This guide will take you step by step to build your first board, revealing small tricks and savoir faire, starting from the cheapest possible badges, avoiding waste and errors. We understand that building surfboards can be very intimidating for the first time. The truth is, with a little patience, some good tools, and some technical tips, it won't be that hard.

You can make the table in a garage, or in the garden. The advantages of the garden are more related to health but beware of the pitfalls !!! After having done the Hotcoat with epoxy resin on my first board, already shaped and laminated, while I was carefree at a party with my family I saw a few drops of rain fall. The mood suddenly changed !!! A few hours had passed; I thought that my first creation could suffer irreparable damage, or perhaps the resin had already dried. The rain then fell incessantly and I left my first surfboard to fate, dedicating myself to the celebrations! Back home I realized how cruel fate was! This is just one of the many pitfalls that you will have to face, but with the right tools and some knowledge, you can minimize the possibility of throwing your little dream into a dumpster.

After reading this guide, perhaps all in one breath, you will have to ask yourself whether you really intend to build your own board or let it go and with that money buy a plane ticket or buy a new board to enlarge your quiver.

A board purchased at a store is guaranteed to be designed by expert hands, but the product may not necessarily be better than yours. In many cases one can find in the shops attractive boards at first sight, or of glorious brands. Instead, despite the appearance, you may come across poor materials, inaccurate processing steps, designs that are not suitable for the surfer and the waves you want to surf. For this we recommend that you go to a local Shaper, and discuss with him to design your table. In recent years, Italy has seen the level of competence and ability of the Shapers rise, with some points of excellence scattered throughout the Italian territory. In Italy, surfing has been professionalizing for decades, and there are Shapers who have made this art a job. In addition to being excellent Shapers, they know better than others the various sea conditions and the waves you want to surf (unless you want to aim for the Pipeline !!!) and will be able to recommend the right board perfectly cut for you. Prefer those who stop to talk to you, those who think that the most important phase of the creation of a table is the moment in which the project is decided through an open discussion between the client and the shaper. Going to a trusted or local shaper also carries a certain guarantee that he will behave trying to do the best, using the best materials and the greatest possible accuracy. Reading this guide will also help you learn how to tailor a surfboard or get your shaper to use materials that best suit your purpose.

On the other hand, those who at the end of this guide decide to go ahead will have to procure the necessary material to produce it. The savings are about half of what you would spend in a shop, but the result could even be more satisfying, more resistant and therefore more ecological and closer to your ideal project than one of the many boards produced in a serial way who knows where and who knows how. More likely, if you are careful in reading this guide like others, online videos and so on, the final product will be technically imperfect, with some imperfections here and there, but it will surely give you satisfaction in the water you have never heard before. .

Attention, it could also be much worse, a piece to be thrown away, indeed to be recycled. Know that even your old boards that are no longer usable in water are almost entirely recyclable. *

Our advice is to read this entire guide before making any purchases as there are many inexpensive options to a router cutter or a professional electronic planer. You will always have time to buy professional tools if, as in our case, the passion has had a following.

This guide was written for both your first board, (and others thereafter), giving you options for acquiring tools in consideration of your budget and investment capacity. Many of the techniques mentioned come from personal experience, and from two guides who have helped to shape me as a shape since the beginning and from which I will take much of the information reported here.

• "GREENLIGHT SURFBOARD BUILDING GUIDE AZ" by Greenlight Surfboard Supply https://greenlightsurfsupply.com/pages/greenlight-surfboard-building-guide-az

• “How to Build Your First Surfboard” by Stephen Pirsch http://www.surfersteve.com/introduction.htm

This guide collects the most effective techniques that in some cases may differ from those used by professional shapes, as many of the physical efforts required are designed to reduce the problems that can derive from the use of electronic tools, and save money. Using an electric plane to create the shape is not so simple and not cheap if you don't have a high number of boards to make. You will need to have shaped hundreds of boards before you can completely shape a board with an electronic plane. And above all the plane you will have to get it for yourself. An electric shape plane is a modified series plane to be specifically adapted to our work.

Here we will attempt to show even the most complex techniques in an easy to follow format, presented following a normal surfboard building process. The advice is to read this guide all in one breath until the end to get a picture and to get to make the decision to throw yourself on the construction of your first jewel. Then re-read each section just before performing each step. It is recommended that you copy sections of this guide into a word processing program and print them. Place in a ring binder notebook and place it in your shape room for quick reference on the fly. I recommend, as I did, the viewing of educational videos that have been made for an audience to be accompanied step by step. And here my first reference goes to Andrew W's Youtube channel "How to Build a Surfboard" for a step by step guide for newbies. When you refer to these videos, or to our guide designed for beginners, you must have in mind to overcome the methods described and reflect on every action and material used. Only in this way can you move forward and improve further. For an advanced level, you can follow the social channels of the master Matt of Kazuma Surfboards, the video tutorials of Fiberglass Hawaii or visit Surfcove , a special place located in Livorno, where you can follow specific, individual and group courses with the best shapers. professionals.

After all, in addition to an economic factor, the positive side of building your own surfboard is that it will be very rewarding and the enthusiasm received will help you to push yourself even further on the waves.

* The material a board is made of is almost entirely recyclable, and in the most varied ways. As many know, you can make tables into furnishing objects, or you can remove the old yellowed fiber and reshape the blank in view of a new lamination. The fiberglass can instead be thrown into the glass bell or multi-material, or better still it is excellent for creating your own Templates or models for the replicas of your future tables. The cups or plugs are almost always reusable after cleaning the old resin, and in any case they too can end up in the plastic bin. You can also decide to recycle by contacting your local shaper, who will surely make good use of it.