In the woodshop with Mike

Good mate Mike Connor is a great craftsman in all things wood. Here he is in his element , helping Tony Crimmins machine up the timber for his new deck.

It certainly helps to have the right gear and someone who knows how to use it and keep it sharp.

How easy is that Tony ? A whole top and bottom skin glued up thicknessed and ready to be fitted to the frame.Also the rail bands cut and ready to be laminated to the frame.

Looking good

So if you need some timber machined Mike will be able to help you out for sure. He is also keen to organise some board building classes in the future.
Check out his new website : www.michealconnorwoodwork.com.au
You will see he makes Ukuleles as well as a wide range of other things wood. He has a large store of different timber and a wide knowledge of them and their uses.

Sacred Craft this coming weekend

If you are in California this weekend you should head on down to " Sacred Craft " in Del Mar.
Over 150 booths makes Sacred Craft largest surfboard expo; Windansea icon Carl Ekstrom to be honored; schedule of events set for October 8 & 9.

Sacred Craft brings together surfboard lovers in what has become the surfboard industry gathering. Passion for surfboards and the authentic culture that flows forth never goes out of style.
The SACRED CRAFT Consumer Surfboard Expo provides an opportunity for shapers, surfboard craftsman and surfboard manufacturers to come together under one roof and share their passion with the surfboard loving public. It operates with one objective, to unite passionate surfers with the surfboard industry.

WHO: Surfers, shapers, and surfboard manufacturers
WHAT: Two days of surfboard heaven
WHEN: October 8 & 9, 2011
WHERE: Del Mar Fairgrounds
WHY: Because surfers care about two things: waves and the equipment to ride them with
HOW: $10 at the door; kids 12 & under free / Free Subscription to SURFER magazine

Franks fish

Franks latest fish all ready to get wet once we have some surf again.

Nice job on the Silky Oak fins

" Hi Grant,
Here are some photos of the finished Fish II. I also made fins for it from silky oak wood but because they are quite thin they will be mainly for show, I’ve got a set of “normal” fins for everyday use. I replicated the silky oak fins based on the bought fins.

The board is constructed of a variety of timbers 6 mm thick over a 4 mm marine ply frame. The dark centre panel and pinstripes are walnut, the pale wood is Queensland kauri and the pinkish wood is silky oak. The rails are red cedar and paulownia. It’s all finished with 4 coats of flexible marine varnish, the only epoxy used is to embed the shell and the fin plugs and leash/vent plug. The dimensions are 6’10” x 23 3/4” x 3 1/4”. All of the inside has also been sealed with varnish.

I want to thank you again for designing the board for me and I’m about to try it out as soon as the surf allows. I’ll let you know how it performs.

I have enough wood left over to build another board, a project for next winter. So if you don’t mind I’ll probably be asking for one more board design when I decide what kind of board I want to build."

Thanks Frank for sharing your latest board with us. Let me know how I can help with the next project.

Chesters fish

There are many ways of approaching building a wooden board and there are no easy ways as I have often said. Here is another approach to consider...



" Hey there. my name is Chester Harding and I just wanted to send you a couple of pics of a Fish I made…. I went to the Fish Fry in Cornwall last week but only found out it was down there after I rocked up and left my board at home. Its a bit of a weird design I made. I used balsa for the rails but glued them in-between the ribs, so the dark lines in the rails is the support ribs running thru the board. the rest is made of pine I ripped down from some logs. Hope people like it…."

A different way of doing things that suited Chesters skills and knowledge base. And the outcome looks fine . Thanks for sharing Chester.

Mark Riley and the Surf City Exhibition

Mark getting the blank ready

Mark from Riley Balsa wood Surfboards has been invited to shape a solid classic balsa board for the opening night of the Surf City Exhibition.
From the arrival of Californian 'malibu' surfboards in the 1950s through to the unleashing of the triple-finned 'thruster' in 1980, Sydney was Australia's surfing capital, its 'surf city'.
It started with a young, restless generation - with their 'finned' fibreglass boards, rock 'n' roll, cars and bad attitudes - hitting the surf and clashing with an outraged alliance of surf-club officials, councillors, police, disapproving parents, a spellbound media and a wide-eyed public. Before long, surfing was 'king' and as its fashions and new-found freedoms were ignited, Sydney produced a line-up of top riders and cutting-edge board designers. The evolution of surfing in the 60s and 70s saw Sydney surf writers, publishers, film-makers, bands and businesses gain international attention as innovators and stirrers.
Surf city at the Museum of Sydney will return to the beaches of the 50s, 60s and 70s and show how Sydney's love affair with surfing has left an indelible, salt-stained mark on this beach-crazed city.

