Shaping a Fish - Part 3 Rockers

The next step was to plane the rocker. The flat fish is very flat, so a very small amount of rocker.

Approx Time Required

2 hours (for beginners)

Tools required

An electric planer

Sanding blocks

Measuring callipers (do not make your own like in the image below. Accuracy is key here)

A flat bar

Ruler/tape measure

Planing the Flat Fish Surfboard Rocker

You’ll need your measurements ready for this.

Step 1

Lie the surfboard down onto the shaping rack with the bottom of the board facing upwards.

With a flat bar (metal or wood as long as it’s perfectly flat) measure the tail and nose rocker.

You can mark the board to indicate how much planing needs to be done to get to the correct gradient.
You will also need to measure the thickness of the board at the tail, 6 inches into the board, the centre, the nose and 6 inches from the nose.

Step 2

Calculate how much needs to come off the thickness of the board at the above markings along with how much needs to come off additionally for the tail and nose rocker. Remember, when you take away thickness from the centre of the board, you are also decreasing the nose and tail rocker.

Step 3

Using your planer, take the thickness down little by little, ensuring the overall thickness is being reduced as well as getting the rocker at the nose and tail correct. Remember you are going to be taking away foam from the deck of the board after this, so you’ll want to leave at least 1/4 of an inch on top of your desired thickness so you can tend to the deck. It’s best to leave too much than too little (obviously)

Step 4

Measure the board again at all locations for correct thickness.

Measure the tail and nose rocker to ensure the correct gradient.