Huck's hollow wooden surfboards (bahrman rails)

artwork completed, ready for glass

2011-12-27T21:50:00.000-08:00

egg crate framework: complete

2011-12-05T23:35:00.000-08:00

It has actually been enjoyable doing this weird experimental build, I go into my shop and just cut and glue little pieces and I'm in the zone, low stress, just tooling around in my own little world LOL. Progress moves so slow you don't even think about it after awhile, hahaha. I plan on doing some more like this, trying some other variations on the theme which are floating around in my head.

I pretty much finished the framework, a couple pieces needed around the vent and leash plug. Next: seal the inside and apply the 'rice paper'. I have ordered some "polyspan" tissue, a tissue designed for lining dresses, it is synthetic, puncture resistant, water resistant, and very strong. It can be pulled tight with heat. It has a smooth side and a rough side, I'll apply it rough side out, to get a better bond with the fiberglass. I need nitrate dope to apply it, and the stuff is hard to find, I'll have to order some on internet.

Once the tissue is on, then artwork, and fiberglass it. My plan is one layer of 6 oz. fiberglass over the tissue, then see how strong it feels to see if I think it'll need more. After I glass the top and bottom, then I'll shape the rails. At least that's my plan. Then I'll glass the rails last. Its been a trip for sure, I bet there are over 1300 pieces in this thing.

"the Shoji"

2011-10-14T23:12:00.000-07:00

As the board progresses, I've decided to go for a shoji screen type of look, with some kind of rice paper or maybe silk (if I could afford it) covering, then fiberglass.

I want to add some Japanese style graphics too.

egg, Japanese flavored =)

2011-09-17T23:33:00.000-07:00

Something different this go-around. I don't want to say too much, because really so much is vague in my mind - gonna have to make it up as I go along. But my tentative agenda is this: to try a new method I've never done before, and never seen done. Based on boards (and other related disciplines) I have seen, as an inspiration.

The idea is to make a lighter board, or more accurately, to find a lighter system / methodology of making boards - but since this one is experimental, I'm not going to worry too much about the weight of this particular board (if its successful, then I can always tweak the details to get the weight down on later iterations).

Also, this is intended to be a personal statement of sorts - dunno if I'm saying it right, but I'm not seeking to find a method that will catch on with other builders. Like most of what I do, its not likely to be very expedient, or practical, LOL.

This method will draw inspiration from varied sources, not all of which are surfboard related. I'm hoping to end up with something like a Japanese flavored egg!

discussion forum withdrawals?

2011-09-12T23:47:00.000-07:00

Swaylock's discussion forum is not working! I thought anyone might like to know that I host a Web community that the Sway's crowd may enjoy. It's called alternative surfcraft - a place to discuss homebuilt, custom shaped, hollow, wooden, compsand, foam, or any other of various and sundry alternative surfboard building methods other than factory produced surfboards.

Everyone is welcome to join in on the alternative surfcraft message boards and I look forward to seeing you there!

To join our discussions, simply go to here

Its part of Delphi Forums. If you've never used Delphi Forums before, you'll need to go through a quick registration (so you can post messages). It only takes a minute and it's free!

Hope to see you there, Huck

what was I thinking?

2011-09-03T01:00:00.000-07:00

This board was a result of several factors and influences

I wanted a board small enough to fit in the back seat of the car, but still offer the float / paddling of a longer board (like "trunk boards", but not quite as small)

I wanted to use the square tail / square nose to give it a straighter rail curve than most small wide boards, something I had also seen on the "trunk boards".

I had seen several step-decks on swaylocks, with good ride-report, and figured my rail system lent itself especially well to a step-deck.

I was curious about challenging certain assumptions, wanting to build a board with no ribs - and diverging from the common practise of running the planks lengthwise or diagonally.

Another factor was that I had read several forum posts of builders fighting to bend the deck into the compound curves that rocker / dome created on top. So I decided to design a board that has no bent pieces of wood in it, at all. This was a result of a discussion I started on tree-2-sea concerning my desire to build a wood board that capitalized on wood's strengths, without fighting to make it imitate foam in shape or structure.

I always build my decks piece by piece over the framework, so I seldom have to struggle to bend it the way others do. But in this case, the entire board was to be built of straight pieces of wood.

Craftsmanship: an archaic notion?

2011-08-31T23:51:00.000-07:00

(thanks to Mike Torres whose picture I stole!)

