Surfboard shaping

A surfboard shaper is someone who builds and designs surfboards by hand. Originally made from wood, most modern surfboards are made from pre-formed polyurethane blanks or styrofoam and then fine shaped by the shaper using an array of tools ranging from surforms, rasps, sanding machines and power planers. When the form is sculpted in the foam core, the shaper may complete the build by layering fiberglass sheets over the deck and bottom and laminating these with a thermosetting resin such as polyester.

Most shapers today design surfboards using computer programs to generate data that can be supplied to a computer cutting facility which will mill the raw foam blank within 90% of the finished shape, leaving the shaper to fine-tune the blank to its final state before glassing. This method allows the shaper to have a very exacting and reproducible design which can be easily fine-tuned and adjusted. Wooden surfboards are making a comeback as an eco-friendly alternative, requiring ultra-light boatbuilding skills.

Many professional shapers outsource the highly specialized task of lamination to specialized "glassers", who laminate fiberglass to the foam core of the surfboard using thermosetting resins like polyester or epoxy. Fins and assorted plugs are usually installed after this process and the final product is fine sanded and often glossed with buffing compound and special glossing resin. When shaping, the shaper often takes into account the specifications of the client surfer, and molds his medium to best accommodate the user's personal surfing style and wave of choice.

Shapers play a design role in some companies that mass-produce surfboards.

In modern-day surfing, we see tiny, lightweight, fiberglass boards that range from 6 to 7 feet, hardly taller than the surfers themselves. Considering that surfboards are relatively simple things, being made out of fiberglass and foam, it may be difficult to imagine just how far surfboard technology has come since the first recorded surfboards seen in Hawaii. In 1778, Captain James Cook of the HMS Discovery had just begun his third discovery voyage and came across the Sandwich Islands, now known as the Hawaiian Islands. It was there he saw the natives riding large pieces of wood on the faces of waves. In the early days of Hawaiian surfing, surfing was a highly religious and spiritual affair for the natives. The art of surfing itself, praying for good surf, and the process of making a surfboard were all much more than recreation for the early Hawaiians. Surfboards were valued so highly that the type of surfboard someone rode was an indication of their social standing. The chiefs and noblemen would be seen riding boards called “Olo”, while the commoners would ride boards known as “Alii”. The main distinction between the two boards was the length. “Olo” would range from about 14–25 feet, while the “Alii” paled in comparison measuring only about 10–12 feet. The boards were constructed of either the Wili Wili, the Ula or the Koa tree and weighed anywhere from 140 to over 200 pounds depending on the size.

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Wikipedia