It's coming together

 Tony Crimmins who will be a speaker at the Gold Coast Surf Museum on Saturday night for the Wooden Board night has his latest board coming together under the masterful skills of one of our other speakers Peter "Mo" Moschogianis. Mo is glassing Tony's board for the weekend.

 Tony makes a beautiful boards and Mo is bringing it to life.

There are a few of us out there finishing boards for the weekend.

Keeping it simple

If you have been busting you balls to get a board finished for the wooden board day this weekend like I have then maybe it was just overkill. This guy looks like he is having a ton of fun riding the pantry door.

Balsa Simmons

 Ben from Wallbridge Surfboards in South Australia has shaped a sold balsa mini simmons and has a few pre shaped balsa blanks which he will bring on Sunday to the wooden board day

 Check out what Ben is up to at : wallbridge.com.au

The Alley on a toothpick 1949

Those early uncrowded days you might say.

Honey comb and wood

Honey comb routed into Cedar and Paulownia blank by Mike Grobelny from New Zealand. He will be dropping it off to me on Wednesday to bring along to the wooden board day next weekend.

mikegrobelny.tumblr.com

Yellowfoot boards from the Black Forest Germany

" YELLOWFOOT came to the art of shaping and crafting balsa surfboards during a three year stay in ecuador, the land of the balsa trees. Today, YELLOWFOOT balsa surfboards and paulownia alaias are handmade in the Black Forest, inspired by its natural surroundings and the background of traditional craftsmanship. With the passion and fascination for surfing and crafting balsa surfboards, YELLOWFOOT has grown into a big family of teamriders, photographers, soulsurfers, artists and friends. Experiencing nature’s playgrounds and sharing the pure joy of surfing are at the company’s heart."

At the end of September/ beginnning of October 2012 Yellowfoot will offer another Shaping-Workshop in Les Aulnettes (Longeville sûr Mer, France/ Vendée). Next to the balsaboard workshop, we're proud to offer the Alaia workshop for the Shapecamp. If you want to enjoy ten days of surfing wooden surfboards without shaping - come with us on wooden surfari and explore the beautiful spots of the region!

 Further information: www.yellowfoot.de

 During the Contest of the German Universities Surf Contest two fourth place finishes (Anne Rösberg/ Open Women and Jeroen Jansen/ Open Men) and one top ten placement (Jeroen Jansen/ Longboard Men) were achieved by the Surfers on YELLOWFOOT- Boards. NICE ONE!

http://yellowfoot.blogspot.de

Ventana Surf Santa Cruz

 Tyler Frome and Martijn Stiphout

makes some great boards in Santa Cruz at their Vetana Surf Co. 

 Born from a passion for surfing, the ocean and the environment, Martijn and Tyler started building their own boards to marry these elements together. They made a conscious choice to avoid toxic foam and polyester and started working with wood, experimenting with traditional and modern board shapes, fine-tuning construction methods and honing their wood-working and shaping techniques.

 Martijn and Tyler build hand-made custom boards, wooden hand-planes, and other wood products. Each product is unique and is built to last.

 Whilst the boards are still coated in Epoxy resin, the wooden construction method produces very little waste: almost every piece of scrap wood finds life elsewhere, the saw dust is collected and recycled and Martijn and Tyler are actively researching and testing less harmful cloths and resins. Recycled wood boards are in the works for the future and fortunately there are promising developments with bio-based resins so that an entirely environmentally safe production will be possible in the future.

 Check out what they are up to at : ventanasurfco.com

Unique M C Escher surfboard goes into the British surf museum art show

" David Forsyth of Driftwood Surfboards in Cornwall has kindly loaned a stunning hand-crafted longboard inspired by the work of renowned artist M.C. Escher.
It took David around three months to create this beauty, which is now the centrepiece of our 2012 exhibition ‘The Art of Surf‘, displaying 200 years of art in surfing.
The Escher board is hollow construction following the tradition of the late surf innovator Tom Blake, brought bang up-to-date using computer aided design (CAD) technology.
The deck features 2,000 individual reptiles cut out and pieced together like a jigsaw – each has 24 carat gold inlaid eyes! Paua and mother of pearl are used for the logos, with gold leaf pin lines. The surfboard is shaped from driftwood, giving this reclaimed timber a new life and the fins are hand foiled from lacewood.
David had to gain permission from the M.C. Escher Foundation to use the famous lizard design, and it is a truly unique and beautiful piece of art – as well as being a fully functional modern longboard. We really stoked to have it on display over the summer at the award-winning Museum of British Surfing in Braunton, North Devon."