What has happened to appreciation for craftsmanship in our modern society? Machines and computers aid productivity, and eliminate or minimize the human factor. Driven by a thirst for increased profit, labor is farmed out to third world countries for pennies on the dollar. By breaking craftsmanship down into menial sub-operations carried out by often underage and largely underpaid foreign minions, it costs almost nothing, and society is taught to value it accordingly.

In the industrialized nations, kids grow up playing with x-box and i-phones, a lot of 'em don't even know how to build a box-kite, or cut a dovetail or chisel a mortise - the stuff once learned in shop class, but they don't have shop class anymore at most schools, do they? For a new generation, digital entertainment has supplanted the now antiquated manual entertainment of creating physical things from human imagination. Perfection is an ideal representing the absence of the flaws of the human touch.

People can't appreciate craftsmanship when they have no real personal experience with the process. I once took a tour of Greene and Greene's Gamble House in Pasadena - tourists stood in the midst of this testament to the inspirational and uplifting power of human craftsmanship...playing with their cell phones.

Because there is very little that we touch in our modern world that is made by the hands of people in our community, we no longer need to think of what is fair for the craftsman - he is, after all, not one of us.

Often, when I speak of this, it makes people uncomfortable (and you know, if you don't like the message... kill the messenger! LOL) and they just get upset and tell me this is progress, accept it, put up and shut up, bla bla bla, which makes me wonder why they react so negatively? Really, isn't the whole issue just a sidebar to the "bigger picture" issues of standardization and mechanization and computerization as tools utilized by the powers-that-be to control the education, socialization, and interaction of human society? If you can't see that, then you won't understand whats happening to the surfboard industry anyway.

I chose to make my living with my hands (in my case, as a self-employed contractor / carpenter / remodeler). I've been watching this whole thing unfold for decades - engineered roof systems built in a factory using machinery and unskilled labor rather than on the jobsite with skilled labor (as a framer for many years, I learned the esoteric art of calculating and cutting complex roof structures, a now irrelevant skill), the cnc takeover of the cabinetry (and furniture) industry, etc. etc.

Of course, the whole process began well before me. Like maybe the late 1700's, with the advent of the first industrial revolution, and the beginning of mechanized production. Oh, and plenty of people have decried the dehumanization of this "modernization" of the creative process, like William Morris, John Ruskin, Gustav Stickley, the brothers Greene, to cite just a few. To what avail? The arguments against them have changed little. Backed by the Big Money, the corporatization of the creative process and the elimination of the "craftsman" marches on apace. Surfboard production was one of the last of the "cottage industries" to fall.

Which brings me back to what I love about homemade surfboards - the indomitable spirit of human creativity, expressed through handcrafted playthings for ourselves and our friends, for the purpose of enjoying the natural uncomputerized unmechanized pleasure of riding ocean waves! What could be better than that?

ugly duckling

2011-08-31T09:44:00.000-07:00

finally getting back to working on this one

mermaid tales

2011-08-15T07:33:00.000-07:00

Got her at a yardsale the other day, and sold her to a surfing buddy in Australia. But I snapped some pics, maybe I could use them for a logo or something...?

homemade pivot fin for longboard

2011-08-06T23:43:00.000-07:00

Wood Surfboard Supply provided the fin base, I built the fin out of redwood and pine.

9' 6" hollow wooden big wave gun

2011-06-30T01:37:00.000-07:00

6'6" step deck, a bit experimental

2011-01-22T03:43:00.000-08:00

I've been working on this one for awhile now, whenever I get a bit of time here or there. Small board, wide and thick (22 1/2" wide, 3" thick), with the volume of a much larger board, as the deck steps up from the rail.

wood surfboard invitation

2010-12-04T17:49:00.000-08:00

All builders are invited to our Southern California shop every Saturday to see the new boards, ask questions, get tips, etc.

Workshops will be held between 9:00 AM and 1:00 PM

Workshops may also be held at the beach or at other surfing- related locations.

Call ahead to see where it will be.

No purchase is required to attend!

Build methods are not limited to Brad Tucker method or Jack Young method. All wood board builders welcome including Alaia shapers, Chambered, hollow of any method etc. Bringing your current project is encouraged but not nessecary.

Brad and/or Jack will be there working on boards and ready to answer questions.

Due to liability issues we can't let anybody use the equipment.

