surfboard shaping, shaper

The surfboard shaper uses an assortment of techniques and tools to craft a preformed blank—usually made of polyurethane foam—into a ready-to-laminate surfboard. The shaping process in premodern Hawaii also had a spiritual component. Boards were made of wood, and after a suitable wiliwili or koa tree was felled, the shaper would lay a recently caught fish inside the root cav- ity as an offering to ...