The Kiwi boys are hard at it building boards

In Auckland Mike Grobelny has been hard at it gluing up blanks to process using his unique milling and shaping methods to be able to bring some of his boards for the Wooden Board Day in a couple of weeks.

Here is a freshly cut Cedar blank underway, a bit heavier than Paulownia but a nice clean cut.

Paulownia blank with all the chambers linked back to the gortex breather leash plug combo.

The process...

Up North , Roger Hall is flat out selecting timbers , gluing and chambering
to create more of his wonderful boards.

A very time consuming and exacting process with many hundreds of pieces of
timber glued together.

You know the outcome will be unreal.

Just some of the machining and preparation that goes into it.Hours of work before
you can start to shape a board.

This is a 9'0'' reproduction chambered Redwood Hot Curl,
Roger just finished this off yesterday

Just down the coast from Roger , John Sutcliffe has been building his first fish.

This is Johnny's Kahikatea Twin Keel Fish, getting glassed at Surfline at the moment,
will have translucent green twin keel glass ons.

The inside scoop supplied by good mate Mike Cunningham who will be bringing a few of his hand planes and maybe a belly board.I haven't heard from Bobby Crisp if he is coming as yet . A be rap for the Kiwi boys who love to come over and slide a few warm winter waves as well. It is not that easy jumping on a plane with board bags full of wooden boards. Thanks guys for your support and the great effort that goes into it.We look forward to catching up and checking out your latest creations.

John Cherry " The Master "

Just received a note from John Cherry about what he has been up to lately.
" Hi Grant,
It’s always a treat to see your name pop up in my in box. It always means something cool or creative.God, how I wish I could join you all down there for this one. I just sent (3) vertical display racks to Brookvale. NSW for some of John Atwills special boards. I wish I could have shipped myself with them."

" I have been delightfully (usually) busy for the last 4-5 months. One of the projects was for myself, an 8-0, 70’s style, lightening bolt-inspired, single-fin gun out of solid agave cactus with Peruvian walnut stringers. The fin is koa, maple and Macassar ebony. I glassed it double 6oz cloth on both sides. It still only weighs about 14 lbs "

" I had a good stash of agave that I had collected or harvested over the previous 1-1/2 years. I spent a long time trying to decide what kind of board would be appropriate for my special stash of wood. The 70’s pipeline gun denotes a special period and place in surfing history and of my own surfing history…..so I went with it."




" I truly wish I could join you guys and gals and see some of the incredibly cool stuff that I know will be on display at your 3rd Annual Wooden Surfboard Day. I send my warmest regards to everyone."
Sincerely, John Cherry
John truely is one of the masters of wooden boards that we have out there to be inspired by. Lets hope one day we get to see the big fella down under. Thanks for your continued support John.

John Cherry Woodcraft ~ Cherry Surfboards
www.johncherrywoodcraft.com
www.woodenshipsbyjcherry.blogspot.com

The Spanish " Lightning Bolt "

This is a note I have just received from Aitor Veguillas who lives in Bilbao, the North of Spain about his beautiful wooden board.
" This is my second surfboard is a replica of a "lightning bolt", I started in November 2010 and finish in July 2011, I am very happy surfing the "singing bolt," she hisses when surfing, and it is son fun someone told me that could be the fins, and sanding could solve it, but who wants to silence a surfboard that sings.Not me."

"It's made of plywood ribs and stringer, and paulownia and cedar for the deck and bottom, and rails only paulownia. I shaped it and watsay the glass."

" Measures 7.8 "x 20" x 3 1 / 4 "has a very good bouyancy, a easy and safe " take off ", its fast, and turns very easily."

Its a great looking board and a very nice glass job to finish it off. Bamboo fins and all.Check out his video , which is a great insight into the building of the board.

Singing Bolt from Aitor veguillas on Vimeo.

You can check out his blog : www.woodsurfboard.org

And the guys who glassed his board : www.watsay.com

Wooden Surfboards Day 2011 & night at the Gold Coast Surf Museum

On Saturday night 6th of August will be a get together at the
Gold Coast Surf Museum.

This is great opportunity to meet other people interested in building and riding wooden surfboards of all kinds. It is also a chance to hear from some very talented individuals who build them. Building a wooden board is not an easy thing to do but a very rewarding journey. Mitchell Rae, Paul Joske and Mike Grobelny will give a brief overview of their backgrounds and experiences with building boards. This will be followed by an open question and answer forum with the guys. This is just a sample of the talented shapers locally and internationally you’re likely to meet at the Wooden Board Day in the park at Currumbin Alley the next day.

