An update on John Sutcliffe's board in the shed .

As you can see you don't need a lot of room to build a board. Just move the GT Falcon to one side and get into it. Looks like he has used a pine frame and light pine strips for the skin. I will let you know when more detail comes to hand.

Paul Jensen's hollow wooden board building school at Port Townsend USA.

Paul Jensen of Hollow Surfboards fame has just posted some great pics and a rundown on a group of guys who have just done one of his week long classes Nov 17th - 22. Paul takes them through the whole process with each member ending up at the end of the week with a board they have hand made themselves.This is what we are planning to do here on the Gold Coast in the week leading up to the Wooden Surfboard day here. I will hire a warehouse and Paul will do the same classes here .

If you are interested please contact Paul  - hollowsurfboards@comcast.net

But first check out his post on his blog   - hollowsurfboards.blogspot.com

Rodney Morgan and his 9ft Hot Curl

Local Gold Coaster Rodney has done a great job building this board from Balsa with Cedar stringers. He has tested it out in some decent size waves at Lennox and the Tweed bar. His Hot Curl is 9'0" x 19 3/4 x 2 3/8. As per all Hot Curls the deck is dead flat nose to tail with rocker coming out of the thickness. He didn't want to shape one to the early (1930's) design with the wider pod, he was targeting those at the pinnicle of the Hot Curl era through the late '40's and early fifties, with a tighter tail and thinner foil, affectionatley called sinkers. Rabbit Kekai was reportadley one of the best proponants of these finless guns.

The balsa is from PNG with many thanks to Malcom Brough. He specifically asked Malcom to find the heaviest lengths of timber and anything with a bit of character (piths. knots etc) to it. Pat Lyon sourced the Australian Red Cedar stringers for me in 1/2", 1/4" and 1/8" and completed the glue-up. He gave Pat templates for the plan shape and foil so we could reduce the amount of wasted timber. Pat is a perfectionist... a master craftsman with a low key attitude.

 On completion of the shaping he had Dale Chapman's factory glasse it in 6oz, deck and hull.

The design is based on a gun design and is therefor not a hot dog design like the alaia. Rodney said It is very much point and shoot. A lot of fun.

Recycled timber boards by Jason Oliver.

I first met Jason from Brisbane when he came along to the the last Alley Fish Fry with a couple of boards he had just finished. They were also made from recycled timber. Namely packing crates and pallets that he had machined down.I will try to get hold of him to get some more details on these latest editions. Talented man.

Barry Regan 79 years young and still surfing and building wooden boards.

Bill first started surfing in 1943 at Cronulla Beach on a solid Red Cedar malibu.The board was owned by a member of the local surf club who was in the army and away at war.Bill lives in Ballina NSW and loves to catch the odd slider at The Pass, Byron Bay when he can. I hope he can join us in August and tell a few stories and showcase his boards.

Barry Regan and the early days

Old is new again...

Cronulla 1950

Barry and the boys at the Cronulla Surf Club 1951

Showing off at the Alley 1954

Norwegian Spruce and Californian Redwood in South Africa

I have just received this email from Owen Lottering who is building his first wooden board. He lives in Knysna, South Africa (about 2 hours drive from J Bay )This board is glued up from Norwegian Spruce and Californian Redwood which are both grown in local forests. He said he hasn't chambered the individual pieces this time as he wanted to feel the shaping process. His next board will be a chambered fish in African Balsa and Redwood. Owen is in the local timber industry so if you would like to contact him   - owen@woodmans.co.za   I will post his progress shots as they come through. 

The things you find in the shed

Kiwi John Sutcliffe is a truck mechanic by day and a closet wooden board builder by night .Here is a sneek peek at his first board under way. Good on you John , look forward to an update.

The Paipo Checker by Bobby Crisp

Here are a couple of Paipo boards by Bobby Crisp with some nice nose and tail block wood work. The balsa is plantation grown eco balsa from Papua New Guinea, with the other woods coming from sustainable forestry. The wood inlay designs are hand cut from a variety of wood veneers. Sapele, Rock Maple, European Beech, Oak , Cedar, Balsa and Pine are all used.

Dick Van inspired fish

Tony Crimmins from Brisbane has just sent me his latest board to share. It's a 7ft fish that was modelled on his 7ft 6" Dick Van Straalen . Tony said he wanted  it to be a bit shorter and have a bit more curve in the outline, so he made it half an inch wider and pulled the nose and tail in about a quarter of and inch. Its now ready to head off to the glasser.