The Board Project | Andras Hejj

After the first post about craft and how this whole thing started, I sat down and tried to map out what we are actually getting into.

The board is ordered. The foam blank takes about 8 weeks to arrive. That is 8 weeks where we could just wait around, or we could use the time to actually prepare. Learn. Understand what we are about to do before we touch anything.

Noah is 8. So this needs to be fun, not a curriculum. But I also want us to take it seriously enough that we actually learn something real. Not just show up and watch.

Why we are doing this

I want Noah to understand what it feels like to make something from scratch. To go through the frustration of not knowing, the patience of learning, and the pride of holding something you built with your hands.

For me it is about slowing down. I spend my days in software, moving fast, shipping, iterating. This is the opposite. You cannot ctrl+z a foam blank. You cannot deploy a surfboard.

And I want us to have a ritual. Something we do together every week that is not a screen, not a task, not homework. Just the two of us learning something new.

Every week we do three things:

📖Read or watch — absorb something about what is coming next

🛠️Prepare — sketch, gather, practice, ask questions

✍️Journal — write down what we learned, what surprised us, what was hard

Three things, every week. Simple enough for an eight-year-old. Structured enough that the craft sticks.

The Timeline

Eight weeks. Three parallel tracks. Here is the bird’s-eye view before we dive into the details.

Week 1done

First Contact

Meet the shapers. Pick the shape. Order the blank. Get inspired.

Week 2~3 hours

Anatomy Class

Learn the parts. Understand the foam. Why rocker is everything.

Week 3~3 hours

Deep Design Theory

Rails, contours, tail shapes. Every curve does something.

Week 4~4 hours

Movie Night + Sketch Session

Watch the masters shape. Start designing the flames. Popcorn mandatory.

Week 5~4 hours

Tools, Safety + Paint Practice

Handle every tool. Buy the Posca pens. Destroy some cardboard.

Week 6~5 hours

Final Design + First Shaping

Lock the flame art. The blank arrives. Hands on foam for the first time.

Week 7~5 hours

Shape + Paint

Finish shaping. Apply the flames. Hold your breath.

Week 8~3 hours + 🌊

Glass, Seal, Surf

Final glassing. Seal the art. Take it to the water. The whole point of everything.

Now for the details.

Week 1: First Contact

✓ DONE🎯 Meet the makers, pick a direction

We walked into the Santosha shaping bay and immediately knew this was going to be good. The smell of foam dust, boards at every stage of life hanging from the ceiling, two shapers who clearly love what they do.

Met the shapers at Santosha Surf, talked about what is possibleAgreed on board size and general shape for Noah’s level and the waves hereLooked at boards together for inspiration — what shapes, what stylesOrdered the foam blank (8 week lead time)Journal: write down first impressions — what the shaping bay looked like, what surprised us, what Noah is most excited about

Replace with your photo from the first meeting at Santosha

Week 2: Anatomy Class

~3 hours🎯 Learn the vocabulary, understand what a surfboard actually is

Before we shape anything we need to understand what we are shaping. What are the parts, what do they do, why does the shape matter. This is the “boring” week. But Noah likes naming things, so I think he will be into it.

Read the D’Arcy Surfboard Anatomy page together — nose, tail, rails, stringer, rocker, fins. Learn the vocabularyRead Surfer Magazine: Understanding the 3 foams — PU vs EPS vs XPS, what is our blank made of and whyRead the Greenlight guide on rocker and foil — the most fundamental design elementRead Sanded Australia: Core Basics — clear visual comparison of foam types and what happens when you ding each oneNoah draws a surfboard from memory and labels every part he can. Then we compare with the real anatomy diagramJournal: what parts did we not know existed? What was the biggest surprise?

Noah test: Can he explain what a stringer is to his little sister? If yes, week 2 is a success.

Week 3: Deep Design Theory

~3 hours🎯 Understand why every curve on a board exists

This is where it gets interesting. The shape of a board is not random. Every curve does something. A concave bottom channels water differently than a flat one. A hard rail releases water faster than a soft one. Once you see it, you cannot unsee it.

Read the Greenlight guide on rail design — hard vs soft, full vs tapered, 50/50 vs knife. What they do in the waterRead the Greenlight guide on bottom contours — concave, flat, convex. The most debated topic in shapingRead the Santa Barbara Surf School design guide — ties everything together in simpler languageRead Swellnet: Bottom Curves Part 1 — the physics behind the curves, written for nerds like meAsk the shapers: what design choices did they make for our board and why? What trade-offs?Journal: draw a cross-section of a rail. Try to explain concave vs flat bottom in our own words

Week 4: Movie Night + First Sketches

~4 hours🎯 Watch the masters. Start designing the flames

Time to see people who have been doing this for decades. How they move, how they think, how they read the blank. And then we start the fun part: Noah gets to draw flames.

