Paulownia is a fast growing tree that is idea for surfboards.It's light , strong and waterproof in salt water. Ideal for surfboards.
Nice little lump there to start with.
This is the setup of a portable saw mill.
You just set up over the log and whittle away at the log in slices.
The centre of a Paulownia tree is interesting as it has a hollow core just like a piece of bamboo. It even has segments even though they have no effect in the grain pattern of the timber.
Not a bad outcome.
Roger Hall from New Zealand just loves to build wooden boards that showcase his skills and once he gets started he is a driven man on a mission.He has been a great supporter of mine with the Fish Fry and The Wooden Board Day. So I asked a good friend and his blogger Mike to send me a few pictures and words of his latest project.
" Getting a txt message from my friend Roger Hall at 5.00am about a covert raid on locally grown Agave storks is not unusual, in fact it is all part of the fun ride that I have been on with Roger for nearly a decade."
" Roger, my good friend, great surfer and amazing shaper has been on the hunt for all and any species of timber that he can get his hands on was rather stoked when Phil a long-time friend and Ruakaka local visited the Surfline Custom Surfboards factory with three Cabbage tree trunks recently, so with a stash of timber and the Wooden Boards Day in Currumbin AU just around the corner Roger got thinking."
"A chambered Cabbage Tree timber gun with Agave feature beams on each side ?, yip that sounds a good idea !', and so weeks later after milling, drying, gluing, splitting, chambering and re-gluing Roger has a fully shaped wooden big wave charger.
"Sadly this year I will not be at the Wooden Boards Day to help Roger showcase this board and a few little surprises he has up his sleeve but there is no doubt in my mind, that this craft, not unlike the others he has displayed at previous events will have jaws dropping.
Mike will be unable to come over for the Wooden Board Day as he is about to become a dad again , so busy times ahead for him and his family.
I Designed a fish for Frank to build as his second board and he has just sent me some pics and info to share .
" This is going to be a more lightweight build than the longboard, with the frame constructed of 4mm marine ply and having only one 4mm centre stringer. At the beginning of the frame construction it was not nearly as rigid as the longboard, but once the rails were on it was much improved "
The frames seem to be coming together really well.
" For the centre board for the deck and bottom I wanted something strong as well as contrasting, choosing the hardwood amoora. With the amoora glued on top and bottom of the centre stringer and having fibreglass fillets on all four inside corners there is now a very strong I-beam the length of the board."
" The remainder of the board will be built using paulownia and western red cedar with two hardwood fins. "
Frank has gone with adding each plank one at a time rather than a skin layup as this is what he is comfortable with. There are no right and wrong ways of doing any of your building project. We all have different ideas and amounts of time , tools and resources to put to use.So just be comfortable with what you are doing and nut it out your way is fine.
The more clamps the better some times...Make sure that you have a breather hole drilled at this point ,as once that bottom skin goes on , she all becomes a sealed unit and will be under pressure with any temperature changes . I have seen boards let go and concaves turn into nose bubbles. Not pretty and very disappointing after all the hard work you have gone through.Also be sure that you have holes in your frames linking all chambers of the board for the same reason.
Well the bottom skin was all glued down and clamped up on the Alley Slider.
Got the trim router onto the fish and knocked off the overhang on the rails top and bottom. The rail band acts as a guide. The glues makes for a bumpy outline .
One side nearly cleaned up.
Small sharp block plane is the answer.
The home made shaping stand comes in handy here.
Pretty good now , all the glue gone and planed down to the clean pre shaped foam. A nice sand and check the outline is flowing and true. This is a very telling part of things so far. Up till now in the build it has all been internal and a structural focus. But now what you do is there for all to see. If you are to run a cedar pin line say, then it will be highly visible as to how smooth that outline is.It is now also that you get a true sense of what the board will weigh , look and feel like as it is now a 3D version of all the 2D pieces of the jigsaw puzzle you have been handling.
Well she is a big board and with an 8mm deck skin we needed 75 clamps to pull her down snug. We could have gotten away with less but if you have them it all helps.
Pretty well trussed up. Make sure you have everything level and square prior to the deck going on as once it goes on , that is it.
The foam in the tail gives you so much more glue area to hold the thin pieces in place.
The larger pieces of foam will be for the FCS fin plugs to go into and the foam in front of the butt crack will be to take the leg rope plug.The other foam will be to glue the V of timber onto that forms the fish tail block.
Yes winter is here once those westerly winds start blowing off the hills inland from Byron Bay.The wooden blocks down from the nose is for the goretex breather to go into.
Big board , big bugger hanging onto it.
This feels like a sweet little board and a great little experiment to share with some mates.
Strong as this little one.
The bottom going on the fish with it's slightly rolled V under the nose to a flat section under the front foot and a double concave and V out through the tail.
Mike resawing some great looking Paulownia for decks and railbands.
The 10ft "Alley Slider" deck skin being sanded down to 8mm on the 600mm wide drum sander.This means that when it is glued down I will not have to touch it with sandpaper at all.
Mike finishing the first run of glue up the stringer to get the deck down on the 5ft 10" fish.
Every guy needs a mate to keep him company in the shed all day. This is Waddy short for Wadkin ( a brand of bandsaws ) He is a Jack Russell and a great little guy.
Getting a few planks through the thicknesser , ready to be glued up side by side to form deck skins up to 600mm wide.
The fish with the deck on with its concave out through the tail.
6mm deck pulled down no worries.
Mike had a visit from a mate of his John Buckham who builds guitars . Just unreal looking and sounding guitars, where would you start to build one of these ? Anyway he was off to the Guitar show in Brisbane and spent the night catching up and playing a few tunes on his great sounding instruments.
The beauty of the right gear sure makes the job and the possibilities easier. Here Mike uses his resaw bandsaw to take off slices to become deck and bottom skins.
Mike is gluing up planks to be deck skins and I am adding a foam block to the nose to add surface area to glue to.
Polyurethane glue is the best thing invented. It goes off with moisture and dries fast. The glue ends up the same colour as the wood and because it foams up it goes into all spaces if there are any. Great stuff , so look for Fix It Mate or Pur Bond as they are water proof.
Frame all glued up with blocks glued in for fin box and second rail band on.
Small blocks back from the nose is to take the gore tex breather.
Fish all glued up , don't forget to have holes linking all spaces and those spaces with the top and bottom on become air spaces and they all need to breath .
Tail section foam is to add support in the finer areas once the V for the fish tail is cut in.Second 6mm rail band is on as well and this really starts to stiffen things up.
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