Looks unreal! Great job!

Very nice. Do you get to ride it this weekend? Do you have any concave? what did you use for inserts

Nah, will probably try on Bali next week:) Thanks, I've updated concave, 3mm. Made perspex mold for inserts, a lot of diff. colors:)

i had a shanai back in my martial arts day. Katana is the large samurai sword. Wakisashi is the small samurai sword.

Chopping Block??

Shanai sounds nothing like the lady with the twain surname. Your Mis pronouncing it if u think it does. Great work, nice board and a sweet name

A kitchen knife? It's much bigger than that:) Funny you say that! It is like a chopping block:) Or FloorBoard:)

just read your blog. A hint for the jig saw is to buy metal cutting blades. Wood cutting blades are not robust enough. A metal cutting blade will easily cut through many glass/carbon/ply boards. PS I'm interested to see what you do regarding the fins. Are you simply going to layup glass on a flat surface and cut and and trim by hand? maybe i should make some fins too?....

Great thread guys! Makes me want to make another board (but so many other things to do first) Yes, the metal cutting blade is a good idea, they also have more 'teeth per inch' (TPI). When cutting thin sections (like kiteboard rails) the coarser wood blades may only have a couple of teeth in contact at any one time, leading to a rougher cut that is harder to control. Dean, you mention in your blog the template follow that needs the template to be under the board. Consider getting a flush trim bit and/or rabbeting bit and/or pattern following bit. They work a treat and the path of the cut is unaffected if you rotate the router during the cut. (the template follow on you blog requires the follower to be kept at 90 deg to the edge during the cut. Not so easy on the corners of the board). Examples of bits here.... http://www.carbatec.com.au/rabbeting-bits_c9450 http://www.carbatec.com.au/pattern-following-bit_c9470 http://www.carbatec.com.au/flush-trim-bits_c9460 Also, the rabbeting (or rebating) bit can be fitting with different bearing diameters to change the rebate size (can be used for flush trimming too) btw, I have no connection with carbatec, they just happened to be the first ones I found. I hope the above makes sense, PM me if needed. Thanks for sharing and love your work

Hi guys, I've been to Bali and got almost two weeks with riding it! Now, it's not easy for me to write an review but in a few words it handles small chop magically since very flexible. It a wobbly board and for me being 59kg this is actually better. I have a bad knees (43yo) and landing is so soft like a butter. Was a bit worried about braking it but no problem yet. Performs well. Also, having rounded tips there is no spray what so ever. Tested my Nrth XRide at the same time and spray was significant, actually couldn't ride it any more. It also goes upwind like crazy. It is ripping upwind and only a few were going more than I did at the time. You need to drive it with your legs I would say more than XRide, Shinai being more flexible. What I noticed is that for going upwind it doesn't really matter how big the fins are. When I flatten the board than it matters and also with 1" fins can't ride it toe side. Need bigger fins for that. Maybe placing fins near tips as well. Will be interesting to see the difference. This was on light Bali wind and can't say how will perform in stronger winds. Can't wait. Today, I started building two copies to see how long it will take. Cheers, D.

It is indeed a work of art Dean, and something to be proud of! And it absolutely charges upwind... Now how are you going with that directional???

G'day Dean, your boards are a work of art indeed, having seen it in the flesh, the pics don't quite show how nice it really is, good work! cheers for now, Robbie

Thanks for that Robbie! Thanks, might try that. The main thing now as well is finding the Durasurf sheet, or similar, for top and bottom(!) scratch protection. Hobie, any experience with this? D.