Sunday, November 18, 2007

Definitely not machine shaped...



I cannot verify. Local shaper with alliterative name and unmistakable talent can make anything by hand. Proof above. 5'6" x 20 1/2" x 2 5/16" shaped as personal ride for the shaper. Fell into my hands- now a favorite. Reliable Source posits that shaper's "100% handmade" claim is no longer legitimate. I cannot verify.

Having an item handmade makes it unique, special. A handmade item is set apart from the cyclone of mass-market consumerism/capitalist lust. I hope that Reliable Source was, in this circumstance, unreliable.

I'm not against shaping machines. I see their merit. I am against false claims at the expense of credibility and surfers.

I still surfed this board this morning. Sweeeeeeet!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I also have his fish without lam, only shape sigin. I ride it in far east country. He is cool.

pranaglider said...

A good board is a good board. Sometimes it is because of a good hand shape and sometimes it is in spite of the hand shape. Also we tend to over focus on the shaper's role and forget about the very significant role of the glassers / sanders in making a magic board. And don't even get me started on the importance of fins and their placement. BTW you seem to have quite a collection how about a quiver shot?

vasco said...

olá...Nice Christenson...LOL...i have a 100% Kustom 9'6 glider Chris made for himself and left it at my house,,,

borntoloser said...

Prana- Agreed. A good board is a good board. But handmade is special! Also agreed, fins, sanders, glassers are all important. Unfortunately I don't hold on to many boards. I tend to cycle through them- I have a shorter attention span than some of my first grade students.

Current quiver- 5'6 cc keel, 5'8 Lis keel, 6' Frye keel, 6'4 staples thruster, 7' something Frye spear, 9'4 self shape. On order- 5'10 Lis quad. The wish list is quite long, but the bankroll wouldn't accomodate.

pranaglider said...

a- you could stop now and have a better selection than most people have in their lifetime! I have always loved the fishes and I was getting very interested in the hulls until the mats took my breath away! (mat humor) As for your attention span that would be an asset if you are hearding 1st graders but maybe we should talk about yoga and pranayama sometime.