Journey of a Wood Butcher

Sort of Alaia...

2012-01-24T14:05:00.000-08:00

I've always liked the simplicity of the wood plank alaias. The biggest problem is of course, they are hard to paddle and get into waves with. I've always thought it would be fun to make a hollow wood alaia. Not necessarily a kook box, but a board that has the same bottom contours and chines of an alaia. I had forgotten about this idea for a couple of years until I saw what the wood board guru Tom Wegener was working on. His brother Jon has been making very cool alaia-like boards with small twin fins (his Bluegills), but Tom shaped up some very cool foam alaias with enough thickness to be pretty easily ridden. Tom calls them Seaglass. Anyway, I got all excited when I saw pictures on the web and immediately started thinking how I'd do this in wood. I've never shaped in foam, so I thought I'd give wood a go for this shape. My shape is 6'6" long, 22" wide and about 2-7/8 thick, with slab sides, a chined bottom and a deep long center channel. After making some preliminary drawings, I realized it kinda looks like Tom Morey's famous foam creation!

The beginning of the channel. The bottom will need to be planked in separate stages for the chines, channel and flat front entry.

One of the slab rails going on.

Obviously the deck is down, and I've kept it dead flat to simplify the build. Besides, flat is fast.

I replaced the conventional solid keel with a really simple stick truss beam which will be much lighter and just as stiff.

More to come!

More Big Toys Working

2012-01-14T09:41:00.000-08:00

Nice balance of work and play....

Half way to the bottom

Busy Working Again

2012-01-10T14:40:00.000-08:00

Grading for the new Legoland hotel. Close to home and to the beach! Can't beat that. When the scrapers are done digging, the hole will be 50 feet deep and then they'll fill it up again.

Cigar Box Guitar

2011-11-30T13:39:00.001-08:00

I had alot of fun making the ukulele, but really fun is building a simple blues guitar from a cigar box. I really enjoyed going to the second hand antique place here and scrounging around for a nice wood cigar box and miscellaneous bits for the instrument. I followed some good-old-boy free plans from cigarboxguitars.com. This is a great site with lots of information on how to build and play theses distinctly American instruments that were common from before the turn of the century into the '40's. With tuners, strings, some radio shack electronics to make it electric and the box I spend just $30. I used some mahogany from the garage stockpile for the neck and small parts. Now I've got a quirky little three stringed guitar that is really fun to play and sounds damn good. Check it out.

2011-11-17T10:54:00.001-08:00

Here are a few pictures of the completed mini-simms.

La Luna

2011-11-14T16:59:00.001-08:00

Ukelele

2011-10-28T18:51:00.000-07:00

I made this nearly three years ago and it has been sitting in the garage collecting dust and getting dinged up. I finally decided to get it finished. This was pretty much the last of the old cedar siding that I made several surfboards from. I handplaned it down to a nice 3/32". I chose a simple instrument design to avoid making bending jigs. Maybe on the next one. I bought some parts in Indian rosewood and it contrasts nicely with the old cedar. I can't wait to hear how it sounds!

before....

...after

So now there is fitting, sanding, finishing, installing the tuning pegs and of course stringing.

Hand Plane for the Surfdetective

2011-10-25T16:26:00.000-07:00

A new and improved handplane for a friend.....fuller nose and nicer lines. Enjoy it Eric!

Antique Bed

2011-10-21T14:55:00.000-07:00

The frame is still missing a few details, but that will be for another time.

This was the only walnut burl veneer left. It's not in great shape, but its mostly all there.

Just finished the bed and I'm pleased with how it turned out. It's reglued and reinforced so it should be good for another 50 years of use.

Antique Bed Restoration

2011-10-20T16:58:00.000-07:00

A friend asked if I could reglue an old wood bed frame he had. Old like circa 1850's...? Sure, sounds fun. This is a cool old bed of mahogany, oak and burled walnut veneer. Most of the veneer was toast so it was removed to expose the quarter sawn oak underneath. The head board was in two pieces and needed regluing. Well, the mortises were so full of old glue and previous repair attempts glue that they had to be chiseled out to full depth. One of the side frames was cracked, and many of the pieces had just fallen apart.

Back of the reassembled head board.

Glued and pin nailed doublers so it does not come apart again any time soon.

Side rail with loose bits

Biscuits!

Backer for the cracked apron piece.

Starting to look good!

Yeah, I'm a Copy Cat...

2011-10-18T16:19:00.000-07:00

There is a reason they are popular...they work and are super fun even in 2-foot crap and the strap doesn't even have to be centered!

More Dirt Stuff

2011-10-16T21:19:00.000-07:00

The desert job is finished for now, but there may be more in the future. Here are a few pictures for the heck of it.

That is one big ass trench, about 750 feet long, 15 feet deep and 40 feet wide. One of three trenches.

Some of the depositional features that made us put on our thinking caps.

Gravel infilled erosion channels or animal burrows??

Lovely, cooling clouds

Goodbye trench.

Now For Something Completely Different...

2011-10-01T18:05:00.000-07:00

I'm one week into a three week gig evaluating fault trenches in 29 Palms for active faulting. The pros: its pure geology and it pays well; the cons: it's freaking hot and the days are really long. But really, what else do you do out there beside work and sleep? But I'm happy to be doing something different and interesting. This is the first of three trenches. All told there will be close to 1000 feet of trench that we'll get to know intimately. Here are some pictures:

These are extra big trenches, about 15 feet deep

The field office under the blue canopy!

The yellow is some cool fracturing, but no active faults here!