Watch:

Watch Boardroom: Legends of Surfboard Shaping — the history from balsa to foam, told by the legends themselvesWatch the Greenlight shaping video playlist — curated YouTube tutorials from garage builders and prosWatch Fish: The Surfboard Documentary if we can find it — how one shape changed everythingJournal: what did we notice about how shapers use their hands? What tools did they reach for first?

Design the surface — start sketching:

Browse 360Guide surfboard design ideas together — save everything we likeRead the Wave Arcade guide on surfboard art — resin tints, Posca pens, spray paint, what works on whatRead Drew Brophy on painting with Posca — the man literally gave away his process for freeNoah starts drawing flame designs on paper — multiple versions, go wild, no wrong answersJournal: mood board — print or save every design we liked, note what we like about each one

Pro tip from the shapers: Posca pens are the most beginner-friendly way to paint a surfboard. Water-based, non-toxic, vivid colors, and they dry in minutes. Perfect for an 8-year-old. Just need to seal with clear acrylic after.

Week 5: Tools, Safety + Paint Practice

~4 hours🎯 Know every tool by name. Get comfortable before the blank arrives

The blank is getting closer. Time to get practical. We visit the shaping bay again, but this time we handle the tools. We also buy the Posca pens and destroy some cardboard.

Shaping tools:

Read Pyzel’s 13 essential shaping tools — planer, sanding blocks, calipers, surform, screenRead the full Greenlight Surfboard Building Guide from start to finish — our step-by-step reference for the whole projectGet safety gear — dust mask, goggles, ear protection if using a planerVisit the shaping bay — handle every tool, feel the weight, ask the shapers how each one worksJournal: Noah draws the tools from memory and writes what each one does

Paint practice:

Buy a set of Posca pens — broad tipRead How to Paint Your Surfboard with Paint Pens — sanding, acetone prep, priming the pensTry Louis Gervais’ Posca tips on working with a board surfacePractice on cardboard, old foam, anything flat — Noah picks colors, figures out the styleJournal: save all the sketches, even the bad ones — especially the bad ones

Replace with photo of Noah practicing with Posca pens

Week 6: Final Design + First Shaping Session

~5 hours🎯 Lock the art. Touch foam for the first time

The blank arrives. This is real now.

Finalize the design:

Pick the final flame design from all the sketches — Noah decidesDraw it at full scale on paper or cardboard, same size as the boardOne final practice run on a test surface with the actual colors

First shaping session:

Re-read the Greenlight shaping guide the night beforeShow up. Follow the shapers. Do what they let us doNoah does as much hands-on work as possible, even if it is roughJournal: what did we do, what surprised us, what was hard

Week 7: Shape + Paint

~5 hours🎯 Finish the shape. Apply the flames. Deep breath

This is the big one. The shape gets finished and then we paint it. No ctrl+z. No undo. Just us and the board.

Finish shaping with the shapers — fine sanding, checking symmetry, final touchesPrep the surface for painting — fine grit sand, clean with acetoneApply the flame design — Noah leads, I assistSeal with clear acrylic spray — critical step, Posca is water-soluble without itAccept that it will not be perfect and that is fineJournal: photos of every stage — blank surface, first strokes, finished art. Noah writes how it felt

Reminder to self: The point is not a perfect board. The point is that Noah put flames on a surfboard with his own hands. That is already legendary.

Week 8: Glass, Seal, Surf

~3 hours + first surf🎯 Finish it. Ride it. Celebrate

The shapers glass the board and do the final finish. We watch. Then we take it to the water.

Watch the glassing process — this is the part where resin and fiberglass make it strongFin box installation and final sandingFirst surf on our board 🌊Journal: look back through everything we captured. Put it together into something — a blog series, a short video, a printed book, whatever feels rightNoah picks the cover photo

Documenting: The Background Track

This runs alongside everything. Not a separate project, just a habit.

In week 1 I set up the system. After that it is the same ritual every week.

That is the plan. Loose enough to stay fun, structured enough that we do not just wing it and forget half of what happened.

Noah does not know about the journal part yet. He just wants to shape a board and put flames on it. That is enough for now.

Replace with Noah’s flame sketches

I will keep posting updates as we go. First theory session is this week.

Three crafts. One board. One eight-year-old with strong opinions about flames.

🔥

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