Balsa boards for the wooden board day

 A sample of some Ecuadorian Balsa board that will be on display in a couple of weeks at the Wooden Board Day. These ones are from Shane Palethorpe from the Sunshine Coast.

The Jensen belly board

Paul Jensen just finished his latest board " Did the veneer bottom first…PSA it to the bottom ply…Built a stringerless frame…Hot glued the plain ply deck to the frame …Reinforced the inside plies with CF and glass tape…Poly U glued the bottom on…Rails per usual…"

 Materials: 1/8” Meranti ply frame and skins…Scrap veneer on the bottom…Store bought cork and 1/8” bending ply for the rails…Leftover glass and resin…

"Considered making it finless but sought advice and followed it…Plywood fins set up 7.5” toed in 0.5”…

Vented with a stainless underdeck vent…Nylon screw will seal vent…Leash plug is mounted from the bombproof inside…

The planhape is a combo Greenough / Parmenter …I made a thicker hollow balsa version six years ago and though I like that one, it felt too thick for my local waves…Thicker and not enough rocker for our mostly beachbreak waves…"

"So this board is significantly thinner with generous rocker…The float isn’t all that critical with a bellyboard using fins for getting around…maybe an advantage…As is the weight…Never gonna get vertical or bust-an-air, so the heavier  than foam weight should get me into waves easier and diminish the chop effects…

That’s the theory, can’t wait to ride it…"

 

To checkout what else Paul has been up to : hollowsurfboards.blogspot.com

SUP from the Great Lakes

 Morning Grant,
" Just wanted to drop you a quick line and let you know that I check out the wooden surfboards blog daily. What an awesome place to get the creative juices flowing. I also wanted to share some pics of my latest project with you. I just finished my 4th SUP for a friend here in Michigan.Keep up the good work sharing the stoke!"

Cheers from the great Lakes,
Ian Mortensen
www.honu-boards.blogspot.com.au

 It is great to see guys building boards all over the world and using them to enjoy the water where they live. Guys from all walks of life and backgrounds chipping away at a project for months on end through the winter to have a new toy for the up coming summer. A couple of mates doing it together. Or someone in a hi rise in the city building it the spare room or balcony. Thanks guys for sharing your project and story.

 Ian looks like he has done a nice job and having fun on the lakes.

Foam and wood

 

The tail end of a 9ft Hot Curl by Roger Hall in New Zealand. Roger won't make this years wooden board day unfortunately but who can forget his boards from past years.

www.surfline.co.nz

Wooden board building classes

The boys have a couple more classes on the go. Click on poster above for bigger view.
 If you are interested get in touch for more details.
Rob and Gary
Tree to Sea Australia
www.treetosea.com.au
info@treetosea.com.au
Ph. 0409 211751

The Dovetail longboard

Ribs don't need to be thick if you have lots of them and small spacing. They primarily only hold the shape and keep the top and bottom skins apart. You have that much contact surface that you have a lot of structural strength. This is a great demonstration of that theory in practice.

 Geoff Moase at Dovetail Surfboards here on the Gold Coast makes a nice board with lots of detail, care and attention to his workmanship. It is easy to see his skills here even in the frame detail which will never be seen by anyone except himself as he builds it.

Nice work, clean and simple when it all comes together.

 Plenty of clamps and a good thing that it is on a rocker bed to help take all that extra weight as he builds the board.

Nice outline.

 

 The butt , pre tail block and finishing.

 Nice detail work gives a board an edge.

 A sweet looking board that weighs in not much heavier than a foam version. It is very light for a wooden board of this construction method.

Check out Geoff's blog to see other projects he has on the go. dovetailsurfboards.blogspot.com

And remember if you are after Paulownia timber raw or milled into panels , rail bands or for framing
Geoff can help you there as well. paulowniatimbersales.com.au