New Tools

2011-09-19T14:36:00.000-07:00

This is the very cool hands-free sanding device. Not available on TV.

And the new work stand in the al-fresco glassing station. Bugs get high for free.

More Mini - Simmons

2011-09-16T16:28:00.000-07:00

The fins roughed out

I found some mahogany for the nose and tail blocks in the yard.

And Lid Goes On....

2011-09-15T12:41:00.000-07:00

All planed and ready for the top...

All clamped up. This is a hectic 20 minutes!

Some progress photos

Some More Progress on the Mini Simms

2011-09-10T18:18:00.000-07:00

From the nose...

From the tail...

Just some pictures of the rail strips getting installed. No, the big 2x4 is not part of the board....it's just holding the frame in place while the rails go on. I'm using Sandeply for the ribs on this board. They are very light, so I expect a significant weight savings without sacrificing strength. And since they are really light, I don't have to drill huge lightening holes either! So far so good!

A Few More Build Pictures

2011-09-07T13:49:00.000-07:00

The chine and starter rail strip going in.

Fin blocking details at the tail

I decided to make a laminated nose and tail block. The dark wood is stick of mahogany I found in the side yard.

Title Not Necessary

2011-09-07T13:44:00.000-07:00

This is why I've been married to my wife for 20 years now....

7-2 Mini Simmons Start

2011-09-02T17:10:00.000-07:00

Two kids moved out, one off to college, moved into to a smaller house, it has been a busy year. Despite that, this will be my second board of the year and probably the last for 2011 (who knows? Therapy is Therapy). I've been talking to John Cherry recently and that reminded me that I've wanted to build a mini Simmons twin for several years now, after seeing John's gorgeous balsa 10-0 replica and his cool smaller versions. With a bit of guidance from John I started cutting wood today. I'm still happy with using the 1/4" Sandeply. It looks okay, but it's light and a fast build. I think I'll tint this one just for fun. The milled wood next to the layout is (1) redwood 2x4 x8' milled for rails and blocking. That's it....a sheet of ply and one stick of wood. I'm am stoked about this one. Here is the general layout:

And the nose blocking...

6-6 Stinger Completed

2011-06-24T16:05:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures of the new stick. Yes, that is an oak veneer on the skins. Don't ask. Final dimensions: 6-6, 20 wide, 2-3/4 thick.

A Good Home

2011-06-05T10:01:00.000-07:00

The broken/repaired/sufred hard/broken agan 9-5 redwood single fin finally has a good final resting spot at a good friends house where it will be loved and admired:

Nice!

6-6 Ready for Glass

2011-06-05T09:57:00.000-07:00

A little sanding then it will be ready for glass...

Another Left...

2011-05-31T16:48:00.000-07:00

Man, I must be in a rut. All my bottom turns look the same! Photo by Peter Hincks

6-6 update

2011-05-31T12:02:00.000-07:00

With Michele out of school for another week and me on watch, I've had some time to work on this board. So far, I'm very pleased with how fair the bottom rail line has turned out. This makes it so much easier to shape the rails, without having to work through whoop-de-doos. I bailed at the last minute on doing the two-piece keel and just did the normal plywood keel. So here is how it looks:

Tail in foreground, ready for the top.

This clamping process is insane! I need either 4 hands or a helper. I always worry about the glue tacking off before I get all the clamps dogged down. It takes about 20 stressful minutes to get all the glue on the ribs, rails, stringers and blocking, lay the top and get it clamped and shimmed.

Committed at this point.

Clamp and shim craziness!

Six Six Single Fin (what else right?)

2011-05-21T12:18:00.000-07:00

It has been an insane year with utter chaos for the first five months of 2011. Family issues have been incredibly disruptive and stressfull, financially and mentally. Things are calming down, yet the shit continues to flow, albeit at a diminished rate. We just celebrated out 20th wedding anniversay and our marriage continues to be a strong bond. Through it all has been the constant focus of surfing, taking the edge off the stress and providing mini wet-vacations. Kinda like two finges of bourbon at the end of a long day, but way better. Nearly as good as surfing is building boards. This is the first new board board since last November, and even though we are in the middle of moving, I had to start it. My awesome wife didn't even blink an eye when I fired up the table saw!

I've used plywood for my last several boards and once I got beyond my solid-wood snobbery, I realized I like the ply and it makes for a quick and light build. It's not quite as strong as milled solid stuff, so the decks should get a patch. I'm continuing to explore my trend of smaller, narrower boards with pulled in noses and tails. This one will be 6-6, 20 inches wide and have a max thickness of about 2-5/8 inches. Originally I was going to give it a thumb tail with a thruster or tri set up, but during layout, the pencil and battens had other ideas. So, not a big surprise, it's going to be a single fin. I had several new ones lying around waiting for a board anyway.

Previous boards almost ended up with some funny flat lines along the rail that were hard to see during construction. I'm trying a new layout method by creating a fine flowing line using the chine strips, nose and tail blocks. These bits are glued to the bottom skin first along with the fin blocking. This way, the rail strips will follow a well sprung line and will hopefully eliminate flat spots.

The plywood ribs are next cut to fit exactly within the chines.

The milled ribs are now glued onto the bottom skin while on the rocker table.

When the clamps come off, then I'll install the top of the rib stringrs the central top stringer. I'm not going to use the conventional solid notched keel fitting over the ribs. I'll create a truss-like keel with top and bottom components. Should be lighter and I'm pretty sure, stiff enough. So far, this method has allowed me to create better fitting parts which will result in a very strong board with better flowing lines.

