Continuing Education: Blanks and Planer

This will be a fun summer! I just bought my very first set of surfboard blanks, which I hope to turn into finished boards in the next months. I hope it'll be a lot less work than my insulation-foam-fish project... These blanks are all from Surfblanks America, from left to right: 6'8 shortboard blank, 7'8 shortboard/gun blank, and 6'8 fish blank. I hope to turn these into a thick and wide shortboard for smaller days, a solid gun for big Ocean Beach, and... the fish blank will be used for something experimental. Maybe a hull. I also want to experiment with color this time, I can't wait!!!

The blank distributor was a real friendly guy. He showed me his shop, including his new shaping room and computerized shaping machine. He strongly encouraged me to buy a planer, to save myself a lot of work with the shaping. I had always thought I would need to fork out $500+ for a refurbished Clark Planer, but after a bit of research on Swaylocks.com, I found that cheaper alternatives can work well. Also there are simple ways to connect a shop vac to the exhaust of the planer, to avoid all the foam dust. Which is good for me - the neighbour already complained when I hand shaped the first board. So I went out and bought a planer and shop vac today, very reasonably priced.

Just thinking about the planer makes me smile! It feel like I came to a fork in the road and made a decision that will influence my future in a significant and good way. My education as a backyard shaper is beginning.

p.S: I've had the insulation-foam-fish out twice since the repair, and so far it has held up, no more cracking in the deck.