Agave board made in Haiti

Simon Deprez is a French architect, working in Haiti as an urban planner for the reconstruction of some neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince.He has sent me these great shots of his latest surfboard to share with us.

"Working in Haiti might be tough so when you got some time for you, you really enjoy the crazy landscapes and even some great waves. But no surfshop around in case you didn’t bring your board, so you have to built your own!
After gathering agave wood for few weeks and find some fiberglass and resin, I attempted to shape a board (7’0 and some volume for my size and the small carribean waves), thanks to the crucial advice of thomas scott from brasil (agave surfboard expert as you know!).
I’ve just finished it today, as a first attempt, I comitted severals mistakes (specially on glassing), but it should work!
Let’s try it next week end !"

Balsa gun

Kun_tiqi & Phil Grace teamed up for Big Wave Gun Project.
Last summer, the young gun in our team asked for a wooden surfboard to charge big waves. And when Nagai Puntiverio means big, it means BIG!
Over the last years he lived the endless winter to charge big waves in Puerto Escondido/ Mexico, Australia, Mavericks/ California or at home in Cantabria.
Kun_tiqi heard his call and found the best shaper for this job: Mr. Phil Grace !
In 1969 Phil Grace shaped his first surfboard back home in Australia at the age of 19. Since then he never stopped. In those 45 years Phil shaped for Rip Curl, co founded Quiksilver Surfboards France in 1987 and shaped boards for surf legends like Jeff Hakman.
Phil is an “old school” shaper and did a few balsa wood surfboards back in the days. Due to his balsa surfboard shaping skills and experience in big wave guns Phil Grace was the right man for this job.
The surf behavior of wooden surfboards is exceptional good in big waves. Balsa Surfboards have a lot of inertia what helps to drop down the wave´s face fast, even on windy days. Uneven parts of the wave or wind chop is absorbed by the wood and gives more stability and control in critical moments. Exactly what you need on big days!
Phil Grace & Kun_tiqi just finished the board by time for the big swells...

www.kuntiqi.com

New wooden board builders in the UK to check out

We are a new and small group of talented carpenters, with a love of surfing, and we are commited to providing a realistic and affordable alternative to the plastic and foam body boards and surfboards which have until now dominated the industry.
We build hand crafted hollow wooden surfboards, in an attempt to make the surfing industry a little more environmentally friendly, one surfboard at a time.
We strive to do this at an affordable price, charging on average a 1/3rd less than our competitors, and even less when compared to certain wooden surfboard companies. We are able to do this simply due to the fact we are in this business because we enjoy it. We don’t pay ourselves more than we need, and we keep it simple by using manual methods instead of large, very expensive machinery.
We also use high quality Redwood (not red in colour) that is significantly cheaper than Cedar, and the only downside of this is a very slightly heavier finished product. Our boards are still a very realistic weight, not heavy to handle, just as you would expect from a wooden surfboard. Our choice of wood and our lack of unnecessary machinery means that we can afford to charge realistic prices for surfers who want something that looks as beautiful as it rides.
We believe surfers should have complete control over all aspects of the board they buy, at no extra cost. We take the time to build boards from scratch to the customers exact request.
If you would like to hear more or ask us any questions, please do so via our Contact Us page, and make sure to check out our Shop.

The Eco Challenge Gold Coast - wooden surfboard expression session

The Eco Challenge Gold Coast - wooden surfboard expression session will take place on Sunday the 16th of March 2014 9am to 1pm at Tomewin St, Currumbin Beach as part of Bleach Boulevard. This event using alternative surf craft will fund-raise for Surfrider Foundation, Rise Above Plastics project while having maximum fun.

Entry fee:

Minimum - gold coin
Maximum - surprise us
All entry fees will be donated to Surfrider Foundation, Rise Above Plastics projec

Expression session wooden crafts:
Handplanes
Bodyboards
Alaia
Standard Shortboard
Standard Longboard

Expression session craft format:
Each craft section will have 5 surfers in the water and will be judged on how much fun they are having by the stoked crowd. Each of the expressionisters will be awarded
dunal plants as their prize.

5 dunal plants for flip top head
4 dunal plants for gobsmacking
3 dunal plants for gutwrencher
2 dunal plants for wide on
1 dunal plant for big smirk
10 bonus dunal plants for maneuver that receives collective hoots from the crowd.
At the end of the event all plants will receive a home around the expression site ably assisted by Griffith Centre for coastal management BeachCare.

Eco Challenge Gold Coast will accept expressions of interest for sponsorship only from companies that have high ethical & sustainable standards for their products or services.

Eco Challenge Gold Coast

Surfrider Foundation Gold Coast/Tweed Branch & Climate Wave Enterprises - ecological event solutions invite you to the Eco Challenge Gold Coast - first event is the wooden surfboard expression session which will take place on Sunday the 16th of March 2014 9am to 1pm at Tomewin St, on Currumbin Beach as part of Bleach Boulevard.

This project evolved from a love of the ocean, surfing, community and sustainable events. We've met many people that have the same passion for the environment and community and with this event we hope to highlight the advantages of thinking outside the square while developing projects that align with our ethical standards and leaving environmental & social legacies. So come on over and like https://www.facebook.com/EcoChallengeGoldCoast & check out http://ecochallengegoldcoast.com

Long hot dusty day in the bay.

It was a long dusty hot day hand shaping the rails on these 3 boards today. But a couple of sharp hand planes and some wax to rub on the sole of the plane made them slide and glide there way through the process. This is the exciting part watching the boards come to life if you like. All the contours coming together as you planned .

Good to be creating all this dust at someone else place and have AC to boot. Thanks Mo.

