With one of the most rewarding winters, wave wise, in the last several years there has been plenty of demand for big wave boards. Whether it is creating a duplicate of a board that met its demise, shaping a first gun for a grom with a newly lit fire in his belly, or crafting a beautiful sled for a notorious XXL hell man, Rusty has been putting in the hours in the shaping bay to make sure everyone is properly equipped for their next strike mission…
Rusty shapes a board for big wave legend, Garret McNamara…
Photos by: Brody
Listen to each Rusty shaper describe their history crafting boards and working with Rusty Surfboards, click here to go to the surfboards page and then click on “Behind the Boards”
Rick Hamon Hand Shaping
Ray Hamon (Rick’s Son) Machine Shaping
This is the burning question that seems to be firing up board builders world wide; here is what Rusty and a few of our other shapers had to say…
“As the body wears out the romance with the planer cools off. It’s really the concept that matters; master your tools and bring good ideas to life. Computers definitely bring consistency to the equation.”
-Rusty
“The Computer is just another tool, but, I think something is lost if someone has no hand shaping experience.”
-Rick Hamon
“One completes the other- you can’t design a board on the computer if you can’t hand shape one.”
-Pedro Battaglin
“Consistency is a plus. Great for keeping track of subtle design changes.”
- Hoy Runnels
“At first I was down on computer shaping. I know that it is just another tool, but, it just isn’t shaping. But, I guess maybe it has redefined what shaping is, for better or for worse? I don’t know. I do know that shapers should be able to hand shape anything and do a good job on it, or you are not a shaper.”
-Michael Russo
Photos: Brody