Mitchell Rae

Mitchell is based at Scotts Head on the NSW mid coast and has recently completed a small factory in nearby Urunga. He has been shaping for more than 30 years and favours balsa when making wooden boards. Over the years he has been influenced by skills he gleaned from travelling abroad – namely Japan and Hawaii.It has been said, “His influence in Australian surfboard design has been considerable and could be said to parallel what the Campbell Bros (creators of the Bonza) did in California. Yet he remains at the cottage industry level of production. He has followed his own path, remained his own man, stayed underground and never been seen to beat his own drum”. Today Mitchell continues to make unique craft for a largely custom market, and is widely known for his concaves, balsa guns and the “spirit eyes” which feature on the front of his boards.

Mike Grobelny

Mike hails from Auckland, NZ where he is a design technician in the workshop at the School of Art and Design. After a year at design school he realised his passion was more in creating and building physical objects like furniture instead of 2D visual communication.This led to an honours degree in product design.
With a keen interest in surfing he applied his newfound high-tech skills and modern technology and began experimenting using CNC routing and a large block of paulownia to create a surfboard that has the skeletal strength and high performance qualities of a synthetic surfboard.
Mike’s approach to wooden boards comes from quite a different direction and it will be interesting to see what he believes the future holds.

Paul Joske

Paul resides in the Nambucca Valley on the mid north coast of NSW and has been building surfboards since 1969. In 1970 he founded Valla surfboards, which he still operates today with the assistance of his son Sage. His involvement with timber goes back to his youth when he built a twin fin belly board out of balsa, followed by his first surfboard which was hollow plywood. He has always been interested in using wood for surfboards. In 1998 he was commissioned to build the first Paulownia surfboard, which was a huge success and saw the attributes of this timber realised. Paul’s interest in surfing and surfboards is broad, both in the water and in the shaping room. He relishes the challenge of different designs and timbers, and building one-off specialty boards.

The Gold Coast Surf Museum is in Tomewin Street, Currumbin
Saturday 6th August 6.30pm for a 7pm start
$10 admission to the Museum includes one cold drink
To book a place or buy a ticket please call the Surf Museum : Ph: 07 5525 6380

Surf World Gold Coast is a not-for-profit museum dedicated to celebrating the history and culture of surfing.

www.surfworldgoldcoast.com

Meet and talk to Peter Walker this Saturday at the Gold Coast Art Centre

In conjunction with the Peter Walker - FLUID AND HOLLOW Wooden Surfboards exhibition, join Peter as he discusses the design and shaping of his surfboards, reference to key moments in the history of surfboard design and collaborations with other artists. A great opportunity to meet with Peter and ask all those questions you know you want to ask himm about his beautiful boards.

Date: This Saturday 9th July

Time: 3.00 – 5.00pm
Venue: Gallery 1 - Gold Coast Arts Centre Bundall
Cost: Free
RSVP: gallery@theartscentregc.com.au or 5581 6567

Paul Jensen board building class.

Five Day - Build Your Own Board Workshop

To be held in San Francisco, California
September 3 - 7, 2011

This classes will have up to ten participants build their own boards and at the end of the class the boards will be ready for glassing. Tuition is $800 USD per person, with materials extra, typically around $50 per foot of board length. A "How To Build A Hollow Surfboard” CD ($100 value) and a Frame Kit of your choice ($200 value) will be included in the cost of the class.

What’s NOT included: Food and lodging.

To book and get more information : www.hollowsurfboards.com/fins.htm

Wooden Board Day Sunday 7th August 2011

I am in the throws of organising the guest speakers for the night at the Gold Coast Surf Museum Saturday August 6th the night before. Should be a good night to meet a few other wooden board builders from near and far. A few quiet beers and yarns is always a good night . Early morning surf Sunday and a day in the park with a picnic lunch and a plenty of boards to check out.

Wood in Florida

Some great looking boards Drew McCormick from Florida - Cambium Surfboards.

Frank's new fish

Frank is a bus driver here on the Gold Coast and in his down time loves a surf and spending time in the shed building his next wooden board. Here is his latest offering.

