Richie Berto, building some fine boards in Sydney

Richie sent me these pics and not much detail, but by the looks of things he has done a fine job. He describes himself as a " very amature backyard timber surfboard builder" , well mate you are doing mighty fine.

Ben Smith has built another beautiful chambered board.

I met Ben at the Wooden Surfboard Day in August , he is a young guy who came up for the weekend from Goolwa in South Australia.He brought along his first ever board , a very nice chambered Paulownia fish. Great job for a first board. But he has stepped it up with this second one.

" Gday Grant, it was great to meet you at the WSB Day in August, and I've gotta say I appreciate the trouble you went to to put on the day. I learned a lot, met some top blokes and all round had a great time! It was also a pleasant surprise to see my photo up on your blog so thanks for that too!

Finished my second board the other day, thought i might send you some pics if your interested to see."

" Chambered paulownia fish with some modern contours on the under and rails. Again (like my first) i used no glass and this time used an ultra hard wearing polyurethane/polyester product to build up a super gloss finish rather than epoxy.

5'11'' x 20.75'' x 2.5'' 50/50 and slight concave in nose leading into deep single concave and 70/30 rails in the front foot region to moderate spiral vee and hard rails out the tail..
I put in plugs for a thruster setup and some for a set of "D's" that can double as a quad option so the possible fin setups are infinate.
In the end the total weight including fins was 5kg, .4 of a kilo heavier than my 7S Super Fish.
Surfed it at the Middleton Point down here on the SA South Coast in some 1-1.5' glass at dusk the day of completion and had a blast! Speed + Manuverability = Red Fish."


" I've started work on my third, I'm in the process of copying a friends 9'0'' 'Stephen Slater' Donald Takayama all-rounder, this time in the Hollow Wood style of construction. I like the chamber method a lot for the strength, the look and for the fact that i can actually shape the board by hand but the waste is unbelievable so its time to give another method a go."

" Great work on the blog Grant, its a real source of inspiration to me and I'm sure many others."

Ben Smith

Ben, thanks for the kind words and for sharing you thoughts and great board with us.

Wooden Surfboard Raffle for Samoan Tsunami Appeal

Bobby Crisp from Wellington New Zealand has just started a raffle to raise funds for the Samoan Tsunami Appeal. $5 per ticket or 5 tickets for $20 to win a wooden surfboard to the value of $2,000. Raffle closes 22nd October, winner drawn 23rd October.

So get hold of Bobby:

Bob Crisp

Deluxe Industries Board Co.
Web: www.deluxeindustries.co.nz
Blog: deluxeindustries.blogspot.com
Email : bobcrisp@deluxeindustries.co.nz
Postal : 164 Derwent Street, Island Bay, 6023, Wellington, New Zealand
Mobile : ++64 21 267 4695

Good on you mate. Good to see the boys looking after our island cousins.

Frank has finished his board

Frank Kaczmarek snapped his favourite foam board so he set about building his first wooden board by slicing up his foam one to get the templates to build the wooden one.You can see his project in a couple of earlier posts. Frank also brought his unfinished board to the wooden board day. It created a lot of interest as people were very interested in the frames and what was happening inside.
" Well, The board is finished (at last) . I ended up doing all the glassing and final polishing myself, and while not as good as a professional job I'm glad that I did everything myself.
I've had a couple of surfs on it at the sandpumping jetty on The Spit on Sunday and Monday mornings. It takes a bit of getting used to and is of course heavier than my former fibreglass board it was modelled on.
I'm pleased with the result and will be surfing it regularly. I'm getting a lot of interest and questions from other surfers who want to know about the construction and what sort of timber was used. Now comes the task of tidying up the garage so my wife can put her car in there again.
Thank you for your help and advice and I look forward to seeing you at the next wooden board gathering if not sooner somewhere in the surf. "

Herold builds himself an Alaia as well

Herold , a Dutchman living in Japan , teaching English to the Japanese, still with me. Anyway he came out to the Gold Coast to do Paul Jensen's wooden board building classes at The Eco Village. Built a great board to take home with him and then decided he needed an Alaia. So off he went and spent the day with Richard Harvey to shape an 8ft Alaia.

If you would like to do the same or buy a blank , get hold of Richard.

info@harveysurf.com or 0414 557 624

Bob Babcock builds his first Alaia for his best friend Mike..

"This is the 1st I’ve built, poplar and pine, 7′-6″, 17″ tapering to 16″, 3/4″ thick. The pieces are doweled together with dowels spaced at 4″ on center…overkill I think….but the boards will break before the joints do.

A little pyrography on the deck, both as artwork and to provide grip. Most of it with a Hawaiian tattoo influence."

"This is with just two coats of oil on her. 4 more to go and a buffing. I had fun building this and am going to start another shortly.

Much thanks to Tom Wegener for sharing his stoke and wisdom."

Mike must be a great friend as you have done a nice job on this board. Bob is from the Cape Cod area USA.

Great little Vid

Chad Waldron's Momentary Film Regarding a Wooden Board from Waldron Bros Production on Vimeo.

