Shapeshifting – The art of hand-making surfboards
Design and creation: The bottom contours
The bottom contours of a surfboard may be flat, convex, concave, or a combination of these. Longboards typically use a combination of flat or concave in the centre with a slight roll towards the rails nearing the tail. Shortboards may be concave throughout. Very subtle convex or concave areas can be built into the bottom of a board to channel the water's flow for particular effects.
"It's all in the bottom really, the deck's just about volume," says Jay.
Jay uses the power planer to rough out the bottom contours of the board. He works surprisingly quickly, cross-stepping up and down the length of the board over a bed of shavings and dust, making smooth passes with the planer. He has a tradesman-like attitude, "I haven't got time to mess around." Jay learnt his skills in Australia, where in some factories, contract shapers are expected to shape five boards a day, five days a week. He works barefoot, "It's more comfortable. I don't know any shapers who wear shoes when they work. You do a lot of walking." Jay figures he covers about 4km for every board he shapes. When he is done with the planer, Jay uses a series of progressively finer sanding blocks to refine the bottom contours. The hardwood stringer is shaped using a small-block plane and a tiny violin-maker's plane.