More to come....

The Last of the Mini South Swell....

2011-05-14T11:31:00.000-07:00

Andy on his new short board

My wave of the day!

Another Repair

2011-01-04T17:05:00.000-08:00

Last summer I made a long board from 5/32" milled redwood. I used the same redwood for ribs that I used for the skin. Not a good idea! The first time out, the first wave, the first turn, I could hear and feel the ribs cracking under my feet as I stepped on the rail for a bottom turn. No!! The board is really pretty and looked undamaged, so I hung it up at a friends office as a decoration. After about 6 months, I retreived the board and decided to repair it. I cut the deck out, shook out all the wood debris from the broken ribs and installed 7 new 3/8" ply ribs with two top stringers for support of the rather thin 5/32" deck. Lesson: use plywood for the ribs. With the bi-directional laminations, it is far stronger than solid wood and won't crack along the grain. Duh.

Routing the deck

Three broken ribs.

All cleaned up and ready for the new ribs.

New 3/8" ribs spaced at 7" on center. 8" is my normal spacing.

All the ribs in. The wide stringers fall under plank glue joints, as the planks will get glued in individually due to the need for fitting. The new deck will be plenty stiff, more than the original.

Next step...fit and glue the planks in and glass her up!

Belly Slider Update

2010-12-26T12:18:00.000-08:00

Got out on Christmas day with my son for a surf. It was sunny and waist to chest high with some bigger sets. I lost one of my vent plugs and ended up taking out the new belly board. I was not sure how the pintail would work on such a small board, but it is really great! Compared to the straight-sided tombstone belly boards, it is very loose and turns early on the face. On bigger waves, I found I could carve up and down, just about hitting the lip. It was very fun, more so than the tombstone types because of the manuverability. The little bonzers do a good job, but really, to hang on in a steep section, I found I needed to really dig the rail into the wave face to keep from skidding off the wave. It is a little slower that the tombstone type, but I got more rides right in the pocket and better barrels, so for my local beach break, it seems better. And it is a little easier getting into waves and catching them earlier, given its wider width. Overall, super fun for a variety of smallish conditions and a great break from conventional standup riding. Definately be making some more!

New Belly Slider

2010-12-15T14:26:00.000-08:00

I was recently cruising my favorite surf sites and ran across a really neat looking wood belly board. As a shaper, I'm not above taking inspiration from other designs. The shape is unusual, I think, because of the pin tail on such a short board. This one I found also had some neat turned down rails near the tail to act as little fins. Pretty cool. Of course I got all excited because I like belly boards, and ran down to the garage to see if there was anything lying around I could use to make one. Yes, there was! I cut down and reshaped an old 6 foot alaia that did not work too well. I wanted to do the turned down edges, but end up recycling some old bonzer-style fins I found in the bottom of the old fin box. Alot less work, and probably more effective. Maybe. I think it looks pretty cool. It's about 4'7" long and about 20" wide. We'll have to see how it works in the water!

710 Finished

2010-12-15T14:14:00.000-08:00

Finally got some pictures of the new board to post. I've ridden this board for the last 2 weeks in surf from 2 feet to about 5 feet and I'm learning how to really enjoy it. I've learned to stay on the tail so I can use my weight to drive off the bottom and really how to pump across the wave face. Trim in only a short step forward and really it can be ridden is juicy surf without moving the feet at all...something new to my longboard style. I have found it to be very fast, super loose and turny and easy to paddle. The low rocker is not a problem on late drops. I can now make sections that before would have taken me out. I think the extra rake on the fin gives the board a little extra drive out of the bottom turn, because when done smoothly, I can really feel the board accelerate back up the face. So I'm pretty stoked with the performance of it. Eddie of Island Influence told me his old-school shaper's forumla for placement of a fixed fin. Definitely works Eddie!

Nice

2010-12-01T17:26:00.000-08:00

This was my reward for surfing solo at sunset in epic ankle high surf. Gotta love out December days!

Watchagonnado?

2010-11-27T15:21:00.000-08:00

This is what happens when the wife bans you from glassing in the garage!

710 Getting Closer...

2010-11-06T17:20:00.000-07:00

This board has come together pretty quick and I think it's going to be a nice one.

Layout on the left, work on the right

Gluin'....

Laminated ply and redwood core fin

All clamped up!

Wood Quiver, circa 2008

2010-11-02T16:45:00.000-07:00

710 Single Fin

2010-11-02T16:39:00.000-07:00

My head was full of so many ideas while working on the ugly stick that I started a layout for a new board after getting the ugly stick in the water. This will be a 7' 10" single fin, egg shape with a pintail. The rocker will be lowish, maximum width of 21.5", a 16" nose and a 15" tail, 2-3/4" thick, but no super fat rails on this one! Oh no. Son Andy is helping with this one and it will be his board (maybe!). Here are a few picutures so far.

Here is my layout of the keel on a ply sheet. I like to use battens to make fair curves. I start with the top of the board curve and then add the desired thickness at each rib station. I space ribs at 8" on center. When the curves look good and fair, I subtract the skin thickness for the top and bottom and cut out the keel from the plywood.

Nose to tail view.

Here is the nose blocking, final shaped. When the top is installed, I'll have the finished shape of the nose and tail already, so there is no guess work or redoing the layout. Then I just have to fair the rails inbetween.

Pintail. Nice! Still need to install blocking for the fin and tail.

Using Bobby's hand plane for the bottom of the nose curve!

Aint That Sweet

2010-10-25T17:51:00.000-07:00

Me and my honey of 22 years.