September 23rd - 5pm to 9pm

www.hht.net.au/whats_on/exhibitions/exhibitions/surf_city

Address: Corner Phillip and Bridge Streets, Sydney, NSW 2000

Contact: 02 9251 5988

Admission:

• Adult $10 I
• Child/Concession $5 |
• Family $20 |
• Members free |

Hours: Daily 9.30am — 5pm | Closed Good Friday and Christmas Day

Tony's new pintail underway

Tony Crimmins from Brisbane is making a habit of building great looking boards and his new pintail is no exception

He is looking at a finished weight of about 9.5kgs which is great for a 9ft 6" board.

And this is a great looking fin to set it off.

Nice and tidy , well thought out and as straight as can be. Tony does a nice job.Looking forward to the finished board.

Some great looking wooden boards from Canada

Flama Surfboards in Spain

I have just been sent a link to Flama Surfboards in Spain by Aitor Veguillas which is very interesting. The guys have been experimenting with Paulownia to build boards that have very little impact on the environment. The boards are unglassed , just oiled. It seems they had a lot of troble getting Paulownia in Spain so they went to China and sourced a shipment themselves back to Spain for their projects.

The guys build a very nice board and cold press the components on a large table.

3ft 11" Micro Simmons

Cosmic Experience from Flama Surf on Vimeo.

For a look at what they do : www.flamasurf.com

Sublime Experience from Flama Surf on Vimeo.

Hollow wooden board building class with Paul Jensen in San Francisco.

Paul Jensen , just got back from a trip down to San Francisco for a small HWS class... " We built two small fish, one big fish and a couple of longboards...

Our shop space was great, an i-Pad case factory with a lot of room to move...Nice......

I shuffled the class hours a bit...The first three days were 9AM to 5PM...The final two days were from 2PM to 10PM...The late start gave a feeling of having a at least a half day off...I surfed, others went into work...I'll do that again...

The workshop participants were all very keen, had heaps of skills and great life experiences to share during our long hours together...We all had a lot of laughs and everyone went home with boards ready to glass..."

If this is what you would like to do get hold of Paul and organise a class for yourself and a few friends.

Wooden board building class in Germany

I have just received these shots from Paul Reisberg of a three day hollow wooden surfboard workshop in Bremen / Germany and here are some results. They used the Rich Blundell method and had three really intense days with glues, wood shavings and cold becks beer.










Remember if you want to do a class that maybe a good idea is to get hold of one of these guys or organise a class yourself with one of them.

Contact : Paul Jensen - hollowsurfboards@comcast.net
Contact : Rich Blundell - via Tree To Sea
Contact Paul Reisberg - paulitspaul@gmx.net

Byron Bay Surf Festival

Andrew Wells of Grown Surfboards will be holding a workshop / introduction to building a wooden surfboard at the new Byron Bay Surf Festval on :
Saturday October 22nd 4pm
Southern Cross Room – Byron Community Centre

The Grown Surfboards workshop will briefly cover the philosophy behind my surfboards and will cover the form and functionality of hollow timber surfboards. Then in more detail we will go through the hollow timber board building process using visual aids to show the various aspects of hollow timber surfboard construction. Will conclude the workshop with a Question and Answer session.

We love surfing and are passionate about our oceans and preserving them for the next generation of surfers. “Grown is all about turning a positive passion into a productive and ethical business” This love of surfing and responsibility to minimise our impact on the planet evolved into producing hand made boards from recycled and plantation grown timber.

Check this and other great activities on their website. Great to see a get together just to celebrate why we go go surfing - For Fun.

www.byronbaysurffestival.com

Good looking first board

This is Colin Ashford's first hollow wooden board. Nice job. Have no more details from him. So maybe he can send some build pics to share.

Building a solid Balsa board by Mark Riley

Progress on Franks Fish

"As usual the Wooden Board Day was very enjoyable and interesting and I’m glad I took the time off work to be there.
Here are some progress pics of my latest fish board. One shows the foam blocks where the fin boxes will be inserted. The others are of the board ready to have the rails laminated. I’m steam-bending the thicker rail laminations as they don’t quite bend around at the nose. The nose and tail will have blocks attached to finish off."

Australian Alaia titles a first

Chairman of the board … Cronulla rider Matty Cook will battle the waves in the inaugural Alaia and Longboard divisions at Port Macquarie this week. Photo: Steven Siewert

The ancient Hawaiians were onto it and now Australian surfers are rediscovering the art of Alaia surfing.

