Kneeboard Surfing USA Community Forum

As a non-professional shaper/glasser, have you built yer own kneeboard? If so ...

• Why didja do it?
• How'd ya learn to shape/glass?
• What materials and tools didja use?
• Was the resulting kneeboard worth the efforts and dollars?

Hey, it's flat today and I'm bored ... you know how that goes ...

Rob wrote:As a non-professional shaper/glasser, have you built yer own kneeboard? If so ...

• Why didja do it?
• How'd ya learn to shape/glass?
• What materials and tools didja use?
• Was the resulting kneeboard worth the efforts and dollars?

Hey, it's flat today and I'm bored ... you know how that goes ...

I've built a dozen boards; 2 kneeboards, 1 sailboard, 9 surfboards. I enjoy the process since I am an experienced glasser (father built fiberglass sailboats, learned glassing from him) and that part of board building intimidates most people. Shaping was and is the challenge. Haven't built anything in a few years. Just don't have the time.
Used Clark blanks and a few old boards, Planer, sanding blocks, power pad sander, polisher.
The results were always fun if not ideal. Material cost was minimal.
First kneeboard I built in the 70's was designed fast for making it acrossed the "slot" between the point at Steamer Lane and middle peak on big days. Hard, down rails on a round pin tail and slight vee. Very fast but should have softened the forward rail more since it had a habit of catching on chop. Still have it but its so heavy compared to todays boards.

I have only shaped a handfull of boards. The first time I did it, it was to see if I could do it. It came out ok. The glassing part came out bad !!!
But I rode it anyway. The other boards came out better because I took my time. I did the other boards because I wanted something different then everyone else. I have shaped some VERY different boards. I have gotten some strange looks over the yrs and still do. I liked every board I shaped and rode them until either I broke it or came up with a new idea.
I can`t wait `til I get my latest board back !!! Which I am told now, sometime next week.

Personal wave-riding craft built:
-------------------------------------

Surfboards:
2 (reshaped the bottom on the first one twice)

Kneeboards:
~ 15 plus:
1 coshaped with Carl Ekstrom
1 coshaped with Rusty Prisendorfer
1 coshaped with Steve Lis

Surfski:
1

Paipo board:
1

Hydrofoil paipo boards:
7

Weird boards:
1 (Omniboard)

Why?
------
Curious/experiment, educational experience,
(thought it would be) cheap(er)

How learn?
------------
Shaping - Trial and error (plus watching fwd bowl shaped on noses of 3 boards by Ekstrom, Prisendorfer, and Lis, as listed above)

Glassing - Trial and error, plus guidance from Carl Ekstrom

Materials?
-----------
Plywood
Clark foam blanks and sheets
EPS blocks
PVC foam (Airex, Divinycell)
"Pour your own" 2-part foam (don't remember mfg'r)
Std polyester resin (1.5% elongation)
Dion DRA-602 polyester resin (10% elongation)
West Systems epoxy
Aircraft epoxy (forgot brand--30 yrs ago)
Various color tints (primarily red)
Various pigments (primarily white and black)
Std bidirectional e-glass cloth (volan, silane; various wts)
Some crow's foot weave bidirectional e-glass
90/10 unidirectional e-glass (volan, 8 oz)
60/40 semi-unidirectional e-glass (volan)
Glass rope
Glass yarn
Glass mat
Bidirectional polypropylene cloth
Kevlar cloth
Graphite yarn
Microspheres
Microballoons
Chopped glass
PVA parting agent
Johnson's paste floor wax
Acetone
Water
Rice paper
IGUS composite bearings
Al (6061-T6) rod, tube, sheet
Cu tubing
Some small marine fittings
Tons of tape
Various woods (for tooling)
Masonite (templates, shaping maching guides)

Tools
------
Docken spray gun (+ compressor -- spraying release agent and/or resin)
Router and various bits (homebuilt shaping machine)
Saber saw
Handsaw
Hacksaw
Cut-off saw
Wood chisels
Stanley knives (and tons of blades)
Floor and hand drills (+ drill bits and reamers)
Surforms (various types + tons of blades)
Reams of sandpaper (wet and dry)
Drawscreen
Scrap polyurethane foam
9" power buffer (+ buffing compounds)
Plastic and laytex gloves
Dust/organic respirators
Hot wire system (home built)
Resin rollers (various sizes)
Brushes (cheap and quality)
Rubber squeegees
Tongue depressors
Paper buckets, waxed and unwaxed cups
Many tin cans
Computer, software, laser printer (logos)
Drafting pens and india ink
X-acto knife (+ blades)
Pair of saw horses
Pencils
Sharpies
Tape measures (various)
Square (carpenter's)
Vernier
Level (carpenter's)
Adj. level (machinist's)

Worth the cost (direct, time, effort)?
-----------------------------------------
Some boards were, some were not, education was

i know its heavy stuff, but i do use a dab of acetone now and then - seems to be just what i need - anything really wrong with being a very lite user ?

I make my own KB's because it would get prohibitively expensive to keep me in boards because they last about a year before they're stressed cracked, water logged, missing a few fins, pressure dinged , etc.

I learned to make a board by just doing it, then I bought the Master Glasser DVD from Damascus Production, and then I learned how to do it right.

I use all power tools to shape my boards. SawsAll for the outline, planer for rough shaping, belt sander to shape the hollowed out deck contour, inline sander to flatten and shape the bottom. Then 4" grinder the fair in fins, random orbital for the rest of the sanding the hot coat. I bring out the die grinder for the delicate finish work. After I had made a few boards and got over the aesthetics and cosmetics of a surfboard, I'm at a point where what's important for me is not looks but function. My boards are utilitarian. If the Soviets made surfboards, they'd look like my boards, Comrade!

Here's a pic of an asymetric single fin Carbon Fiber bottom that is made to the same spec. as the other board I recenly posted.





later, Kevin

Way to go, Kevin. Its good to see KBers out there pushing the limits...
boldly going where other Kbers haven't gone before. There is a lot of satisfaction in making your own ride.

kevin wrote:I make my own KB's because it would get prohibitively expensive to keep me in boards because they last about a year before they're stressed cracked, water logged, missing a few fins, pressure dinged , etc. ... <snip!>

Good stuff, Kevin, I like yer approach. IMO, the bottom line is that it doesn't take a rocket scientist, nor expensive tooling, to make a decent kneeboard that works well and might last a season. This is no way to dis the shapers like Bud, Bruce, David, Ron, Dean, John, Neil, Slats, et al - these guys are artists that live and breathe the kneeboarding medium and their craft - both process and product - reflects their shaping mastery.

Kevin,
living in the great north. shaping your own rides. right on!
who sais kneeboarding's dead.

Right on to Rob for your comments and Kevin for your unique shaping methods and thought process that got you where you are today. Kevin take the next step and ask the rest of the shapers and designers how they build theirs. We are out there to help and inspire. I find your work very creative. Jon

Hey, Jon - You remember the "First Rule of Shaping"?

Find an unused chicken coop.