Ugly Stick Completed!

2010-10-21T10:24:00.000-07:00

With the onset of rains, cooler weather and continued work, the glassing and finish process was slowed down a bit. So here it is.

8-6 x 22.5 x 16.5 x 15 x 2 7/8

The tint on the bottom tail is cedar dust from the belt sander bag!

Crazy thick rails, I know. At least my knees will stay dry.

That's it. I'll try and post a few action shots in the near future.

Ugly Stick 6 - Nearly Ready

2010-10-12T18:27:00.000-07:00

Tuesdays update....

Here is the high-tech jig for routing out the fin dados. Never though I'd use the old plunge router again!

First dado cut without mishap and along the intended line.

The fin is glued in the slot with a 4 degree cant. The rears got a 3 degree cant.

Fins on. Hooray!

The fins will get more resin and shaping on the board now.

My signature epoxy leash loop glued onto the laminated top. It will get several coats of resin along with the deck and become nice and clear.

The tail block after the top lamination. There is not enough curve in the top to get the effect I was hoping for, but it looks nice anyway. Originally it was a square tail, but Rick March got me excited about a swallow tail, so here it is.

Son Andy shaping/attaching/finishing a set of plywood fins for his fish. Nice job Andy! Hey, don't break those fins.

Plywood Stick 5 - aka The Ugly Stick

2010-10-10T13:17:00.000-07:00

Here is a pictoral update on the board's progress. Here the rails strips are all installed and the upper strips have been sanded flat to accept the deck.

The deck has been glued on and rough planed down to shape.

Another view of the newly installed deck. I'm not happy with the shape of the ribs near the front...you can see in the lower left part of the picture where the curve of the deck edge pulls closer to the center line of the board, exposing more of the rail strips. This is because I put a little too much curve on the ribs, interrupting the fair line of the deck. Oh well!

So after looking at the board with the deck on, reailzed it was a mistake to not put a crown on the deck. As it is, the deck is completely flat and the thickness is carried out to the top of the rail. I've never done a totally flat deck and I probably should have anticipated this issue. So the board has these massive rails that kinda look like 1970's down rails, hence the new moniker.

Lamination Day. Hey everyone laminates in their front yard, don't they? Finally got a few days warm enough to start glassing. I did this board in one layer of 6 ounce top and bottom. All my other boards have been done in 4 ounce. I had to repair an older board done in 4 ounce, that required stripping of all the glass work. Once off, I could not believe how thin the resin and cloth section was! I mean, if I wanted to know it's thickness, I'd have to use a micrometer. Crazy. By the way, I have been using epoxy resin form John Greer in San Diego. I''ve had very good results with it and the best part is it shows up at my door one day after ordering it!

Leading fins. The fins were shaped from 1/4 plywood scraps from the skins. I laminated them with 2 layers of 6 ounce on each side, which makes them plenty stiff. I'm going to route a 7/16" wide dado into the board, 1/2" deep. The fin will be glued in with 5-minute epoxy then the remaining space filled with resin. This way, I don't have to do 'footballs' or use fin rope and spend time messing with that. If I ever do break a fin, I'll just sand flush, route through the old base and epoxy, and glue in a new one. Easy.

Plywood Stick 4

2010-09-28T17:30:00.000-07:00

Finally off the rocker table and planing down the top rails in preparation for placing the top. I generally like to do this with hand tools, but I went all power this time, using the Bosch power planer and the amazing belt sander. Very fast, but of course, it is super noisy and messy. Also, at this point I rough out the bottom rails, especially in the nose where the rail will be fairly soft.

Back on the table, all ready for the top. Final check to make sure the top will lay fair across all ribs and especially at the nose and tail. The tail need some additional blocking in this picture.

The top is finally on, glued with Titebond III. This part is best done with a helper, or at least a third hand.

More PVC clamps in between the wood clamps. I also used a few shims driven under the wood clamps. A convex deck would have required more elaborate clamping along the rail top to get the top to curve.

Plywood Stick 3

2010-09-26T08:44:00.000-07:00

Finally done adding wood to the tail block. Now it is wide enough for the subtail.

Here are the rough nose blocks sitting in place. They are cedar with a thin strip of redwood in the middle for a little contrast. They'll get glued on after the top skin is in place.

Bead and cove rail strip progress. Nearly done. With a totally flat deck, I don't have to carry the strips too far onto the deck. Another 4 strips should do it. Okay, for the observant, how many mistakes/fixes can you spot in this photo? I can see at least two that I know of!

I decided to go with a quad set up for a couple of reasons. Quads seem like having little motors under the board when you turn, and I wanted some shallow draft fins for suring the reef on low tide or inside days. These are made from plywood leftovers from the skins and they'll get inset 1/2" into the board to simplify installation.

Another picture of the progress so far. Gee, how come the top-of-rib stringers are so wiggly? Apparently there was a technical measurement issue in laying out the center line of the ribs. Time for a new ruler I guess.

Plywood Stick, 2

2010-09-25T10:46:00.000-07:00

You can see the simplified ribs I'm using. The deck will be flat and I've eliminated any channels on the bottom to make the build faster. I'm using Titebond III to glue the frame to the skins. The polyurethane subfloor adhesive that I had been using has let go on some previous boards.

Here is the chine strip. This one is a half inch wide to allow for a pretty soft rail in front of the board. The notch in the top of the rib is for a longitudinal stringer for additional deck support and gluing area.

The starter rail strip is glued on and clamped with PVC clamps. Plastic does have its uses.

