And so begins another journey. With 002 not a week completed, I began my next board today. I had a blank I planned on using for a longer single-fin, not that long, around 6'5" or so. The problem is is that "single-fin" is very broad, I wasn't sure if I wanted to make a gun-type board or an egg or what. This is what I decided on.
Not very informative, I know. It's a 6'3" (although I may make it smaller) very full-template with a diamond tail. I think it's going to end up being around 20 1/2" wide or so, and 2 3/4" thick. I'm kind of taking a some stuff I've read about hulls, Greenough and Liddles and things like that, and am going to try to incorporate them the best I can to get a fast board down the line that can still perform with some long carving turns. I'm hoping to get a board like the ones from
Morning of the Earth or
The Innermost Limits of Pure Fun. Having never seen any boards like these in person, I'm just going off descriptions and pictures and stuff, but I'll give it a shot and make something of my own.
I skin the bottom and flatten it out, then I trace the template onto the blank. After this I carefully cut out the shape. Before I cut out about 1/8 to 1/16 outside the line, but this time, for some reason, my mind blanked and I cut right on the line. It made a few lumps that I had to get out.
After I got it cut out and started to check to see if things were symmetrical, I realized the stringer on this blank was also really bowed, and I mean
really bowed. And these were U.S. Blank Firsts! I don't know, from what I've heard no blank is perfect, but it really seems like this is excessive. But fortunately I realized it before I lost my mind trying to figure out why measurements weren't figuring out the same on both sides, and then I just eyed it. I've got a pretty good eye from construction work, so I think it will be alright.
After I got it cut out, I decided I didn't like how the tail looked - it looked way to wide. So I pulled it in a little bit. I liked it when I left it, but we'll see how much I like it when I look at it tomorrow. I'm thinking I might take an inch off the nose and make it more rounded. Who knows.... I hope to take a lot of pictures of the making of this board, so stay tuned.
'Tis pleasant, through the loopholes of retreat
To peep at such a world; to see the stir
Of the great Babel, and not feel the crowd;
To hear the roar she sends through all her gates
At a safe distance where the dying sound
Falls a soft murmur on the uninjur'd ear.
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