Greg's new board for next weekends Wooden Board Day

"I have just finished a new pintail in time for the show day at the Alley. It is a 6’2” x 19 ¼” x 2 ½” single fin pintail. My son wanted a retro styled pintail. I will be down at the Alley with several of my boards."




Greg did the Paul Jensen board building class a couple of years ago and ever since has been busy building boards with his son.I nice release after a week in his Brisbane city office as an architect.Be sure to check out his boards and many others next weekend.

The Grain " Sea Sled " body board

If you are looking for a project that is fun and not too big , this could be it ?

Grain Surfboards in Maine have a new body board design that could be just the ticket.

" Though we’ve had it kicking around the shop as an experimental board for a couple of years, originally The Sea Sled was more of a thought experiment in new bodyboard shapes than a real prototype. But when it became the first thing that visiting pros picked up, and when they came out of the water grinning, we knew we’d stumbled onto something special. The latest to love it was Keith Malloy who, when gathering footage for his upcoming body surfing/body boarding film, asked us after just one go-out if he could take it with him to Iceland. Hell, yeah you can.

And now they’re multiplying out in the shop, available to anyone who loves jetting down faces with the water at eye-level. Solid cedar, with distinctive side runners that channel the flow, this finless wonder is rugged, slippy, fast and fun. High speed slides are cake with the glide and low rotation resistance, and it’s small enough to keep in your trunk for anytime you’re feeling inspired."

For more great kits check out : www.grainsurfboards.com

Or for what is available in Australia check out : Cape Boat Works

All these shots are from the Grain site

" Always Offshore" from WA.

Just had a call from Gary Bennett from Western Australia who is coming over with a few boards for the Wooden Board Day. He is a furniture maker and keen surfer. He has worked on a few projects with surfboard shaper Jim Banks from Byron. Check out some of his boards and boards inspired furniture.

“Always offshore” is Jahroc’s latest collaborative project where Gary Bennett, David Paris and Australian surfing and shaping legend Jim Banks have decided to pool their extensive skills to create a collection of fine wooden surfboards. By combining Jim’s 30+ years of surfboard design and shaping skills with Gary and Dave’s 30+ years of designing and creating furniture masterpieces crafted from fine Australian timbers, the trio believe they can create some of the finest wooden surfboards the world has seen. Some will be artistic wall pieces made from solid timber and others will be artistic wall pieces that can also be surfed on using the age old torsion box construction techniques that have been used in aircraft, surfboards, boats and furniture for centuries.
Wooden surfboards are really where it all began and there are certainly lots of replica’s being made these days. Jim and Gary wanted to do things a little differently and apply the contemporary lines of Jim’s surfboard designs to create some collectable art pieces made from some of our beautiful locally grown timbers in Australia.
Jim still takes a very hands on approach to his shaping and is constantly testing and improving his designs in waves all over the world. From Indo perfection to the raw power of Margaret River Jim is constantly putting his designs to the test. Gary and Dave are excited by the opportunity to use their skills and contemporary techniques of fine timber construction and apply to making surfboards.
Surf boards are such beautiful objects. All three artists are passionate surfers so the idea of sculpting a masterpiece that can be taken down from the wall, waxed up, then taken down to the beach for a surf and still be durable enough to be hung back up on the wall is immensely appealing.
Why “Always Offshore”? Well when it’s offshore at the beach the boys can go for a surf and get that buzz that surfers get. When the surf’s not on they can go to their workshop and get that buzz that woodworkers get when creating, so you see for these 3 it really is "always offshore"!!
The collection, when complete, will feature some hollow torsion box versions that will be surfable. All going well the boys should have a collection ready to exhibit in March 2010. Keep an eye on this page to check the progress on this upcoming exhibition."








Check out these great boards and other projects : www.jahroc.com.au/Surfboards.htm

The McTavish collectors series 1959 Balsa Pig

" Its been a long time coming but the first 2 of the Balsa Collectors boards are ready to go. These are some of the most beautiful boards we've ever had come through our factory - solid balsa, double glossed, laminated timber D fin (thanks Piers!) with a beer tinted halo (thanks Wiz!), and a numbered copper plaque, that we can mount on the deck or on the bottom depending on how the board will be displayed. There will be just 12 made, all hand finished and signed by Bob. "

The little master right where he likes to be...

All Pig...

I look forward to seeing one of these in the flesh. I will be down that way on Friday , might have to check them out.

The finishing touches

The original Paipo Glide Wood Leash plugs...because plastic does not go on a wood board.

Contact Andy for more info - andy@paipoglide.com

It is the small details that sets your project apart and here is a great little idea. Thanks Andy.

The Kiwi boys are hard at it building boards

In Auckland Mike Grobelny has been hard at it gluing up blanks to process using his unique milling and shaping methods to be able to bring some of his boards for the Wooden Board Day in a couple of weeks.

Here is a freshly cut Cedar blank underway, a bit heavier than Paulownia but a nice clean cut.

Paulownia blank with all the chambers linked back to the gortex breather leash plug combo.

The process...

Up North , Roger Hall is flat out selecting timbers , gluing and chambering
to create more of his wonderful boards.

A very time consuming and exacting process with many hundreds of pieces of
timber glued together.

You know the outcome will be unreal.

Just some of the machining and preparation that goes into it.Hours of work before
you can start to shape a board.

This is a 9'0'' reproduction chambered Redwood Hot Curl,
Roger just finished this off yesterday

Just down the coast from Roger , John Sutcliffe has been building his first fish.

This is Johnny's Kahikatea Twin Keel Fish, getting glassed at Surfline at the moment,
will have translucent green twin keel glass ons.