Here is the tail block all cut and ready to reglue. It is alternating pine and redwood.

So here is the tail block reglued in a little wavy pattern. When the block gets shaped with top and bottom curved surfaces, the redwood rectangles will become curved like beans and should make a pretty cool pattern. At least I hope!

Friends!

2010-09-18T09:49:00.000-07:00

We recently met some old friends from Whidbey Island up at Doheney beach for a little sun and fun. What a bunch of goofballs!

New Plywood Stick

2010-09-18T09:45:00.000-07:00

The Busted Board's Interior

Finally! After the interior structural failure of my last redwood longboard, I've gone back to the tried-and-true materials. The redwood board was 9'5" and only 18 pounds, even with a double six ounce glass job. Unfortunately, I used very thin wood ribs and 5/32" skins and it seems the rib spacing was too far, as several cracked during a bottom turn. Not the sound you want to hear when you step on the rail! The board is still very pretty, but is only good for the wall now!

So I decided to replace my daily stick an 8-3 mini-malibu. This is a super fun board with double channels, a single fin and a pretty domed deck. After nearly 3 years of almost daily rides, it is starting to show much wear and tear. A leak earlier this year, warped many of the bottom planks and it has a bit of a corrugated feel to it now. Several fin repairs have made it pretty heavy too.

So the new board is loosely based on the 8-3 dimensions and for simplicity and cost, I'm using 3/8 exterior ply for the frame and ribs and a nice light 1/4 birch plywood for the skins. It will have a flat deck and a flat bottom. The rails are bead and cove milled in pine. The rib and skin dimensions are about 1/32 more than I typically mill them to, but the extra thickness will make it very strong. I'm not sure about the fin setup, but I'm thinking a quad might be a nice change from a single fin.

My buddy Dave lent me his rocker table and here it is clamped down with the base blocking leveled and in place. Thanks

Dave!

The ribs are getting glued onto the keel here. It is upside down, but you can see that the deck will be flat. It is much easier to glue up and will give a little more volume in the rails.

8-0h Triple Stringer Fish (that's inches)

2010-05-23T09:59:00.000-07:00

Mike's Wall at Palomar Chiropractic

2010-05-23T09:56:00.000-07:00

My friend and neighbor, Dr. Paul Peters has given me some wall space at his chiropractic office in Vista. His business is called Palomar Chiropractic. Paul is a great guy and fellow surfer. Many of his paitents are surfers and other sport types and he has done wonders keeping me (and many others) limber and in the water over the years. Eveyone seems to enjoy the variey of boards and fins that I display.

Eggy Redwood

2010-05-23T09:48:00.000-07:00

7'10" x 21" x 1.5" thick and no rocker. Made of redwood heart and sap wood with a ployurethane finish (no glass). This plank rides pretty much like a regluar boards despite it's 25 pounds and minimum float. It paddles good and I'm surprised at the drops I can make despite the dead flat rocker. The fin is redwood, very thin and very flexy, hence the leash loop. I don't think the fin would survive multiple beachings. After a few sessions, I ended up hollowing out the deck. This removed 3-4 pounds and lightened up the nose of the board considerable.

Minor Details

2010-03-09T08:05:00.000-08:00

Here is a typical 1/4" plywood frame. Now I would add 1/4" square pieces along the top and bottom so there is more gluing area for the top and bottom skins. Note the chine rail notch at the end of the rib.

Here you can see the chine rail strip going in. For softer rails use a 3/8 to 1/2 " wide chine just to be safe.

Here is a close up of the chine rail strip. After that is in on both sides, then you can add the first rail strip against the chine strip.

Here the rails are done and they run long at either end. I'll cut them clean and add solid blocking at the nose and tail so I don't have to bend the rail strips to the curves.

Here you can see how much the top skin will overlap the rails at the sides. You can also see the solid rail blocking at the tail. A solid tail block gets epoxied on later.

Here the rails are wrapped over the top for a couple of inches for a good overlap and I've added some longtudinal stringers (1/4 x 1/4") set into the tops of the ribs for additional gluing area. At this point, the rails in the deck area get planed down, thinning toward the middle of the board so the deck has a nice fit.

Summer Beater

2010-02-13T16:23:00.000-08:00

Here is another beater repair. This board, my last foamy, sat up in the rafters for over a year after my daughter broke off the nose and I tore it up on some rocks. But, hey, why not fix it. Everyone needs a beater for those crowded summer days. So I cut in new foam, reshaped and reglassed. Gorgeous.

It Had To Happen Sooner or Later....

2010-02-13T16:16:00.000-08:00

Water. Hollow wood surfboard. Keep the water out, no problem. Let the water in, big problem. My 6-7 fish got water in it, just a little and over a period of weeks the planks swelled. The skins were kind of corrugated, but it was not a problem and it surfed fine. I guess the water made with wood swell and that opened up a seam near the nose. A recent surf with my son on the fish yielded about half a gallon of water in the fish after the surf! NO! So I stripped the glass, which was pretty easy.

Here the skin is stripped and I've cut out a two access hole for drying and reguling the bottom planks. I used an inexpensive subfloor adhesive to attach the ribs and skins. Either the glue is not really waterproof, or the movement of the skins was strong enough to break the bond. Also, this is the only board I've finished with polyester resin. I now believe strongly that poly is too brittle to be used over wood. None of my epoxy finished boards have shown any problems like this. Maybe everybody else know this but I just figured it out!

