Patagonia Burleigh and Dovetail Surfboards get together for a DIY handplane clinic

"A beautiful Saturday afternoon, clear skies and absolutely no waves within a 3 hour drive. Fortunately, The crew at Patagonia Burleigh Heads we were getting woody. Our group was stoked to be creating and reinventing the handplane with Geoff Moase at Dovetail Surfboards HQ.

 This was our follow up DIY to last year’s piapo day, again with Dovetail. Because of continued interest from customers and friends, we wanted to get a bigger class and spend some time in the workshop. That coupled with an organic sizzle and a few cold ones, our second wood event went wonderfully.

After general housekeeping info, (and showing off his quiver of wood boards) Geoff took us through the step by step’s. Everyone had a pretty good understanding of what they wanted to do. Channel bottoms, hydro foil bottoms, bat and moon tails, sharp swallows. WOW!! The imagination was intense and we could tell, this was about to get fun. A group of 18 was larger than expected, and the work stations were chock a block of sandpaper, pencils, clamps and jig’s. When the tools fired up you could hardly hear what your mate next to you was going on about, but you just couldn’t stop smiling.
When we got lunch going, most of the guys had finished their channels, jigged out outlines, and were getting into the sanders. Grant and I did a walk around to get people around the food table, lunch was ready. But they were so stoked and just wanted to keep at it. I peered over at Geoff and he was wiping sweat from his brow from running between tables and assisting where he could, Geoff was in his total element helping people out. Luckily their stomachs won out and we broke for a 20 minute feed and chat. It was great to see a group that were all very happy to participate and join in.
Nearing the end of the day, everyone had completed their rails , hand inserts and straps, and finish sanding. Some dyed their planes and Ruben, oh Ruben, he took the blow torch to his. It turned out sick! We slowly gathered around, had a quick debrief, special thanks to Geoff for his time and help, and shared stories of recent travels and fun. Another great day with great people. Thanks for your support of Patagonia Burleigh Heads and looking forward to doing this DIY thing again!"