We've heard from a few people that they have some small anxieties about the idea of building their own surfboards. But as the man once said, "Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid"! Though it's hard to think of ourselves as a "mighty force" in any way, at least we can say we have alot of motivation to come to your aid if you need it.
During the last couple of years, there have been a few people that have decided to try marketing what they call “surfboard kits”. But we're proud of the fact that we didn't come up with this idea in order to be the cheapest kit available, or even with making money foremost in our minds. Our first priority has always been to share the feeling of building your own surfboard from wood, and helping people to build a board they can be proud of. To do that, we've concentrated on getting better and better at making wood surfboards, putting what we've learned into our 170-page manual, being available day and night to help builders that are making their own even as we help build a real community around the passion we all share.
We want to pass on total quality to everyone that wants to build a board using our methods, so - aside from tools - everything you need is in the box, even epoxy cups and gloves. For people that don't share our passion for quality, there are other options out there.
If you can read, you can build it. If you build it, you will surf. One of the other things that's in Grain Surfboards' kits is the keen understanding of the principles of surfboard design that have been handed down by the great shapers. Using their knowledge - in some cases also using their actual designs (with permission of course) Grain's been able to take a construction method that has roots at the very rebirth of surfing in the early 1900's and apply it to some of the most current knowledge about surfboard design.
Next generation framesets: frames, keel, patterns, templates - you don't have to be a shaper. "Bookmatched" planks are part of every kit and board. Graceful symmetry straight from the tree. We're surfers, we've built more boards of this type than anyone else in the world, we know how to teach people to be successful at it, and we care more than we want to admit about the success of every single person that wants to build their own board. That all comes in the box of a Grain HomeGrown Surfboard Kit.
So be bold. We'll help!