After I routered out the top deck, I was able to just pull the decking off with my hand...not a good testament to the adhesive. So the plan is to let this thing dry out and then reglue the bottom skin to the ribs using...??? I don't know! Maybe 3M 5200. That is supposed to be the best thing, so I'll try it. Then I'll cut in a dutchman on the deck and reglass with 6 ounce cloth and epoxy. I've used 4 ounce on my boards so far, and after stripping it off, man, is it thin! Maybe 6 ounce would be better. If I were a good glasser, I'd double wrap the rails, as that is where the critical glue bonds are, but that sounds like a lot of work.

Here is my fix to reglue the bottom to the frame. I've added 1/4" square strips glued to both the frame and the bottom on each side of the rib. It was not realistic to get 5200 between the ribs and the skins and I used Titebond III. This will give a greater gluing area and reduce the stresses.

Here is a doubler along the top of the rib so I can reglue the planks adjacent to the opening.

Here is the center planks clamped to the new doublers.

Knee Update

2010-01-20T09:56:00.000-08:00

I feel like I've turned a corner and am back on the road to becoming a whole functional person. A whole series of events way beyond my control kept me from getting some guidance and physical therapy following my surgery. The surgeon's post surgery instructions were pretty weak and did not give much guidance as to what level of activity might be okay. After getting back home just before Christmas from some travelling, I felt pretty damn good and strong, so I started surfing. Just short outings with a few waves. Well, after a few days of that, I was not ready for that and my knee swelled up and I was in pain and I thought I had reinjured it. Finally got hooked up with my physical therapist and with her help and a lot of dedicated exercise over the last month, my knee if finally looking normal and feeling normal. My leg strength is building and with that I'm able to do a little more every day. I'm still not ready to surf...yeah I took a wave last Sunday and my knee wobbled around like it was held together with rubber bands. But there was no pain or swelling. So I'll still continue to go out and paddle and get my salt water fix. See you all out there when this swell dies down!

Sunday's Swell Casualty

2010-01-10T15:05:00.000-08:00

The late drop in did not work out so well for Andy. Hmmm....waddya think, maybe a little duct tape and some Solarez??

Alaia for Eli

2010-01-10T15:00:00.000-08:00

Eli enjoying the shaping experience

Eli and I spent a recent Saturday afternoon together working on his first wood board and first alaia together. I provided a cedar blank, tools and a little guidance and Eli provided the sweat and labor to shape the board. We made a big mess in the front yard and had fun while doing it. In the end, Eli ended up with a nicely shaped alaia that he made with his own hands. Enjoy it Eli!

Eli with his new 6-0 alaia. Nice job!

Still Recovering...

2009-12-28T10:42:00.000-08:00

Happy holidays! Back in early December my knee was feeling pretty normal...a little weak from inactivity, but it bent and there was no pain! So I went surfing and took it easy. Got a few days in the week of the 14 and even got a few overhead set waves from the swell that was coming through. Awesome...I thought I was back! But no, too much activity for the old knee and it swelled up like a grapefruit and refused to bend much the following day. Nice. So after a week of inactivity and some PT sessions, the swelling is abating and I have most of the movement back. So I'm looking at probably a couple of months with no surfing and super light activity. I guess I'll have time to do some more shaping.

Friends Doin' It

2009-12-02T09:02:00.000-08:00

Shawn

Mitch on a 6-0 channel bottom alaia

Bobby loggin it

Recent Swell...

2009-12-01T13:12:00.001-08:00

photo by Bill

Go Mitch!

2009-12-01T13:10:00.000-08:00

Ventucky rollers

Brothers

2009-12-01T13:09:00.000-08:00

Two six footers with the same width, but the one on the right has the wide point moved back to nearly the mid point.

Recovery Mode

2009-11-30T09:39:00.000-08:00

Not much has been happening lately. Built a few boards, but mostly I've been in recovery mode. No the post Thanksgiving food-coma recovery, but post arthoscopic knee surgery for a torn lateral mensicus. This was an old injury and I can't even remember how it happened. Finally decided enough was enough and went to see an orthopaedic surgeon. I had surgery at the end of October and am still not back to 100 percent. It is amazing how fast the muscles atrophy. I did a some surfing about 5 weeks after the surgery and I felt like a stiff old man, confident enough to take off on only the smallest ankle-biters! It's getting better back in the water, but still a long way to go to get back to my pre-surgery level.

Bellyboards

2009-10-28T09:16:00.000-07:00

After seeing some alaia boards a few years back I thought they looked like a fun building project. So I bought some fence boards or scavenged old cedar house siding and glued up a few blanks, and copied some shapes I had seen. I make a bunch in the 4 to 5 foot range and started riding them as belly boards. The funny thing is, these little boards have become my favorite type of alaia! I grab my 4 footer and fins and head out into either a nice clean day or mushy high tide small surf - it does not matter. I always find some sweet peelers either inside or outside in the lineup and usually get a couple nice little barrels. They are so much fun and super simple. They are much faster than a thick foam boogie board and way easier to paddle out and under bigger breaking waves. I almost always carry one or two in the car.

Fun tools for shaping

Alaia for Mitch

2009-10-28T08:38:00.000-07:00

Heres a 6-0 alaia with a channel bottom and chined rails for Mitch up in Ventura. Have fun with it!

Redwood Swallowtail

2009-10-22T13:19:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pics of a recent board, an 8-0 swallowtail in redwood.

The finished board:

And the rails:

The blank in 2x material:

All finished:

Note the precision cutting tool.

