Setting things up, making sure the measurements are all in place and the tools are ready to start shaping. Whereas, most equipment is readily available such as sanding paper, surform or saw, specialised tools such as the calliper to determine the board's thickness, the surf racks, the template and the electrical planer had to be either be built or lended (look out for broken planer blades ;)).
The last task of the day was to transfer the template shape onto the surf-blank (base material for the board).
From here on the initial tasks were pretty straight forward. First, cut out the shape that has been marked out the previous day. Second, plane both the bottom and the top side to an even surface until you reach the desired thicknesses along the stringer (wooden dowel in the middle of the board). This step usually might not take up much time with an electrical planer, but since mine broke down mid process, this part turned into a myriad of hand sanding. When all is done and finished the basic contour of the board was established, apart from the rail outlines.
To ensure evenly and symmetrically shaped rails, a common practice in hand shaping is to first chamfer the edges closely to the rounded shape desired. In the final step the tail was cut and shaped into what is called a swallow-tail. The outline resembling the tail of a fish, giving the shape it's name "Fish".
