Happy New Year

Happy New Year to you all . Thanks for your support and I hope that the coming year treats you well.

First every British surfer takes to waves in 1929

 Homemade: Lewis Rosenberg entered the water in Newquay, Cornwall, with a primitive homemade 8ft board he carved out of balsa wood.

Riding the waves: Some of the earliest ever video of surfing which shows Lewis Rosenberg on a surfboard at Holywell Bay in Newquay, Cornwall.

Check out the full story and some great video : Here

Hand made in Brooklyn...

 Davis Murphy has a great range of handplanes to share with us.

" Some of these little guys are from the scraps of a chambered board I've been working on-more pics of that when it's done! They're all made with supersap bioresin, and 0 voc clear coat, paulownia, walnut, cedar, mohagany and the straps are covered with recycled patagonia wetsuit scraps." 

Check out what else he has or if you would like to order one : innercirclesurf.tumblr.com

Greg's new mal

 Greg Wheeldon from Brisbane has been busy at it again. Lots of detail once again. Great to see the effort he puts into his boards.

" I finished a new 8’ Mal for myself, and pick it up from the glasser on Xmas Eve.  Once the sting goes from the cyclone swell, I will be christening the new board."

" The board is 8’ x 21 1/2 x 2 1/2, paulownia and western red cedar, with a woven bamboo feature panel in the nose and tail pads.  Glassed on fin with a checker pattern to match the deck detail."

 "Another one for the quiver.  Hope to see you out at Currumbin over the Xmas New Year break."

"My son is finishing a 6’ retro pintail with a rising sun radial pattern in the nose.  I’ll send you photos, when complete."

Greg Wheeldon.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all of you who have supported me this year. There have been some great boards built and many guys experimenting and trying new things.I look forward to what you come up with next year.

Have a safe and happy time with family and friends where ever you are.

Grant

Woody quad for Deux in Venice

 Great to see Andrew from Grown Surfboards in Lennox Heads is getting his boards out there. This one is on its way to California to go into the new Deus Ex Machina store that they are opening in Venice Beach. It is all paulownia with a cedar stringer and glass fins.

Nice job Andy. To find out more of what he is up to : www.grownsurfboards.com.au

Another beauty to add to the quiver

 Tony Crimmins has done himself proud with his efforts on this board. I saw it getting glassed and it is a great shape and has a beautiful foil. Mate nice one.

Tony is living proof you don't need a lot of tools or space to build a nice board. He quietly works away on his projects and puts a lot of time and effort into them but the results speak for themselves. Some would say too nice to ride , but it will get wet over Christmas for sure.

The work of a craftsman

 Craig Cater lives down Nimbin way in the northern New South Wales hills. He has just sent me a link to his site and these great shots of a couple of boards he has been building.

" Heres a few pix of my latest boards which I've been working on in tandem for the last few months.
Both are the same design & dimensions modelled on McCoy's designs."

6ft 4 inch x 20 inch  x 3 inch
17inch tail
13 1/2 inch nose
Wide point - 3 inches behind halfway
Bottom - 4mm convex
Fins -  one board has glassed on thruster setup
Other board has 10 inch fin box & side fin plugs

Skins -  5mm paulownia,  silky oak , red cedar , huon pine
Ribs -6mm paulownia
Spine - 5mm marine ply
Parquet mandalas - huon, silky, black wattle, camphour, paulownia & red cedar
Fins - Tasmanian Sassafras  - Huon pine , red cedar - epoxy coated
Finish- kinetix epoxy lam & fill coat - polyester finish coat -wet sanded to 2500 grit , buff & polish
Inside of board -  sealed with varnish

Great attention to detail which comes from some great skills with tools and time. 

To check out his other work  : 

www.wollumbin-woodsticks.blogspot.com

Love what this guy does...

THE THINGS I CARRY: Jeff Beck from FLY CANVAS on Vimeo.

www.ninelightssurfboards.com

Balsa and Cedar guns by Joe Bauguess

Joe also makes, from scratch, Balsa wood and redwood big wave guns. A shapers shaper, Joe’s been shaping for almost 50 years now. The gallery below will take you from balsa wood planks and redwood fence planks to a full on hand shaped Balsa and Redwood Gun.

He may be credited with the Mini Simmons design but Joe is also a keen shaper and board builder of all sorts of craft such as these beauties.
http://joebsurfshapes.com

Christmas project inspiration

Why not get a small wood project going over the Christmas break. Expand the quiver and get closer to the wave. You could get the kids involved and even have them help with some art to personalise it.

Beach fun 1939

Some great historical shots of early Australian wooden boards sent to me by Daffy Chisholm via Lyn Tunbridge.

New wooden board building class in UK

" We are planning to do another hollow wooden surfboard workshop in the UK.

Date will be one of the weekends at the end of January (20-22 or 27-29).

The location will be the Bridge Boathouse in Richmond near London. http://www.richmondbridgeboathouses.co.uk/
 

 We calculate the price as £250+£32/foot and that includes tuition and all the material you need to construct the shape of your choice. (Plywood stringer+Frames, Paulownia, Cedar, Glues, Epoxy) After the three days of workshop you'll have a board that only needs final sanding and laminating.

have a look here for well tested shapes: http://treetosea.org/richs-template-shop/

or here for pictures from past workshops: arbosurfboards.blogspot.com

 
 

for questions or to sign up get in touch."

Paul
arbosurfboards.blogspot.com