Rough as guts New Zealand Cabbage Tree is the wood of choice for this project for Roger Hall to build a 7ft chambered Gun to showcase his talents at the Wooden Board Day next month.
The chambered beams all laid up ready to be glued together.
A long and detailed job with any sort of wood.
Even Cabbage Tree fins for this one.
A great grain and textured pattern to work with.
A board in the rough, ready for hour upon hour of shaping and hand sanding.No small task with timbers that are stringy and with differing textures to work with.
Another work of art, functional art at that by a great shaper of surfboards in any medium.
Roger Hall the quiet achiever in his element covered in dust, wood or foam. Come and check out his and others great work at the Wooden Board Day on Sunday 8th of August at Currumbin Alley here on the Gold Coast.
Jon Wegener just posted these great shots of this board on his blog and I asked him if I could share it on mine with you.
Jon said "This is Curt and my 4th hollow longboard. It is a 9'8'' with sequoia and paulownia lumber. This is one of the nicest looking surfboards I have ever seen and am very proud of it. Upon first review, I did not see any crystallization with the sequoia, always a worry. The Bing Jacobs factory glassed it. The fin came out insane, again no crystallization. Stoked. You need to see in person how cool the grain looks. It kind of looks 3 dimensional. I really want to keep and ride it, but I can't afford it. I am riding Number 1 paulownia hollow presently. Wood longboards rid really good. So much momentum and forgiveness."
Thanks Jon for sharing this great looking board with us.
Check him out at :http://wegenersfinlessfrontier.blogspot.com
I was out having a surf at the Alley today and ran into Herald and Steve who both did the wooden board building classes with Paul Jensen at the Eco Village last year. Herald lives in Japan and was out here for a family visit , but hopes to get back for the wooden bard day in August.The boys were sliding a few on Steve's Tom Wegener woodies.
My brother Lance was visiting from New Zealand so I gave him a mask and told him to hang on to the board for me. He got a few face fulls of shavings for his efforts. Thanks mate.
Coming together slowly... not a job to be rushed . The exciting but nervous part of the whole deal.
Pretty happy with where it is at now and will finish sanding and fine tuning under the lights of the shaping bay.
Duncan and Scott , long time mates decided to build a board each and have spent the last few months chipping away at getting them finished and ready for glassing.
The first waxing after getting lots of photos is always a milestone with a new board. But when it is one you have built yourself , its special. An exciting time , to see if it floats and then how she will go.
A great experience that you never forget , that first wave , that first session you have waited for forever.I said to the guys they will learn a lot about themselves doing this. They have. And now for the next project I hear.
" Its a 6'4 fish, paulownia with cedar stringer and some camphour accent strips on the deck. Shane Martins had the airbrush out again and has done some beautiful koi fish on the bottom.
Look forward to seeing you in a couple of weeks." Andrew has built this fine board for the Wooden Board Day on the 8th of August
Modern art , wood sculpture and letterbox slot ? No , fin and function.
Tears of stain...
Fin in or no fin at all .
Richard says " It has a full high low rail and can be flipped over, without the fin, and reversed around to have a different tail shape option." I like the way he thinks outside the box.Be sure to check it out at the wooden board day.
A great opportunity to mix and meet with other people interested in wooden boards and hear from some very talented individuals who build them.
Wooden boards come in many shapes and styles of construction. Tom Wegener, Roger Hall and Mike Connor will give a brief overview of their various methods of board construction and experiences. This will be followed by an open question and answer forum with the guys. A sample of what will be on display at the Wooden Board Day in the park at Currumbin Alley the next day.
Tom Wegener
An expatriate Californian lawyer turned surfboard shaper transplanted into the hills behind Noosa at Cooroy. He has spent the last 10 plus years building wooden boards and researching and finessing his love affair with the ancient Hawaiian Alaia
finless boards.” I hope the eyes of other shapers will be opened to the possibilities of applying the oldest methods in the world to today's cutting edge technologies.
"Historically in surfing, people have looked for lighter, faster technologies, thinking the holy grail is somewhere in carbon fibre and lighter, stronger materials.
