I have got the f*&$king shanks

BLOODTYPEZX10R · Post by **BLOODTYPEZX10R** » Sun Mar 27, 2011 9:34 am

Thrity year I have been making snowboards and now when I have orders I have the shanks-Looking for my mojo.
I just need to vent, or just quit all together. This shit is getting expensive. At about $200.00 per board for materials (not to mention the time to prep materials)I can't afford failure.
The real problem occured when I have set up for production, jigs, prepping and I guess too much planning and thinking.
I am just extremely frustrated!!!!! I'd smoke a bowl, but I gave that up 20 years ago.

MontuckyMadman · Post by **MontuckyMadman** » Sun Mar 27, 2011 11:14 am

what's shanks?
I like lamb shanks
prison shanks?
Shingles?

BLOODTYPEZX10R · Post by **BLOODTYPEZX10R** » Sun Mar 27, 2011 1:09 pm

Nor can I spell correctly.
Ya know the shanks-can't hit it in the direction one has intended.

MontuckyMadman · Post by **MontuckyMadman** » Sun Mar 27, 2011 2:12 pm

oh golf euphemisms.
got it.
whats your issues?

BLOODTYPEZX10R · Post by **BLOODTYPEZX10R** » Mon Mar 28, 2011 6:17 pm

I appreciate the reply. I don't really know if there is anything specific thing that could help. I am just frustrated and guess lacking some commitment and enthusiasm.
I own another business and takes all my time during the day during the week and to get home and go to work on snowboards when I am burnt from a day at work-then getting ready for some more work and juggling fatherhood----where does it start, stop, end, begin.
I also am feeling the pressure of customers and want to give them the best product I possibly can in a short period of time. Then when you get a relatively big fail-shit just goes to hell in a handbag.
I am sure most of you know exactly where I am coming from.

skidesmond · Post by **skidesmond** » Tue Mar 29, 2011 3:03 am

yeah I hear ya, it's the real world calling. I noticed the rising prices too and I've only been doing this for less than 2 yrs. So you've been building boards for 30 yrs?

BLOODTYPEZX10R · Post by **BLOODTYPEZX10R** » Tue Mar 29, 2011 9:19 am

Well yes 30 years. But like most of those on this forum it has been somewhat of a hobby. I have sold boards in the past and have orders now. I started making snowboards in 1980, my brother and I. We had a good in when things with the industry were just getting started. But I was young and my parents did not appreciate the fact that we were making boards in their basement(boy I still remember those fights).
At that time our co. name was Powder Board Snowboards and we functioned until I moved to Idaho in '92. I then started another company Backside snowboards. I never seemed to have the funds to get bigger and mostly made boards for myself and wife. I got busy building my house and that took(and I am still working on it) 10 years. Besides the prices of boards had come down so much it wasn't worth it.
I make exclusively alpine boards and the name of my company now is Thirst Snowboards. I am ready for a change in my life and want this dream of mine to take hold. I own an auto repair shop and am sick of dealing with people who think it is my place or fault for what happens to their cars, and that I should absorb those costs. I want to keep ownership of the auto bus. and remove myself to spend more time with the boards. The alpine industry is gaining speed and prices are way up there.

I was thinking the other day about how most of you(if not all) construct you boards/skis and started to count components in the construction of them. I count around 60+ that does include 12-14 inserts-how many do you count in the construction 25-27? Next year I am upping my count another 20-24. And no this is not counting each strand of wood in the core.

twizzstyle · Post by **twizzstyle** » Tue Mar 29, 2011 10:56 am

Nice mini-biography

Great to have a "veteran" or sorts of board/ski building among us.

skidesmond · Post by **skidesmond** » Tue Mar 29, 2011 11:19 am

My wife and I both said yesterday we need to retire so we can have more time to do our hobbies

, ha-ha, not going to happen. We're both lucky enough to have good full time jobs that allow us to pursue our hobbies, financially speaking.

Good luck w/ the boards and auto business. It's a tough world.

btw- You got me thinking about the number of components in my skis. I counted 9 (base, edges, vds, FG (2 layers), core, top sheet, epoxy, poly). Sometimes my cores are single wood species and sometimes I use 2 or 3 different kinds. I keep it fairly simple for now.

twizzstyle · Post by **twizzstyle** » Tue Mar 29, 2011 8:05 pm

skidesmond wrote:We're both lucky enough to have good full time jobs that allow us to pursue our hobbies, financially speaking.

Amen.

knightsofnii · Post by **knightsofnii** » Sun Apr 10, 2011 12:25 pm

ive shanked many boards by now, and also at a time when i thought we had shit ready for production, that was shanked as well and we didn't even know it till we hit the slopes, and then "ohhhhh shittt" and my heart just sunk.
I just want to take a shank to all those things. But we overcame a ton of hurdles... still many to go. Biggest issue for us now is space, time, and suppliers

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I have got the f*&$king shanks

I have got the f*&$king shanks