Thursday, May 31, 2012

The man to see

Nathan on the left picking up some nice new dressed paulownia for a new project from Geoff Moase

If you live on the Eastern seaboard of Australia and are after machine / dressed Paulownia in panels or strips for rails then Geoff Moase is the man to see. He can do them plain or with Cedar pinlines. Alaia blanks , Paipo blanks or pretty much any sort of Paulownia you may need to build a board. And better still he builds a great board himself. So he understands what you are doing and might need to get the job done.
Give him a call  -  0411 676 854   or check him out : www.paulowniatimbersales.com.au

From skateboard to surfboard

As a follow up to a post of a week or so ago here is the finished board made from recycled skateboards.

12.5.2012 | First ride
I took out the board today. I never rode a hollow wood surfboard before. The waves were 
pretty small. I introduced the board to the water, and the first thing i noticed, is that it is 
really stable  in the water, and it floats perfect! Then i jumped on it, and started to paddle, it 
held me perfect on the water surface, and it was unbelieveble easy to paddle, and light in 
the water. I was stoked. I paddled out with a smile on my face, i sat down and waited for
 some set waves (they are bigger), and later when i noticed some changes on the horizon, it
 was time to paddle. I actually caught the first wave i paddled on and stood up. It was a
 right hand wave, and that was perfect since it's what i prefer cause then i can follow the 
waves better with my eyes, i can see the wave and the board all lined up. It was a great 
feeling, all this work paid off, it worked, and way above my expectations, im so happy!
Now im waiting for bigger cleaner waves so i can take it out again, cause im really gonna 
surf this thing, its not gonna be a wallhanger, no way! I made it so i could use it!



http://www.boboholm.com/


Sunday, May 27, 2012

Costa Norte Surfboards - The Dominican Republic

 Chris Cook is from the North Coast of the Dominican Republic and has started building wooden boards there. He starts with a solid wooden rail construction as above and then adds his frames, below to give the final deck and bottom contours.

 Not an easy process shaping solid rails and foiling them prior to the deck and bottom skins going on.

 Complete frame showing rocker , outline and foiling

 Bottom skin ready to go on

 Working out fin placement prior to positioning blocks inside the board for fin plugs

All starting to come together. I fyou would like to check out what else Chris has been up to :
www.costanortesurfboards.com.

Saturday, May 26, 2012

New board on the go.

 Tony Crimmins in Brisbane has another board on the go. He has tweeked his frame design and says it goes together well. All Paulownia frame that splices together and then needs very little to be almost self supporting. Check out what else he has been up to : www.tonycrimminstimbersurfboards.blogspot.com


Friday, May 25, 2012

Yellowfoot surfboards from the Black Forest , Germany

 The fine art of starting a rail band on a Balsa blank
 The guys at Yellow Foot organise these wooden board building classes where they work in Balsa and also build Paulownia Alaias

They are planning another building class in September / October 2012. 10 nights - 11 days . It looks like they are held at Les Aulnettes, Jard-sur-Mer, France
So if you are keen to find out more contact them :  http://www.yellowfoot.de/


 A happy group of guys who have some great looking boards from their efforts.


 Always good to get a surf in before or after class with your new found mates
 Yellowfoot build custom boards from Balsa and a have a team of riders who surf and travel the world giving them feedback. They will custom build any sort of board for you from Balsa .

This is their construction method of building the blank prior to laminating the rails.

Monday, May 21, 2012

Board Art Benefit

This looks like a very interesting art show where surfboard shapers and artists are teamed up to create art on foam and wooden boards as well.

Board Art Benefit – San Francisco

Where:
Driftwood Salon art gallery
39 Isis St.
San Francisco, CA 94103
(near 12th and Folsom Streets.)
click here for map
When:
One Night Only!
Saturday June 9, 2012
6-10 pm
What:
Art makers & Board shapers working together to benefit SurfAid International.
Live Music from Humboldt County’s Likwefi!
Kona Beers.

Check out more details on the list of shapers and artists : http://boardartbenefit.com/

Grow it - shape it - surf it

Paul Joske is incredibly passionate about anything wooden, and loves the aesthetic and ecological aspects inherent when working with timber. For years Paul has even sourced special timbers which he mills himself and uses as stringers in his custom surfboards. In 1995 Paul made the first ever Paulownia surfboard. It was chambered and painstakingly crafted. We had the pleasure of him telling us of this board at the wooden board night last year. He always has wooden projects on his mind and he told me of his latest one which has been a work in progress for some years now. He planted a paulownia tree and waited for it to mature to be large enough to build this board...