"But my approach is to look as far back as we possibly can at the few surviving boards from the ancient Hawaiians and study what Captain Cook and his crew watched when they saw surfing for the first time, and draw inspiration from that."
Last year Surfing Magazine voted Tom “Shaper of the Year”. A great honour and recognition of his exploration into the heritage and roots of surfing that has inspired a new wave of innovation into this sport. " Wood is Good".
Roger Hall
A Kiwi with over 30 years of shaping boards in every shape and style, who has a well know reputation for innovation and quality. Roger has incorporated wood in to the handmade boards he builds for many years. Whether it is multiple stringers, nose and tail blocks, or beautiful inlays, Roger is a master of it all. He has always had a healthy supply of various timbers on hand and loves to combine them wherever possible.
A recent quote from Slide magazine sums up Roger very well. "Roger's enthusiasm and passion for finely crafting something more akin to a work of art is strongly evident. It would be a safe bet to say the prospect of bettering his craft is admirably motivating him much more so than the almighty dollar."
Mike Connor
A passionate woodworker who hails from Corndale, located west of Byron Bay. Mike’s interest in working with wood began some 25 years ago when he began experimenting and building various items as a hobby. He is largely self-taught although the opportunity to attend classes with local world-renowned cabinetmaker, Geoff Hannah, added inspiration and refinement to his creations. His love of wood has resulted in him exploring and collecting local and exotic timbers to the point of filling a large shed.
For the past 10 years Mike has pursued a full time career as a craftsman making various customised pieces ranging from furniture to woodwork benches, wooden tools and workshop jigs to make outcomes more accurate. Some teaching has followed and his desire is to share knowledge rather than keep it secret.
Today he specialises in crafting ukuleles and guitars as well as surfboards. This interest in surfboards has seen Mike link up with Bob McTavish to help recreate some of Bob’s well-known designs in wood.
To book a spot or buy some tickets for the night please contact the Surf Museum :
Tomewin Street , Currumbin , Opposite the entrance to the wild life santuary PH: 07- 5525 6380 Surf World Gold Coast is a not-for-profit museum dedicated to celebrating the history and culture of surfing.
Ride report - " Surfed for about 2 hours off the shops at Lennox in 1 - 2ft clean beachbreaks. didn't leak (very important), paddles pretty well, good volume, caught heaps of waves, took a while to get used the nose riding rocker, not as loose as I expected after riding the pintail yesterday however moving the fin up may fix that, trims nice and gets good momentum. Suspect that it will be at home in small point waves, would like it to be a bit more agile so will keep playing with fins until I get it feeling like I can change direction when I want. 10" greenough fin looks at home"
This years Wooden Surfboard Day will be Sunday 7th August
2015 Poster
Poster for 2012
Poster for 2011
Poster for 2010
Poster for 2009
The joy of wood and water...
Wooden surfboards have been around for a long time and it was probably on a simple piece of wood that man first enjoyed surfing waves somewhere in the world. It may have only been a crude piece of driftwood found on the beach that served as a way of catching that first wave, but the joy and connection felt with the sea then is no different from what we feel today. As someone who has crafted a surfboard from wood, taken it out and caught a wave on it, I can tell you that the first time you paddle in and get to your feet, is truly a timeless feeling of joy and achievement. I hope that in assembling this list of talented people will inspire you to have a go at building your dream board and also experience that feeling for yourself.
The humble New Zealand Cabbage Tree.
Rough as guts New Zealand Cabbage Tree is the wood of choice for this project for Roger Hall to build a 7ft chambered Gun to showcase his talents at the Wooden Board Day next month.
The chambered beams all laid up ready to be glued together.
A long and detailed job with any sort of wood.
Even Cabbage Tree fins for this one.
A great grain and textured pattern to work with.
A board in the rough, ready for hour upon hour of shaping and hand sanding.No small task with timbers that are stringy and with differing textures to work with.
Another work of art, functional art at that by a great shaper of surfboards in any medium.
Roger Hall the quiet achiever in his element covered in dust, wood or foam.
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