One of the first things you are gonna need to start making your own boards is a decent surfboard shaping stand. I started off trying to use a couple of standard saw horses, big mistake. You’ll quickly learn that a proper shaping stand is crucial to making your boards. The main criteria are:
- Stability – make sure it has enough weight in it, so it won’t wobble
- Accessibility – can you sit your board on it while you’re planing the top, but also put the board on it’s side and shape the rails?
- Flexibility – will you use the stand for glassing as well as shaping? Can it accommodate a shortboard and a longboard?
- Height – save your back, not too low and not too high.
You don’t need anything fancy. The quick and dirty method is to use some 4×2 timber shaped into a little “U” shape, wrapped in carpet so it doesn’t dent your fresh foam, put onto longer poles, then stuck into a bucket of cement. One for each end. This creates a solid stand, that isn’t joined, so you can push them apart to accommodate different length boards.
Ideas & Templates
Shaping stand videos
Tutorials
Here’s a good step by step tutorial for making your own shaping stand from standard hardware:
Too lazy?
Can’t be bothered making your own stand? Don’t have time? There are a few places that offer pre-built surfboard shaping stands for purchase:
What’s next?
Now you’ve got your shaping stands sorted, you need to work out what shape board you’re going to make, and for that you’ll need a template.
Attending a surfboard shaping course or workshop is the quickest way to learn the basics. Hands-on and led by experienced shapers, you’re gonna end up with a board that works, plus the skills to go home and have a crack at doing it yourself.
What kind of surfboard are you building? Thruster, funboard, mal, mini-simmons? Once you’ve worked this out, you’ll need a template or an outline. You can either create your own (not recommended for beginners) or find a template that someone else has already created.