Creating the Rocker, Foil and Edges

Now that we've got our template down, we're now ready to create a great skimboard. This is where the craftsmen in us all can start to shine!

For Wood - Once it's all cut out, look down the rail and see where the natural rocker is going. Sometimes I'll do it opposite if they're going to get lots of use, but to keep it simple use the natural rocker in the board. (There definately should be some.) If it has less than say 1/8" rocker in the nose, you want to make a high-displacement foil. If it has more than that, you can go with less and don't have to do the displacement thing.

To make a high-displacement nose foil, use a belt sander to take off maybe 1/4" about three or four inches from the nose on each rail (this is on the bottom side), reducing it down to maybe only 3/16" at the very tip. Decrease the foil going towards the tail, and only go maybe a foot to a foot and a half at the most down the rail or almost to the wide point. At the wide point you can either tuck your rails, round them out, or if you have lots of experience, keep them hard.

To do a tucked rail, run the belt sander along the rail until you've taken off about 1/16" from the bottom, but keep the entire width of the board about 1/4" from the bottom. It's kinda' hard to understand but it's almost done.

If you didn't round them out or tuck them, just leave them how they are. If you want to sharpen them, round out the upper side of the rail all the way around the board (except for where you foiled the bottom), and round them down to the bottom edge. You should have maybe a 60 to 65 degree angle on them if you drew a straight line, but the curve pretty much follows it. For more release on the bottom tail you can round out the very back of that, like the interior of a swallow tail on the bottom side or just the very middle on the back of a round tail or squash tail board. Smooth the whole thing down with 100 grit and then 150, sign it, and it's ready to paint!

For Foam - For most people, rounding out the rails in the front foot or so is sufficient. If you're experienced, you might want to keep your edge all the way to the nose but just turn down your rails all the way around and start thinning from about six inches in.

If you've followed these directions, your skimboard is now looking quite tidy at this point. It's time to complete the beast.

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