9ft 4" Balsa Deluxe

Fine tuning prior to glassing

Fin boxes routed and ready

Fine veneer glued up to go around the fin boxes to minimise the non wood outcome on the finished board.It is such attention to detail and the execution of such things that sets the great board builders apart. Roger hall is one such builder of fine craft.

Master class all the way.

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!"

Roger Hall at it again...

Roger Hall from New Zealand just loves to build wooden boards that showcase his skills and once he gets started he is a driven man on a mission.He has been a great supporter of mine with the Fish Fry and The Wooden Board Day. So I asked a good friend and his blogger Mike to send me a few pictures and words of his latest project.

" Getting a txt message from my friend Roger Hall at 5.00am about a covert raid on locally grown Agave storks is not unusual, in fact it is all part of the fun ride that I have been on with Roger for nearly a decade."

" Roger, my good friend, great surfer and amazing shaper has been on the hunt for all and any species of timber that he can get his hands on was rather stoked when Phil a long-time friend and Ruakaka local visited the Surfline Custom Surfboards factory with three Cabbage tree trunks recently, so with a stash of timber and the Wooden Boards Day in Currumbin AU just around the corner Roger got thinking."

"A chambered Cabbage Tree timber gun with Agave feature beams on each side ?, yip that sounds a good idea !', and so weeks later after milling, drying, gluing, splitting, chambering and re-gluing Roger has a fully shaped wooden big wave charger.

Documenting this process has been a gas, with only glassing to go, the mission is nearly complete."

"Sadly this year I will not be at the Wooden Boards Day to help Roger showcase this board and a few little surprises he has up his sleeve but there is no doubt in my mind, that this craft, not unlike the others he has displayed at previous events will have jaws dropping.

Big thanks to Grant Newby, a super nice guy and event organiser, if it was not for Grant some of these creations may never have happened and there would be nowhere to display them."

Michael Cunningham

Mike will be unable to come over for the Wooden Board Day as he is about to become a dad again , so busy times ahead for him and his family.

Still chipping away

Roger Hall , profiling one of 4 boards he is building for August. He is loving working with wood again. He includes some beautiful wooden nose and tail block detail on a lot of his foam boards. Check his web site for some great examples.