Mikes pig nearly done

Last summer Mike Connor and I shaped and glassed a board each to test out some design ideas.

Mike went with the classic pig shape of the 60's. He loves the feel of it and decided it was the ideal test board to then build in wood. 9ft 6" x 23 1/2" x 3 1/8".

Here she is nearly ready to head off to the glasser next week to be ready for the wooden board day.

All Paulownia and a touch of Cedar.

Ready to be trimmed up and shaped.

Plastic wrap is a great for holding things with odd angles and shapes that you can't clamp real easy.

Tail blocks on the same way.

All hands on deck to get the rails glued on and in place.

Check out the finished board in a couple of weeks at the Wooden Board Day at Currumbin Alley Sunday 8th August. Mike will also be one of the guest speakers at the Surf Museum on Saturday night prior to the day in the park.

The Karl Mackie fish story

Karl lives in Cornwall the hub of surfing in the UK some might say and this is his story.
" Cheers for showing an interest in my boards, Well...I had been making my own foam boards for a while, experimenting with single fins, Quads and Twin fins, inspired by the greats from the ‘Morning of the earth’ period, I was getting more & more interested in going back and building from raw materials, and surfing all kinds of crafts."

" I went traveling in 2009 and ended my trip in Noosa Heads, While staying with a friend I met a Noosa local called Parish Watts (vintagepacificsurfcraft.blogspot.com), an established board builder of the vintage tooth pick and handplane. I returned to Cornwall, UK full of ideas and inspired to make a wooden surfboard using materials from my local area, the plan was to build a wooden surfboard as eco friendly and cost effective as possible. "

" The board has been made almost entirely from Ply, apart from the rails where I have used pine strips. The top and bottom of the board is from a whole piece of 2mm ply, I would have loved to have used strips of good quality wood, however in the UK the cost would have run away with me. The tail is made from Balsa and the rails from cork. "


" Handplaning in the the UK is hardly recognized, certainly in Cornwall its still very new, i have been a bodysurfer for years now and I wanted to take what I had learnt in Noosa and apply it here, My Handplanes are made from boat builders high quality Gaboon Marine Ply, there are 4 boards in the line up, based on the aesthetics of the fish, the rounded Pin, the mal and for smaller hands the Mini, each board is hand crafted with channels, concave and hard/soft rails, I finish them untreated or coated in Raw Linseed oil. "

" By far the most exciting time in surfing for me has been the shift into wooden board building, the possibilities and the stoke from building from nothing is a wonderful thing to treasure."

It is a small world we live in. Parish Watts was at the Wooden Board Day last year with a great display of his wooden tooth picks. It is a shame Karl can't be here this year as well. But you will be able to check out Parish and many other great boards for sure.

Check out Karl's site here : www.cloudsalt.blogspot.com

Nobby in Japan flat out to finish his single fin

Nobuhito Ohkawa and Paul Jensen at last years Wooden Board Day with Nobby's beautiful all Paulownia longboard.He built two longboards for last years gathering.

Nobby is in the final stages of building a 6ft single fin to bring out for this years Wooden Board Day.Herald Poland who was here on the Gold Coast the other week took a poster back to Japan for Nobby

Check out Nobby's work at : www.nobbywoodsurfboards.com

Franks progress report...

Frank has been busy building his fish at home in the garage and just sent in these updates to share.
" I cut all the short pieces @ 45 degrees , taped them together and edge glued them, a total of 96 pieces. "

" The four composites so created were then glued to the frame like the other planks."

" And as you can see one can never have too many clamps.Because the two timbers , i.e. the paulownia and the western red cedar do not bend equally under the same pressure I had to insert an extra 3/4 length stringer on each side to provide a fulcrum to bend the 45 degree pieces evenly to make the curve of the deck as it rolls down toward the rails. "

" Near the tail I inserted a foam block on each side to anchor the fin boxes. There is also a foam block to take the gore-tex leash plug/vent near the V of the tail."

" Now I am starting to laminate the rails, starting with the V in the tail. The rails will be alternate layers of paulownia & w.r. cedar. I have also started on the fins, working on them while waiting for the glue used in the lamination to set."

" I don't know if the board will be finished by August the 8th, but I will bring it along regardless."

Frank is a bus driver here on the Gold Coast. Loves his surfing and has been building the board between shifts on the buses. He has set himself a tricky job with all the detail with different timbers and angles , but the result looks great . This is his second board and just shows once you get the bug you are willing to challenge yourself to build something personal and different.

Great job mate and we look forward to catching up in August.

Roger Hall ever the craftsman.

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.
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 Wegeners great looking longboard

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

Herald back for a surf.

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.

Time to get the rails down

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.

Two mates with shared memories for a lifetime

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.

Check out the boys journey at :

www.journeyinwood.blogspot.com

Andrew Wells from Grown Surfboards with another great board.

" 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

www.grownsurfboards.com.au