Long, thin, finless and made from wood, Alaia surfboards are neither practical nor easy to master. But when international pro Jacob Struth hit the water at Noosa with an Alaia board five years ago, a retro revival began.

Fringe and retro styles and surfboards like the Alaia have experienced such a surge in popularity in Australia that Surfing NSW's peak event, the Australian Surf Festival, will hold its first Australian Alaia Titles starting today.

''They're really quick, they're very fast on the water and they just glide. Once you get your feet on one, there's no better,'' says Tom Wegener, a Noosa surfer who shapes alaia boards using Paulownia wood grown around Kempsey and Coffs Harbour. ''If you had a really souped-up hovercraft and a car, the Alaia would be the hovercraft and your regular board the car.''

Matty Cook, a Cronulla rider and shaper of Alaia boards, is one of 10 competitors in the inaugural Alaia and Longboard divisions held in Port Macquarie this week. He says the alaia revival is a subtle backlash to the hard core, commercial surfing of the '80s and '90s.

''Everyone was all about perfection and competition and trying to drive surfing into the next level of aerials and seeing who could do the most radical manoeuvres,'' he said. ''For me, it's more about having fun and that feeling you get rather than trying to be the next Kelly Slater.''

But even world-class surfers have been seduced by finless boards, hailing them a revolution in surfboard design and a near-spiritual surfing experience. Pro surfers Tom Curren, Dave Rastovich and Thomas Campbell are all Alaia enthusiasts, attracted by their environmental credentials as much as their primeval qualities.

''The really good surfers want to see how good they are compared to the ancients,'' Mr Wegener said. ''And it's just like learning how to surf all over again. It's an incredible feeling.''

Surfing is having a retrospective moment as the sport reaches its fifth generation in Australia, said Mark Windon, chief executive of Surfing NSW. Surfers are starting to collect memorabilia, blow the dust off surfing music and take to the water on old-style boards. To some, modern surfing with the standard ''thruster'' shortboard has become stale.

''I suppose the sport had to get to 50 or 60 years old before people started looking back,'' Mr Windon said.

" Surf Re-Evolution " at Grain in Maine

Special Guests & Schedule of Events Announced for Grain Surfboard's "Surf Re-Evolution" September 10, 2011

Grain Surfboard's is proud to announce the list of confirmed special guests and schedule of events for one of the most unique surf festivals the East Coast has seen to date.

Along with Korduroy.TV, Grain has invited some of the most forward-thinkers they could find to join them at Long Sands Beach in York, Maine to see and try out re-evolutionary surfboards, after which the festivities decamp to the farm where Grain's shop is located to share art, films, live music and ideas.

Confirmed Special Guests:
Entropy Resins
Pine Knot Surfboards
Spirare Surfboards
Misfit Pictures
Enjoy Handplanes

Meyerhoffer Designs
Cyrus Sutton - Korduroy.TV
Wegener Surfboards
Merchant’s Row Hand Planes
Endless Wave - Wax Buddy

Zero Waste Event:
This is Grain's first zero-waste event – with the help of Ecomovement Consulting, Grain is shooting for nothing left over. That means everything recycled or composted- from start to finish.

Schedule of Events
10:00am to 2:00pm: Long Sands Beach Board Demos & General Merriment
4pm: Open Shop Tours, Surf Art Exhibition, Food and Beer
4:30pm: Glassing demo by Entropy Resins
5:30pm: 16mm film premiere by Cyrus Sutton Under The Sun in the barn
6:30pm: Panel Discussion with special guest shapers & builders
7:30pm: Live music by Speed of Sand
8:00pm: Second film premiere, Manufacturing Stoke by Pierce Kavanagh
9:30pm: Second set by Speed of Sand and Bonfire Merriment


Tickets: Online $12, day of $15
PURCHASE TICKETS ONLINE HERE

ABOUT GRAIN SURFBOARDS
Grain Surfboards is committed to promoting the benefits of building and surfing wooden surfboards and believes that wooden surfboards can have more impact on the surfing experience and less impact on the environment. All of the wood products used in Grain surfboards and kits are sourced from local mills and forestlands in Maine that practice sustainable harvesting. All wood waste from the production of Grain's boards and kits is actively reduced and creatively recycled. Grain ships surfboards and complete surfboard kits worldwide and hosts week-long classes in which anyone can learn to handcraft their own wood surfboard. Grain is co-owned and managed by Mike LaVecchia and Brad Anderson.

The Chambered Cabbage Tree.