Roughed out:

The rails will be pinched 50/50:

New Tool

2009-10-20T09:11:00.000-07:00

I've been using my 4" rotary sander to make my channels lately, but it is noisy and dusty, so I though I'd make a hollowing plane. I found some white oak in the rafters and roughed out the plane in about an hour. I had an old orphaned iron i'd been using as a scraper, so I reshaped it with a slight radius and put an edge on it.

After some finishing, it looked like this:

Finished:

Nice! Even better, it works quietly and makes no dust.

Little Visitor

2009-10-20T09:00:00.000-07:00

This little guy was hanging out with the iguana. Iggy did not seem to mind and the cats strangely ingored him.

6-0 Thin Alaia

2009-09-29T09:27:00.000-07:00

Here is the latest 6 foot, 5/8-inch thick alaia. For me, this is the most succesful shape, as it paddles well and does not feel like you are trying to ride a 2x6.

A deep single channel in the last 1/3 of the board along with hard chined rails and some flat bottom sections work really well. You almost forget that there is no fin!

Channel Bottom

2009-09-08T08:15:00.000-07:00

7" 11"

Nice little bottom channel

9-6 Big Boy

2009-09-08T08:08:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of a redwood 9-6 alaia that I made for myself.

7-2 Tear Drop Alaia

2009-09-02T11:13:00.000-07:00

Here is the latest redwood alaia, 7'2", 17.5" wide and 1" thick. Enjoy it Stu!

8-0 Swallowtail

2009-08-31T09:44:00.000-07:00

Here is the latest alaia. 8-0 swallow tail in redwood, 1" thick, 17.5 wide. (Sorry about the date...the camera is broken!)

Two New Shapes

2009-08-31T09:41:00.000-07:00

Redwood, 8-0 swallow tail destined for a wall and a 7-0 tear drop.

Top Skins

2009-08-24T09:15:00.000-07:00

I ended up planking the top in sections. This has the advantage of being able to reglue edges that originally did not stick, but the eccentric clamping can also induce some twist into the board. Yeah, I got a little twist in the tail, but fortunately, the bottom plank is thick enought to thin and balance things. out. Stoked!

5-10

2009-08-24T09:11:00.000-07:00

A nice little 5-10 alaia

6-1 Parabola???

2009-08-20T14:35:00.001-07:00

I like this shape, but don't really know why it is called a parabolic. Nice redwood stringer and tail. Too bad I won't get to ride this one.

Monday's Frame

2009-08-17T12:49:00.001-07:00

Tail will taper to a 7" square tail

Ready to start rough shaping the rails, nose and tial in preparation for the top. Still need to add full length stringers to the top of the ribs

Slightly pointy nose

Does not look like much rocker but 3.5/2.5 will work just fine

Frame Up

2009-08-13T09:16:00.001-07:00

Here the frame is glued to the bottom skin with the coutours in it. The first chine strip is clamped in place.

Swedish Meatball

2009-08-10T10:18:00.001-07:00

This is why we were busy....new sedan for one of the kids.

9-0 progress

2009-08-10T10:10:00.000-07:00

Had a busy weekend so did not get much done...the bottom skin glued up and the ribs/keel cutout and ready for glue.

New Beginnings

2009-08-04T09:46:00.001-07:00

Very exciting! Nothing like a pile of wood to play with. 5/32" redwood shims that will become a 9 oh performance woody.

Old alaias never die...

2009-07-22T10:33:00.000-07:00

My daughter's recycled wood alaia. The wood is weak with rot and nail holes, hence lots of epoxy and bracing! It is her favorite and she won't let me replace it until it is completely toast.

A few new sliders

2009-07-22T10:27:00.000-07:00

Kyles New 4-0

2009-06-19T12:42:00.000-07:00

Kyle's new alaia looks pretty sweet. I especailly like the little belly rocker.

This is what happens when there is no surf....

2009-06-18T08:57:00.001-07:00

My New Friend

2009-06-18T08:54:00.000-07:00

What is cooler than getting dropped in on by a dolphin?

Surfy Surfy: Ice Blue 9'2"

2009-04-21T13:28:00.000-07:00

Surfy Surfy: Ice Blue 9'2"

Home Grown Quiver

2009-04-21T11:56:00.001-07:00

Here is the collection, clockwise from the top: Bobby's 10-0 cedar single fin, 8-3 single fin from recycled wood, 6-7 fish from recycled wood, 6-6 alaia, 3' alaia, 3.6' alaia, 6-4 plywood quad rocket fish and a 9-8 redwood single fin.

El Capo

2009-03-23T08:27:00.000-07:00

I decided to finally make a wood fin for modern fin boxes. Here are a few pictures of the jig and fin getting roughed out. I'm actually surprised that the jig worked out well the first time.

Uke progress

2009-02-17T09:17:00.000-08:00

The uke is progressing. Got the body and skins all glued up. Here a couple of progress pics. Next will be a fretboard in maybe ebony or some nice walnut if I can find some.

I always put little notes inside of my projects.

New Supertanker Fin

2009-02-17T09:09:00.000-08:00

After a horrifying fin-loss on my 9-8 super old school board, I decided to give the board a new fin instead of just repairing it. I figured it was a good opportunity of experiment a little. So I decided to replace the big D-fin with a more modern hatchet fin.

Scientific analysis yielded the optimum placement of the fin. Yeah right....this looks about right

Ukulele

2009-02-10T08:37:00.001-08:00

I thought I'd try something different. My son is a guitar player he and wanted me to build him a guitar, so I thought i'd try something smaller first.

Of course, all the wood here is scrap from other project. I'll pop for some ebony or walnut for the fret board.

