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.

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.

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.

Surf's up in the city

If you live in Brisbane or missed Peter Walkers great exhibition on the Gold Coast here is a great opportunity to check his boards out.

Artisan’s latest exhibition, One True Religion: Peter Walker Surfboards, explores the evolution of surfboard design through Walker’s painstakingly handcrafted boards of all shapes and sizes.

Walker’s interest in surfing started as a teenager growing up in Sydney, but took a back seat when he moved to Tasmania to study furniture design. Now an accomplished designer and craftsman, Walker divides his time between Australia and working at the Rhode Island School of Design in the United States. It was in America that Walker met legendary board maker Dale Belze, and his passion for surfboard design was ignited.

One True Religion: Peter Walker Surfboards draws on innovations from the 1920s and ‘30s. “Forms have changed, the way people surf has changed, technology’s changed,” he says. “These boards are a bit of a hybrid mix but they’re definitely rooted in the old school.”

Surface decorations applied by Walker and leading contemporary artists, including Gerry Wedd lift these objects used primarily for sport and recreation into the realm of art. Notably however, the boards are functional and Walker loves to hit the waves on them.

“It’s completely different to surfing on a foam board,” he says. “They’ve got more weight, so they feel different in the water, and under your foot, and they behave differently. They’ve definitely got more glide and momentum.”

“I guess I’m trying to contribute to the evolution of surfboard design and culture,” Walker says. “But mainly I’m having fun.”

One True Religion is a fun and engaging exhibition for all ages, merging surf culture and handcrafted design in a unique display not to be missed.

One True Religion: Peter Walker Surfboards
25 August – 24 September 2011
Gallery Artisan
381 Brunswick Street Fortitude Valley Q 4006
www.artisan.org.au | info@artisan.org.au | 07 3215 0800

Vinny's Irish woody quiver

How is this for a one man effort. Vincent O Halloran from Ireland sent me this last week...
" Hey Grant
My name is Vinny and I'm writing from Ireland.I was mailing to wish ye well with the wooden surfboard day .I would have loved to have made it but its right in the middle of the honey harvest ( I have some bee hives ) here .I find your blog very inspiring as I've been making and surfing wooden boards for a few years now , I could never go back to the old boards now : ) I hope things are good in Australia after all the floods that ye had earlier on in the year. I hope to send some photos of my boards in the future but for now all the best with the weekend.

Good stuff Grant , the photos of the woodensurfboard day looked good . That honeycomb board has me thinking , I've been mostly working with cedar and pine , and experimenting with different finsihes , beeswax and tung oil , varnishes . the strength weight thing took a long time to get . I'm making mostly hollow boards , done slightly differently to what I've seen on the internet . I like the parabolic rail and the flex it gives . Also really enjoying the mini simmons experience , its been flat here all summer so everyone is gasping for some surf at this point !!! its a shame I missed you when you were over here , I'm about two hours from Belfast I know for ye Aussies that's just a spin up the road "

take care
Vinny

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

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.

Peter Walker to exhibit on the Gold Coast

Surfing and beach culture are integral to the Gold Coast lifestyle – that culture is also a great source of inspiration to artists who continue to engage with the rich stories and visual imagery of this dynamic sport.

We present two distinct but connected exhibitions in gallery one featuring a new series of beautifully crafted wooden surfboards by furniture maker and designer Peter Walker and ceramics by artist Gerry Wedd which reference both ancient and contemporary myths and legends of the perils of the sea and the underbelly of the the surf world.

Walker is a surfer and was born in Sydney and now divides his time between Adelaide and working as Associate Professor at the Rhode Island School of Design in New York. Always fascinated by hand skills and fine craftsmanship, Walker’s awareness of the complexity of surfboard performance and design led him to start making his own wooden surfboards – embellished with the work of leading Australian contemporary artists.

His boards will be at The Gold Coast Arts Centre 28th of May to 10th of June.