Hand made in Brooklyn New York

A nice clean example of a hollow wooden board / Paul Jensen method for sure.By Malwitz Custom Surfboards. Rick builds custom boards and is also a freelance designer / animator.
Also check him out here : http://driftsurfing.com/blog/?p=886 www.malwitzsurfboards.com

Mark Nunan's new knee board

" Thought you might be interested in my latest creation. Hollow wood kneeboard slab, 6'8 by 24 by 3. I sliced up an old baltic pine table and vj boards for the deck , paulownia rails and bottom. The fin boxes are jarrah(surprisingly easy to make). It's a big boy cruiser with wave catching ability and speed the main objectives(as an experiment). Had one surf so far and it is obvious it needs the side fins. "

Greg Wheeldon's board ready to get wet.

Greg is an architect from Brisbane who took the week off to do the Paul Jensen Hollow Wooden board building class I organised at The Eco Village Currumbin. Greg took his time and put in a lot off extra effort to create a very nice board. A great first effort and he is keen to build one for his son now. And that is what this is all about. It was a great experience for Greg and now to build a board at home with his son and share in something that they will enjoy and remember for a long time to come.

Greg chose some nice timbers here, Paulownia and Western Red Cedar.
Designed and shaped his own fin from off cuts
Nice touch with the leggie attachment.
Great glass job by Miami Longboards on the Gold Coast
Rails cork and 4mm bending ply

Wooden Surfboard Day video clip by Geoff Charters

Some nice Alaia sliding

Shapers night at the new Gold Coast Surf Museum - Wednesday 9th September

The legendary Bob McTavish will be amongst the line up of guest speakers at Surf World Gold Coast’s “Shaper’s Night at the Museum” that will be attended by the who’s who of Gold Coast surfboard shapers on Wednesday, 9 September 2009 from 6.00pm.

The event will give shapers the chance to come together for a relaxed night at Surf World where shapers and the general public will get the chance to interact in what could be the first of an annual event for the recently opened museum.

When asked to be one of the guest speakers, McTavish replied: “I’d be stoked and honoured to speak about shaping at the museum. I’m keen to support your museum. It’s really cool.”

Bob McTavish started surfing when he was 12 and began shaping at the age of 17 and was the inventor of the vee-bottom surfboard. He was Queensland state champion in 1964, 1965 and 1966, and was runner up in the Australian National Titles in 1966. Bob has appeared in about 10 surf films. Australia’s Surfing Life magazine selected Bob as the “Most Influential Shaper of All Time” in 1992. In 1996 he was inducted into the Australian Surfing Hall of Fame.

The night is being held as a non profit event and all proceeds will go towards Surf World Gold Coast. Guests will get the opportunity to hear first hand how shaping and surfing evolved over the years and where the industry is heading and will take a tour through the museum’s big surfboard exhibition.

It promises to be a night not to miss. The public are urged to book their tickets quickly as numbers are limited and should sell out quick. Tickets can be booked by sending an e-mail to shapersnight@hotmail.com. Tickets are on sale for $10 each and will include snacks and refreshments.

The event is supported by Southern Cross University through their Diploma of Sport Management (Surfing Studies) course.

For further information contact:

Nikki Jackson Ph: 0432 743 599

Karen Hutchinson Ph: 0439 226 057

Aussie Ply Champs

How's this for a great little get together ? The South Coast Alaia & Bellyboard Society are organising a day of sliding the waves on ply and wood.

" Our first Event is a day of Bellyboarding, Ye Olde English Style. All are welcome, entry is free. Prizes will be awarded for Best outfits and funkiest Board graphics. Boards Must be under 5ft, wooden and preferably handmade. There will be plenty of loaner boards for anyone who wants to come along and join in."

The after-party will be at the Red Till Bar/Cafe directly across the road from the beach. There will be delicious and reasonably priced food and drinks, as well as the Reggae and Dub Stylings of DJ's Alpine Son and Beloki! A fun time will be had by all!!!

For any info or to register, email Billy-joe at taosurfboards@mail.com

Riley Surfboards Australia have a great stock of fins for your wooden boards.

Mark Riley has been busy making heaps of fins to suit all types of wooden boards.
You can buy a blank and foil it up yourself.
Or order whatever glue up you want...
Big buggers for tankers
Quad sets




So check them out at - www.balsasurfboardsriley.com.au

Wooden Board building class on TV

Local Gold Coast Tv channel 9 covered the wooden board building class at The Eco Village Currumbin the week leading up to the Wooden Board Day at the Alley.10 guys built boards under the direction of Paul Jensen form Washington State.

Alaia Groove

Alaia Groove - Journey of the Alaia - Helmet Cam from Kerry Down on Vimeo.

The quickie Alaia by Chrles Loiselle in Hawaii

Check out his other board building at - www.islanddreamssurf.blogspot.com

The easy way to hang and display your board

Plantation Paulownia

As you can see Paulownia is a tough and robust material to build surfboards from.

For more info and to get your supplies check out : www.portphillip.com.au