" I’ve started the new fish and attached are some pics of it as it was last week. I went to Tyalgum today to pick up the timber for the rails from John White, who has the paulownia plantation there. For the deck I’ll be using mainly hoop pine and some hardwood as a contrast. This board will be built almost entirely without the use of fibreglass or epoxy, the exceptions being to securely anchor the finboxes (quad-fin setup) and leashplug. I’m using only polyurethane glue and will use varnish to finish it. Now that the framework for it is assembled it already looks like a fast, slippery shape."

" I’ll keep you updated with the progress and with a bit of luck it may be finished for this year’s Wooden Board Day."

Thanks Frank and I hope you get enough time to have it ready for the first weekend in August.

Handplane making by Thomas Bexon.

Thomas Surfboards from Bird Man Media on Vimeo.

Check out Thomas at : www.thomassurfboards.com

Board building classes in Wales, UK

After a very successfull workshop last March, where ten hollow wooden surfboards where build, Paul Reisberg will host two more workshops at his place in Solva / Pembrokeshire / Wales / UK.

Paul and Rich Blundell (treetosea, grain surfboards) will teach you how to build a hollow wooden surfboard with the strip and feather method used by a lot of builders.

No woodworking skills are needed. all the paulownia and cedar needed to construct the shape of your choice will be provided.

Dates are: 12.-14. August and 19.-21. August
For more information : paulitspaul@gmx.net or call him 07790795117

Bruno's French Fish

" I am Bruno Hubert (36 years old), I live in France (Bretagne, Finistère (29 ) ) and I have built a hollow surfboard Fish.It is 5' 8" x 21 3/16" x 2 9/16"
I use the Paul Jensen Method, and the wood used are : Balsa, Red cedar and Sipo (fins) with
Epoxy resin."

" This is a good surfboard, it's very cool to surf with it."

For more shots of the board and the building process check out his blog:

www.surfobsession.canalblog.com/archives/le_pesk_nij__poisson_volant_/p40-0.html

" I love hollow surfboard and i am building a new hollow : 6'2" X 18 1/2" X 2 1/4 "
www.surfobsession.canalblog.com/archives/6_2_brian_hollow_pro_model/index.html

Thanks to Bruno for sharing a great looking board. He has done the Jensen method proud.

The "Nohu" from Charlie

Charlie Loiselle from Hawaii loves building wooden boards and gives them all names inspired by the sea. Mostly fish.
" The Nohu, or scorpionfish, is a real ugly fish. Thus I named my newest design after it."

" Latest out of the Island Dream factory (i.e. my car port). It's a twin-fin fish with little bitty fins and minimal rocker - kind of like the "bluegill" that Jon Wegener is doing in Cali, but hollow wood. Bookmatched redwood top, lauan bottom (ripped and alternated for a better look). Solid laminate rails - this is the first board I've done that I didn't strip-rail, and I don't think I'd do it again. It's faster, but strip-railing is lighter and...more elegant? Anyhow I'm taking it out this weekend (once the varnish coat finished drying) and will try and get some pic in action."


It’s a 7’ twin fin fish with minimal rocker and a wiiiiiide tail. I made it for small days when it’s too mushy for an alaia, as an alternative to a longboard. We’ll see how it rides – the fins are real small, so it should slide quite a bit but "

Check out Charlie's blog and his other projects at : www.islanddreamssurf.blogspot.com

We have been building and riding wooden boards a while now

Thrill of the Surf 1949 from Gary Crockett on Vimeo.

If you would like a board like this get hold of Parrish Watts at Noosa and he can build you one.

http://vintagepacificsurfcraft.blogspot.com

The Cabbage Tree and Agave board.

"Have you ever wondered how surfboards are made? If yes, do you know how the whole process and materials involved? Yes? Then, do you know how to make a wooden one? If you do, now forget everything you know about all of that and look at how Roger Hall makes a stunningly impressive surfboard made out of Cabbage Tree and Agave. The wood he uses is pretty much found on the side of the road, thereby turning a whole lot of surfboard building and commercial concepts on their heads, even throwing them out the window! Observe as his glasser, Matt Waite, reveals the wide colour ranges and textures that each wood offers. An extended version of this will be available as a bonus feature on the SEWN DVD. So get into some droning beats and admire this craftsmanship marvel of surfboard making, simply the best in NZ!"