The Evolution of a Board

Sorry for the absence of posts. We've been busy enjoying nice weather. Now that it's apparently winter again, we'll post. I'm sure a lot of you know that we make all of our own boards from start to finish, however, I'm not sure if most people realize all of the work that goes into it. Everyone at Natures Shapes is a serious workaholic, (I'm actually thinking it might be a requirement to work here). We work until 2, 3, sometimes even 4am pumping out custom boards for the people that have been nice enough to entrust us with their board design. We put a lot of our heart and soul into your board, it's what makes the difference between a mass manufactured chinese pop out, and a board built with YOU, the customer, in mind. We know what waves you ride (we ride them too), and we know what you are specifically looking for in your board. What beats that? Callused hands, tired arms, and sore backs are just a small price to pay for creating something that we know someone will love and enjoy for years.

So for those of you who may not be privy to the process, here's a general overview of how it goes.

1. Our boards start out as a blank, sometimes even a block of foam. From there Mike will take that blank and shape it into exactly what you want. This process can take hours.
2. Once lovingly hand shaped, and fins are installed, they are passed onto our AMAZING glasser, Ed Fawess, who is quite possibly the most meticulous man I've ever met. He effortlessly glasses, does SICK resin tins, foam stains, basically everything with complete grace and beauty, I've luckily had the privilege of learning and watching from him many times.This takes many hours, and sometimes up to 2 days. Also, he RIPS!
   
3. After the glassing process the board is then hot coated (a layer of resin) by Edgar. Anyone who knows Edgar, (most likely from seeing him out in the water at Gilgo) will tell you what a hard worker, and genuinely nice person he is. He loves his craft and more importantly is good at it. This can be a lengthy process because you have to wait for the board to dry!
   
4. After Edgar hotcoats both sides of the boards and it dries, it's ready to be sanded. Depending on the size of the board, this can take up to 3 hours. If it's just a sanded finish board, the process ends here. Phew!
   
5. If the board requires a gloss and polish, it then gets a gloss coat, (even after the initial sanding!) Once again, this is a lengthy process as you're at the mercy of the resins slow dry time.
   
6. The board is then polished. This is definitely the most tedious process and it takes a certain kind of person to do this. No scratches can be visible, and the board must have a flawless shine!
   

That's just a basic overview. Throw in customers who want copies of old boards, specific artwork or color, and the process can take much longer. We love what we do. We wouldn't trade it for the world. We are truly honored when someone comes into the shop and buys one of our boards. We love the look on someones face as they get to see a board they created in their imagination become something tangible.




*Also, come down for our swap sale, hopefully the weather will cooperate for some BBQ, Beer, Music, and Friends.