Those scrap looking pieces are braces for the lining while the glue dries.

Belly with a different sound hole with a floating triangle in it.

Neck getting roughed out.

Fins

2009-02-06T09:37:00.001-08:00

For the shaper, I think fins are the most rewarding component to make. There are lots of shapes and styles, and if you like multiple fins, lots of different setups. This is the fin on my 8-3 rounded pintail. The first week out, surfing at low tide and I tagged the reef! Bummer. The beauty of wood is just glue it back together, re-glass and its good as new! I figured this was bound to happen sooner or later, given the deep swoop of the fin and the big moment arm. To date, I've reglassed the fin back on 3 times...I hope that is the last time.

Here are some keel fins for a 6-7 cedar fish. I originally milled the wood at 3/8-inch thick and then thought that that was too thin to foil a 9-inch long fin. So I added a second 3/8 layer for final thickness of 3/4-inch. This was a good thickness as it allowed me to foil the entire fin.

Fins getting roughed out by hand. Given the depth of the fin, the max thickness was placed about 40 percent back from the nose base and angled back at something like a 30 degree angle.

Here are the shaped fins on the lamainated board, ready to be glued on. I glued them on and then glassed them with 4 oz. cloth on the board.

This a big D fin in a basic sunburst patternThe red is redwood and the other is cedar.

All finished and glassed on. Talk about old school! This is the fin for doing those graceful drop-knee cutbacks. I can' do them to well, but they do look nice!

These are a set of quads of a 6-4 fish. I copied a set of fins from Rain*** and the setup from a friends board. Great setup. They are small but were a lot of work in that there are four, and the two sets need to be identical in their foil for it to work properly. I really like this set up.

Tools

2009-02-03T10:28:00.001-08:00

I used to be a finish carpenter and sometime cabinet maker. For those of you who have done this kind of work you know there are lots of tools needed for finish stuff. When I was doing that for a living I probably spent and hour and a half each day just unloading, setting up and then putting all the tools away again into the old work van. Got kinda old after a while. After I quite carpentry for money and went back to consulting in geology (very few hand tools!) and finished building our house on Whidbey Island, I pretty much put my tools away and did not touch them for about 7 years.

When I got back into surfing and wanted to build a wood board, I got out my old hand (non-power) tools and used them. I used my chop saw for my first board, but then the saw got stolen out of the garage and I did not replace it. I also used my table saw, thickness planer, router and belt sander. All great tools and all very noisy and messy. I work in my garage and the laundry machines are in there too....so my wife was not really happy with the fine wood dust everywhere! So, I gradually stopped using the power tools and now, about the only power tool is use is the table saw for all the rough milling, the drill press and a little with a jig saw. I learned that I did not need to thickness plane the wood for the skins...milling on the table saw and a bit of planing by hand with a #5 works really well. Pre-glass sanding can be done by hand, although it is still messy. It takes a little more time, but you don't have to worry about power sanding through the thin skins. Once the glass goes on, the sanding can be done wet, so there is absolutely no dust. Nice!

So my collection of had tools for surboards include a #5 hand plane, a short sureform plane, a Stanley mini-plane, a Stanley spoke shave, a Japanese-style pull saw, short western-style saw and assorted chisels. Its a lot more enjoyable sweeping up wood shavings rather than wood dust, and probably a lot better for the lungs. The quiet tools allow my to work in the early morning or late at night and not disturb the family or neighbors. Nothing like the whine of a router at 6 am on a Sunday!

Fins are fun to build. After ripping the wood pieces on the table say and glueing them up, all the shaping is done with the spokeshave and a coupel of chisels for the tightly curved areas. Then its just a matter of sanding to get the foil smooth.

I'd really like a bandsaw...that would make resawing wood much easier than my table saw. I like to use old recyceled wood for my projects, so resawing is a necessary evil. Maybe some day I'll get one. But until then, I'll just use what I have and be content with it.

My Favorite Board

2009-02-02T08:38:00.000-08:00

This is a pretty special board. Its made of cedar that is probably 40 years old, and has been drying on a house in Encinitas, just waiting for me to come along! This wood was given to me from a builder doing a remodel on the house. I took as much wood as I could strap on the top of my car and it saved him from having to take it to the dump. It was originally milled as 1x6 tongue and groove siding. I remilled it as 3/16x2 boards, glued up as a skin. Using old wood is great...the wood lives on with a new use and its history is imprinted into it. This wood is full of nail holes, when bookmatched, gives it a really cool pattern.

I tried to keep the rails fairly round, pretty much 50-50 for the nose and mid section going to probably a 60-40 at the tail. This has worked out really well. There is plenty of speed and enough suction on the rails to make it a pretty good nose rider. The bottom has two channels which I think gives it good speed.

I copied a pretty famous fin and am really pleased and surprised at how well it works. I made the fin from cedar with pine accent strips. The pine came from pallett I found at the office. It's full foiled and is a maximum of about 3/4-inch thick, with the max thickness at about 1/3 of the chord length. Surprisingly, this fin makes the board super loose, and not surprisingly, gives lots of bite, even when up on the nose. It only seems to lose its bite just after takeoff, if I turn to early and am high on the wave, then it kind of shimmys around and quickly bites in as I pick up speed. I did not add any reinforcing to the bottom skin only because I did not even think about it! The skin on the bottom is only 3/16". So, with the fin glassed on, the whole thing flexes a little from side to side. I don't know if this has any effect on anything, but there are some people who believe that flexy fins give lots of drive off the bottom turn.