There are no short cuts to chambering a board. You need to have a well thought out plan.

The pieces of the puzzle come together

The final shaping and fine tuning

How sweet it is 

I am sure this will be no wall hanger.

For more on what Paul and Sage Joske are up to : www.vallasurfboards.com.au

The Italian job

Diego and Paulo are two good friends from Varazze in Northern Italy. They have started a 5ft 6" hollow wooden fish and have documented all the steps of the building process on their blog.


Lots of detail and interesting shots to share which is great to see.


The guys are down to shaping the rails and finishing touches. The exciting part of building a wooden board where you really get to see what it will look like. The rails and their shape give it a lot of character and defines the board.
So if you would like to check out what they have been up to go to their blog :  http://toawoodsurfboards.blogspot.it/

Thanks guys for sharing your project with us and I look forward to checking your progress.





Thursday, May 17, 2012

Nobby Wood Surfboards

Good friend Nobuhito  Ohkawa from Chiba in Japan has just had a great write up in the latest Blue magazine. He is a very passionate board designer and builder.

 He has developed his own building method and matches all timber and uses them next to each other from where they come from in the tree.Not just book matching but actual planks cut from the tree.

 He designs and builds a beautiful board with only a multi coat of marine varnish to finish it with.

 After he was out here for last years wooden board day he headed North to catch up with Tom Wegener at Noosa .
 He loves to surf , but has been very restricted like most Japanese surfers since the disasters of last year.

 As I said quite different , but very effective and a light board as a result


Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Finless

Noosa was rediculously perfect on April 25th. The finless sliders were having the best time and Tom Wegener surfed Alaia number 2 he shaped in June, 2005. Bayden Weir gets some sick waves too. It was great to see the finless come out when the surf got perfect.

Wooden Board Building Classes

 If you are keen to do a board building class or know someone that would like to do a class , now there are a couple of guys who are geared up to hold regular classes.
 " Tree to Sea Australia was formed as all good businesses are, over a cup of coffee at the local cafe. After running a few workshops last year with Rich Blundell the Tree to Sea founder from the USA, we decided to test the waters again this autumn to find out if there was still interest out there for people to make their own wooden surfboard at a workshop type environment. "

 "And there sure was. We where overwhelmed by the response. So with my good friend Gary Miller we have formed Tree to Sea Australia with the blessing of Rich Blundell. Together Gary and I we will be running Workshops year round as we try to meet the demand for this ever increasing activity. We are still amazed at the amount of people that are willing to come down to the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria and make their very own Wooden Surfboard. So lots more Workshops are being planned.

To find out more about our Workshops go to :
www.treetosea.com.au or email info@treetosea.com.au






Timber & Working With Wood Show

 
Timber & Working With Wood Show - Brisbane

When:   18, 19 & 20 May 2012
Where:  RNA Showgrounds, Bowen Hills
Times:   10 am - 5 pm Daily
Admission: Adult $16, Concession $14, Children (Under 14) when accompanied by an adult on Saturday & Sunday are Free.  Multi-Day pass discount available.
 Please note: all ticket purchases are non-refundable, thank you.

The Timber & Working With Wood Show is Australia's premier event for woodworking. From the weekend hobbyist and home DIY'er through to the most experienced enthusiasts, this is a show you cannot miss!  See the best in the industry, share their expertise, have fun trying new techniques and tools - and experience some of the world's finest timbers... all at the one location! 


Guys this is a great opportunity to find some good quality tools , hard to find timbers for nose and tail blocks , fins. Or to talk to guys who know all about timber and what you can do with it.
 

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

The unglassed hollow wooden fish

 Craig Carter from Northern New South Wales has just posted up on his blog his latest project to share with all.It is a very detailed explanation of his process and method of building this board.The following pics are just a sample of the detail and skill that has gone into building it.

 There is plenty of detail on how he has set up the build and the timbers he has used.

 You will see he is not short of clamps.






 Some very handy skills on display here. Nice.


 Full details on his mix of oils and the process

 He foiled and glassed his own fins for this project...


 A beautiful board with many hours of love and attention to detail having gone into it.

A big thanks to Craig for sharing his project and all the detail and knowledge he has put on his blog for us all to share. http://wollumbin-woodsticks.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/raw-fish-5-9-x-21.html