The inside scoop supplied by good mate Mike Cunningham who will be bringing a few of his hand planes and maybe a belly board.I haven't heard from Bobby Crisp if he is coming as yet . A be rap for the Kiwi boys who love to come over and slide a few warm winter waves as well. It is not that easy jumping on a plane with board bags full of wooden boards. Thanks guys for your support and the great effort that goes into it.We look forward to catching up and checking out your latest creations.

John Cherry " The Master "

Just received a note from John Cherry about what he has been up to lately.
" Hi Grant,
It’s always a treat to see your name pop up in my in box. It always means something cool or creative.God, how I wish I could join you all down there for this one. I just sent (3) vertical display racks to Brookvale. NSW for some of John Atwills special boards. I wish I could have shipped myself with them."

" I have been delightfully (usually) busy for the last 4-5 months. One of the projects was for myself, an 8-0, 70’s style, lightening bolt-inspired, single-fin gun out of solid agave cactus with Peruvian walnut stringers. The fin is koa, maple and Macassar ebony. I glassed it double 6oz cloth on both sides. It still only weighs about 14 lbs "

" I had a good stash of agave that I had collected or harvested over the previous 1-1/2 years. I spent a long time trying to decide what kind of board would be appropriate for my special stash of wood. The 70’s pipeline gun denotes a special period and place in surfing history and of my own surfing history…..so I went with it."




" I truly wish I could join you guys and gals and see some of the incredibly cool stuff that I know will be on display at your 3rd Annual Wooden Surfboard Day. I send my warmest regards to everyone."
Sincerely, John Cherry
John truely is one of the masters of wooden boards that we have out there to be inspired by. Lets hope one day we get to see the big fella down under. Thanks for your continued support John.

John Cherry Woodcraft ~ Cherry Surfboards
www.johncherrywoodcraft.com
www.woodenshipsbyjcherry.blogspot.com

The Spanish " Lightning Bolt "

This is a note I have just received from Aitor Veguillas who lives in Bilbao, the North of Spain about his beautiful wooden board.
" This is my second surfboard is a replica of a "lightning bolt", I started in November 2010 and finish in July 2011, I am very happy surfing the "singing bolt," she hisses when surfing, and it is son fun someone told me that could be the fins, and sanding could solve it, but who wants to silence a surfboard that sings.Not me."

"It's made of plywood ribs and stringer, and paulownia and cedar for the deck and bottom, and rails only paulownia. I shaped it and watsay the glass."

" Measures 7.8 "x 20" x 3 1 / 4 "has a very good bouyancy, a easy and safe " take off ", its fast, and turns very easily."

Its a great looking board and a very nice glass job to finish it off. Bamboo fins and all.Check out his video , which is a great insight into the building of the board.

Singing Bolt from Aitor veguillas on Vimeo.

You can check out his blog : www.woodsurfboard.org

And the guys who glassed his board : www.watsay.com

Wooden Surfboards Day 2011 & night at the Gold Coast Surf Museum

On Saturday night 6th of August will be a get together at the
Gold Coast Surf Museum.

This is great opportunity to meet other people interested in building and riding wooden surfboards of all kinds. It is also a chance to hear from some very talented individuals who build them. Building a wooden board is not an easy thing to do but a very rewarding journey. Mitchell Rae, Paul Joske and Mike Grobelny will give a brief overview of their backgrounds and experiences with building boards. This will be followed by an open question and answer forum with the guys. This is just a sample of the talented shapers locally and internationally you’re likely to meet at the Wooden Board Day in the park at Currumbin Alley the next day.

Mitchell Rae

Mitchell is based at Scotts Head on the NSW mid coast and has recently completed a small factory in nearby Urunga. He has been shaping for more than 30 years and favours balsa when making wooden boards. Over the years he has been influenced by skills he gleaned from travelling abroad – namely Japan and Hawaii.It has been said, “His influence in Australian surfboard design has been considerable and could be said to parallel what the Campbell Bros (creators of the Bonza) did in California. Yet he remains at the cottage industry level of production. He has followed his own path, remained his own man, stayed underground and never been seen to beat his own drum”. Today Mitchell continues to make unique craft for a largely custom market, and is widely known for his concaves, balsa guns and the “spirit eyes” which feature on the front of his boards.

Mike Grobelny

Mike hails from Auckland, NZ where he is a design technician in the workshop at the School of Art and Design. After a year at design school he realised his passion was more in creating and building physical objects like furniture instead of 2D visual communication.This led to an honours degree in product design.
With a keen interest in surfing he applied his newfound high-tech skills and modern technology and began experimenting using CNC routing and a large block of paulownia to create a surfboard that has the skeletal strength and high performance qualities of a synthetic surfboard.
Mike’s approach to wooden boards comes from quite a different direction and it will be interesting to see what he believes the future holds.

Paul Joske

Paul resides in the Nambucca Valley on the mid north coast of NSW and has been building surfboards since 1969. In 1970 he founded Valla surfboards, which he still operates today with the assistance of his son Sage. His involvement with timber goes back to his youth when he built a twin fin belly board out of balsa, followed by his first surfboard which was hollow plywood. He has always been interested in using wood for surfboards. In 1998 he was commissioned to build the first Paulownia surfboard, which was a huge success and saw the attributes of this timber realised. Paul’s interest in surfing and surfboards is broad, both in the water and in the shaping room. He relishes the challenge of different designs and timbers, and building one-off specialty boards.

The Gold Coast Surf Museum is in Tomewin Street, Currumbin
Saturday 6th August 6.30pm for a 7pm start
$10 admission to the Museum includes one cold drink
To book a place or buy a ticket please call the Surf Museum : Ph: 07 5525 6380

Surf World Gold Coast is a not-for-profit museum dedicated to celebrating the history and culture of surfing.

www.surfworldgoldcoast.com