Day 3 at the Eco Village hollow wooden board course

Day 3 started with a bunch of the boys again catching some nice little winter sliders at The Alley before class .

Top and bottom skins sanded and the outline cut out ready for the next step.
Paul the centre of attention as to guys look on , lining up the frame to clamp the deck in place.
Clamped and ready to commit to gluing it all in place.
Herald and Paul's wife Pam getting set to place the frame on a 9 footer.
Steve Solomon a jeweller from Brisbane helps Greg Wheeldon an architect from Brisbane to get it all lined up.
We have a great space here in what will become the recycling centre for the Eco Village.
Tony decided to make the 7ft 3" into a pin tail
Gerard and Phil hold tight as Jesse gets the clamps all on.
Some nice colours in the cedar

The 9 footer coming along
Radha can't wait for the glue to go off and get the bottom on.
Jesse looks pretty pleased with the progress to date.

Day 2 of the hollow wooden board building at the Eco Village

Day two of the board building saw the guys peeling off the masking tape that held the wooden strips together while they laid up a 4 oz layer on what will be the under side of the deck and bottom skins.The resin brought out the colours on the woods that they had selected and the boys were pretty happy.

Tony Crimmins a policeman from Brisbane with the deck skin for his 7ft 3.
Jesse Watson from the Sunshine Coast eyeing off his handy work.
Gerard Hatton a solicitor from Newcastle seems pretty happy to be out of the office for a few days.
Young Jimmy Holt decided to create a bit more work for himself and do something different.
Jimmy and Jesse took some time out to trace round some of the other frames for future projects.
Herald Poland , is a Dutch national living in Japan and teaching English.
Greg Walton an architect from Brisbane getting down to the finer points with Paul Jensen.
Radha Pedersen prepping the frame components for his 5ft 10" fish
Looking fishy in the morning sun
Paul pulling the frames together with cable ties.

First day board building class at The Eco Village

The first day of the hollow wooden board building classes at The Eco Village in Currumbin has gone well. The guys all turned up with tools and keen to learn from Paul Jensen. An interesting mix of guys from all over and from their 20's to 50's.Herald even flew out from Japan to join us for the week. So the day was about meeting each other and getting familiar with the workshop , as we are working in what will be the recycling centre for the Eco Village community. Then it was down to selecting from the timber I supplied and sorting colour , book matching and grading. Paul was on hand to guide the guys and cut thinner strips where required. The boys taped these together with masking tape and then later in the day glassed what will be the underside of the strips.

Damo choosing and sorting his timbers for the top and bottom of his board. I had supplied Western Red Cedar and Paulownia finish sanded to 4mm thick and in various widths.
Jimmy Holt looks deep in thought as to how it will all come together.
Jimmy has Paul Jensen cutting a stack of boards at 45 degrees to do something different.
Phil Ascot , checking that he has enough width as he select a few sticks.
Radha didn't muck around and got into it pretty quickly and had his coming together well.

John Cherry and Terry Martin team up again

Here are some shots sent to me by master wood craftsmen John Cherry and shaper Terry Martin.It's a 9ft Simmons in chambered Balsa. A labour of love where the guys have turned a 60lb close to shape blank into a 24lb board after chambering. As you can see there is a lot of work involved in this process , but the result is an amazing tribute to the legacy that is Bob Simmons. Thanks for sharing guys. Check out John at his sites.

www.johncherrywoodcraft.com www.woodenshipsbyjcherry.blogspot.com

Hollow wooden board building with Paul Jensen at The Eco Village

Chris Walton and I outside the Eco Village

Monday morning 10 budding board builders will start their week long journey of building a hollow wooden board under the instruction of Paul Jensen. Paul is known as the guy who kick started the modern interest in building hollow wooden surfboards again. This will be his 10th class world wide , spreading his board building method and knowledge . He has travelled widely in the last couple of years with his classes. Chris Walton the managing director and creator of The Eco Village at Currumbin will also be doing the course. He sees this as very good fit with what he has achieved and is building at The Eco Village. I will keep you updated on the guys progress through the week.

Watt's Wood's , what timber weighs ?

Watt's Wood and Mouldings in Queensland have a great guide on their website to show what different timbers weigh. And then gives you a rundown on what it is used for and what sizes they have in stock. All very helpful when deciding on what you want to achieve without adding too much weight and also what density different species are.

Check it out at : www.wattswood.com.au/woodslist.asp These and other suppliers are on the right >

Vented leash plug... now here is a neat idea

Now this is a well executed idea that saves you drilling two holes in you board.

" Greenlight's "VXV" Vented Leash Plug provides full time Gortex venting of your wooden or EPS boards without an extra part to install in your deck.

EPS boards contain very small air pockets between the foam beads which expand and contract with changing tempertaures. If a board is dinged while surfing and water gets in, additional heat (leaving your board on the beach or in a hot car) will cause the water to change phase in to steam and extert pressure on the fiberglass skin - pushing the glass away from the foam (delamination).

Or if you leave the screw done up on your wooden board and leave it in the sun or the car , it may more than delaminate on you , it may blow apart.

The VXV is the slickest solution to relieving internal pressure in boards - both EPS and hollow wood boards.

The vent's screen size allows air (steam) out of the board to relieve internal pressure but will not allow water molecules in! No need to open and close the vent as needed in other surfboard venting systems. Just install and forget it... "

Each vented leash plug includes an install kit and instructions.

Check out: www.surfinggreen.com.au

Solid agave by Eli Mirandon

This is an Agave plant that they make Tequila from and they also have a stem that grows unbelievably fast then flowers.
This stem when dried out is a very light weight woody fibre , great for boards. You will see old ones dotted around in gardens and all of a sudden they flower and this is the result.
From this rough looking collection of Agarve stems can come some beatuiful grain patterns.
Love the rustic look that it has. Some wood all glossed up is just not the same.

A classis Eli Mirandon twin pin with bamboo fins. We had one of the original ones at the Fish Fry this year.

The Alaia piggy back

Now here is a guy who is thinking outside the square. I only hope it's not going to catch on at crowded beaches.

Tom's off to the UK to shape Alaias

Tom’s living the good life in Noosa , but this summer he’s dragging himself out of paradise and around Europe, making it to Cornwall in August 2009. He’ll be hosting three alaia day workshops at Revolver in Newquay (01637 875730 info@revolversurf.co.uk). Details as follows:

Dates: 21, 22 & 28 August, 10am start.
Cost: £325 per person (£100 deposit on booking). Places are limited to 8 people per workshop.
Includes: partially shaped alaia blank; the tools and guidance (provided by Tom and apprentice Matt) you’ll need to shape your blank; lunch (Tom’s legendary chilli, if you’re lucky); alaia DVD; private screening of Tom’s favourite alaia moments on film, plus Q&A session.

You might even get to catch a wave with Tom if the conditions are looking good.

Come along and share the stoke.

www.tomwegenersurfboards.com

Details and pics grabbed from Driftsurf

The Japanese boys are getting right into the Alaia

As was seen at the Japanese Fish Fry last month , the boys in Japan are really getting into the Alaia. I think even here in Australia we are going to see a lot of them this summer. As you can see there are new ideas being tested here with the channel bottom, now that should take the slide out of the sucker. Check out Naka and his mates at - www.kirimarusenbei.blogspot.com