stigma about them, it didn't seem to complicate things
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The glide shall not be truncated
- roy
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kellsmith
Miki Dora status
Reged: 04/18/11
Posts: 3728
Loc: South Bay
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Quote:
just finished pinlining the bottom. more pix + some wordage to come when its hotcoated + sanded [again]. trying to be patient and not just wax it up right now. im having fun 
(5'1)
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The glide shall not be truncated
- roy
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silentbutdeadly
Tom Curren status
Reged: 09/26/05
Posts: 11646
Loc: Tower 13
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Holy crap what a thread! I started reading the text on the fins and recognized right away
Beautiful board. Something I could never do. Thread of the year!
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Thou shall not commit adulthood
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laidback
Miki Dora status
Reged: 02/09/07
Posts: 4198
Loc: NOC
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Great job, kelley! !!
Makes me want to try for #2
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"You can observe a lot just by watching."
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ShackdOffMyMelon
Michael Peterson status
Reged: 06/25/08
Posts: 3341
Loc: Barrel
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wow good post
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airboy808
Nep status
Reged: 05/22/09
Posts: 922
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Good Job Kelly!
Puts my number 1 to shame. I am to much in a rush when it comes to glassing and sending.
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diverse
Legend (inyourownmind)
Reged: 04/20/06
Posts: 438
Loc: Gold Crowded coast Australia
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bravo... awesome, good stuff, I'm impressed..!
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See What the Difference is at http://diversesurf.com.au
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Oceanslide
Miki Dora status
Reged: 03/04/08
Posts: 5193
Loc: Oceanside, CA
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Don't know how I missed this until now. EPIC post!!!!!
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"Surfing reminds us of how good life is."
Oceansliding
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backyard_hack
Legend (inyourownmind)
Reged: 03/11/08
Posts: 487
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Needs more mic stands and tomato cans...
I love that dremel setup. Nice stands too. Of course the board is awesome, that goes without saying
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saltyNuts
Gerry Lopez status
Reged: 04/05/11
Posts: 1187
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Quote:
Don't know how I missed this until now. EPIC post!!!!!
+1 very impressive work! I really like that fish ALOT! The custom fins came out rad.
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kellsmith
Miki Dora status
Reged: 04/18/11
Posts: 3728
Loc: South Bay
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 thanks !
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The glide shall not be truncated
- roy
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Q_Surf
Tom Curren status
Reged: 05/05/03
Posts: 14415
Loc: world's largest oregon
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i do not want those 10 minutes of my life back.
so damned impressive the way you built this board and this thread. i envy your patience and perserverance.
although it kind of sets a tall bar for anyone considering doing the same. 
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Stock the erbb
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PacificNW
Grom
Reged: 04/28/10
Posts: 45
Loc: Canada
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Extremely Impressive!!!! Does anyone have any idea to how difficult it would be to do this starting with an old soft top? I have about 10 lying around....
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meegoreng
Grom
Reged: 03/12/10
Posts: 131
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This.
Quote:
Quote:
[image]http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/ff478/kellsmith91/photo1-2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket[/image]
just finished pinlining the bottom. more pix + some wordage to come when its hotcoated + sanded [again]. trying to be patient and not just wax it up right now. im having fun
(5'1)
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laidback
Miki Dora status
Reged: 02/09/07
Posts: 4198
Loc: NOC
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Quote:
Does anyone have any idea to how difficult it would be to do this starting with an old soft top?
interesting idea. those things are eps aren't they?
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"You can observe a lot just by watching."
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twinzerfan
Gerry Lopez status
Reged: 10/26/06
Posts: 1201
Loc: Santa Cruz
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dang! don't know how I missed this thread... way to go mate. really impressed, and stoked out on the board. Love seeing the homegrown process, brings back some memories...
and that fin set up just looks killer! well done, well done!
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rob
RightCoastKook!
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kellsmith
Miki Dora status
Reged: 04/18/11
Posts: 3728
Loc: South Bay
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Quote:
Quote:
Does anyone have any idea to how difficult it would be to do this starting with an old soft top?
interesting idea. those things are eps aren't they?
yeah that is good... i was ignoring soft tops but youre right, they are eps, i think? as long as u lam with epoxy, should be fine... wait how do you strip a soft top?
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The glide shall not be truncated
- roy
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patrolman
Michael Peterson status
Reged: 07/28/05
Posts: 1808
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Great work! When one of your first boards comes out that nice, I think you've got the gift- a good eye and good hands. Keep making them. I especially like the fins... really original idea.
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ReefTeef
Gerry Lopez status
Reged: 04/28/11
Posts: 1169
Loc: north county
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WHOA Kellsmith! Thanks for posting this, I enjoyed it very much. A++. I want to do this myself and I can not wait for the day that I finally get to shape my own stick. Very rad!
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"Bull chit walks and money talks"
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rowjimmytour
Michael Peterson status
Reged: 02/06/09
Posts: 2450
Loc: GOLETATHEGOODLAND
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Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Does anyone have any idea to how difficult it would be to do this starting with an old soft top?
interesting idea. those things are eps aren't they?
yeah that is good... i was ignoring soft tops but youre right, they are eps, i think? as long as u lam with epoxy, should be fine... wait how do you strip a soft top?
Its closed cell foam like a boogie board and not sure how hard it would be to shape but swaylock's has some info I am thinking in my head about mutating a 9' single fin into a 4'10"-5' simmons but not sure yet 
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Gotta find a woman be good to me
Won't hide my liquor try to serve me tea
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toddo
Legend (inyourownmind)
Reged: 07/24/10
Posts: 200
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very very impressive for your number 1. so clean.
can't wait to see how number 2 pans out.
as for the soft top question. yes you can do it, as long as you use epoxy. to strip off the top layer just leave it in the sun for a couple of hours and peel it off when it starts to delam
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