The Simmons is a good test, to go from a high rail line and rolled entry to totally down at the tail and a full concave all in a very short package.

The lights are great for helping get the foil of the rail looking good.

This is a sweet little board and very light

The Rising Sun from Blind Dog Surfboards

Dan Johnston from Blind Dog Surfboards has sent some shots of one of his boards to share. "This is an all Cedar 9'1" x 23" x 3" single fin Nose Rider. Single concave turning into slight V towards tail. Rails are very pinched, much like an Alaia board. Has tad more nose rocker for our typically choppy waters and often late drop-ins. The Rising Sun is a hunk of unknown wood from my scrap pile. "

Some New Year projects underway

 5ft 6" x 19" Hydro Simmons underway and ready for bagging

 5ft 1" Simmons for Mitch Waters from Manly

 Mitch's board being road tested by Billy

 5ft 8" Hydro Simmons for Tim Jones from Woolongong

 Bagging Tim's board

 You can pull some reasonable curves as shown here with 3mm Paulownia

5ft 6" in the bag

5ft 6" x 19" ready to be cleaned up and start laminating the rail.
If you would like more details you can follow the progress on my blog 

Wooden Board building class in Japan with Paul Jensen.

$1,500 USD includes tuition and materials for any board....

This small group workshop in Japan with only four students, is guaranteed to be once in a lifetime experience unlike anything you've ever done before and you go home with an amazing  board you built...

This workshop is sure to sell out, so reserve your place early...Registration closes January 31, 2014

More info on the class and how to register:HWS Japan 2014 Registration & Info

Japan contact: woodensurfboard@gmail.com (available in Japanese)


2010 Japan Workshop - Pictures and words from the 2010 Japan Class 

Happy New Year everyone

The "Wood Buddha"

While you are on holidays and have some time on your hands you could check out this very detailed and entertaining account of building a wooden board. Torsten has vac bagged Paulownia over an EPS core and explained every step of the process for you.
Check it out HERE

 Skins on and ready to laminate

 Getting the laminates to go round the nose

 A lot more engineering than I use but still gets the job done

 It can be thirsty work and sometimes you need to celebrate your achievements

 Coming together nicely

 All ready for finishing

All set for summer when get some swell.

For more of his work - "Be at peace with yourself and all things"
www.thewoodbuddha.blogspot.com.au

Frameless wooden board

Vincent O Halloran or Vinny in Ireland has just completed a hollow wooden board without a frame inside.
"Its just rails deck and bottom, no inside frame or foam, basically I looked into monocoque structures and came up with this.
The rails are Ash what they use to make the traditional hurling stick (one of Irelands national games ) the flex in the hurling stick allows the player to hit a leather ball considerable distances.
 Im pretty stoked with it, its light, strong and has way more flex than the earlier boards I made with the frame inside . Ive just got to get it wet soon and see how it likes the water !! It might need some tweaking but on the whole it seems sound enough."

"Yeah it seems the rails hold the board all together and the deck works like an eggshell , pressure is transferred out to the rails. I've yet to surf this one but it seems strong in the workshop , as always there will be some tweaking till I get it right."

A great looking board and good to see someone doing something different and willing to put the time in to experiment and push the limits. Nice one Vinny. Keep me posted with the ride report.

Lanolin in Europe and USA

I often get asked about lanolin and where people can get it from. Here in Australia and New Zealand we have access to Lanotec which is what I use. But I have just been informed by Kai Dame from Germany that a company in Germany called Fluid Film also has lanolin based products that look very similar. It looks like it is widely available in Europe. I have found it in the States as well at : http://www.fluid-film.com/products/msds.html

 Lanolin is the natural waterproof grease that is extracted from sheep's wool. It is all natural and nothing is added to it and it seems like there is very little that can be used to thin it down or wash it off without a lot of effort. In the Lanotec I use their General Purpose product which is their thinnest product as I figure it will soak into the wood easily, which it will. I also only buy the non aerosol dispenser as I only want the natural product by itself. If you apply it outside in the sun it will soak into the timber fairly quickly and you will know when it will take no more as it will gel on the surface. So then you wipe off the excess and buff it up. Once it has penetrated the timber it will leach out very slowly and provide a very sticky surface once it hits salt water. Then after the water dries off it will dry back and be no where near as sticky. How or why I have no idea but it works. I know guys who have had up to 3 months surfing without having to reapply any lanolin. It also nourishes the timber and waterproofs it at the same time. So the timber will retain all its natural properties longer.
Because this is a natural product and derived from animals rather than plant material like most other nut oils and such, I have found that it will not grow mould in the soft grain as plant based oils will. Although I know that can be somewhat over come by adding vinegar to the plant based oil mixture.
As you will see on the sites it has many uses and is widely used in all sorts of industries and some harsh conditions so for what we want it is a very good solution that also saves you the cost of having to glass your board and saves the weight that comes with that. A wooden board with a lanolin coating would have to be one of if not the "greenest" method of building a surfboard that I know of. I came to using this method from my early years growing up in New Zealand and seeing the timber in sheep shearing shed and yards buffed up with years of sheep rubbing up against them. The lanolin from their wool waterproofed the timbers some of which are hardwoods for many many years.The same here in Australia and most all timber used here for shearing sheds and yards would be hard woods. So using Paulownia as I do I get a greater penetration of the oil and so a storage of the oil within the timber meaning it last quite some time between coats. The only other feedback I have had is that when it is used in cooler waters it takes a little longer to become sticky.
If you have any other experiences using Lanolin, please let me know.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to you all out there. And thanks for your support all year. I have slowed up with post as I have been very busy but hope to catch up over the break. I hope you all have a great break and get lucky with a few waves. Keep the projects coming and I will share them out to everyone.