If you are thinking about building a wood surfboard, are having problems with your build, or just want to see the shop and hang out, call to make sure we are here and we'll show you around.

The shop is in Santa Ana , CA but sometimes it will be held at other locations.
Call (714) 834-9968

Brad Tucker
Wood Surfboard Supply

Reefpoint Beach Surfboards

2010-11-29T05:45:00.000-08:00

Reefpoint Beach, sounds like a scenic slice of California coastline - but its really just a play on the three coastal conditions that produce rideable surf: Reef breaks, point breaks, and beach breaks.

Thinking about names for my surfboard building endeavors!

every once in awhile...

2010-11-27T23:01:00.000-08:00

I take a break from building wood boards, and build a foam one. Well, actually, this is my first "all foam" surfboard, it was fun to make, and went a lot quicker than a wood board!

9'0" by 23" by 3 1/4", it was the second time I played around with tint, and the first time I did resin pinlines.

Based on a friend's recommendation, I'm going to buy or build a pivot-fin for it, and besides, they look cool!

solid wood rails class-workshop offered

2010-11-17T12:37:00.000-08:00

Since I've had and responded to many requests to explain my "bahrman rails" system, I've been thinking about how best to present/explain the system to an interested group. So after a year of using the system, I am offering a step-by-step workshop / class to interested persons. Cost will be minimal, at $15 per person. This is an online class, so all the teaching will take place at your computer, and in your own working environment whatever that is.

Bahrman rails are so named because many people asked me if my board had Jensen rails, and I had to explain it was my own rail system. So to distinguish it from any other rail systems, I began calling it the bahrman rail system. I don't claim to have invented anything new, I haven't patented or copyrighted it, and don't doubt something very similar has been done by others before. In fact, I know one shaper who posts pics online has a similar system, 'tho not identical.

With the bahrman rail system, the rails can be built first, and the strength of the board is in the rails. The rails effectively become the perimeter stringer, and a very strong one at that. Because of this, the remainder of the board can be filled in with a variety of different methods. If you normally work with foam, you can build your board with foam. The method would work well with compsand, and is probably similar to many compsand boards being made today. If you like the "fish bones" method of most hollow wood surfboards, you can build accordingly. To test the structure, I even built a board just using the rails and a piece of plywood glued top and bottom, it works fine so far.

The weight of the rails is comparable to most wood rail systems, and is dictated largely by the wood chosen. Balsa or paulownia are probably the lightest, although I have always used 2x6 Calif. redwood, sometimes combined with 1x6 cedar, because they are available very inexpensively at my local big-box stores. I recommend using an inexpensive wood that is fairly light and easy to shape for your first time. Later, once the process is understood, you may go to more expensive woods if desired.

If you want to get experimental, this is a good method to know. Because the rails carry so much of the strength of the board, the options open up for the actual remaining structure. Use your imagination. Once you understand the system, you will see that it can be modified in numerous ways, and you can proceed to customize and experiment on personalizing the process on your own future builds. A rocker table is not required for this system, but a solid flat workbench top is. Also recommended is a good set of shaping racks, like shown in the bottom picture.

This is a solid rail system, that is carved or sanded to shape. To build the rails, you will probably want to use a handheld jigsaw (which is what I use) or a bandsaw (which I would use if I had one!). Clamps are helpful, although screws can be used instead, and then taken out once the glue dries. To shape the rails, a belt sander, 4" handheld grinder with sanding disc, and power planer may be used. Although they could be shaped without power tools (carved and sanded) if so desired. Although not difficult, if you are not comfortable with "shaping" your rails, this is probably not the system for you. And you should be aware that there is a certain amount of "waste" when carving or shaping, that differs from the minimal sanding required of rails built with strips.

$15 U.S. cost of class, no refunds for withdrawal. I will set it up so that payment may be made by PayPal, credit card, or you can send a money order by mail. Everyone will have access to a step-by-step detailed explanation of the process with accompanying pictures / drawings as needed. You can proceed at your own rate, but will be expected to keep your project moving forward on a regular basis.

Classes will be conducted through a private Delphi forum not open to the public, so you must join Delphi (free), and you must be able to post pics. A separate photo-hosting site is highly recommended - like flickr photobucket or picasa, (most are free), as Delphi picture size and space is very limiting, but with a separate photo hosting site, there are no limits. I cannot answer questions very well if I can't see a pic of your project, and I will expect every student to post pics of their progress. To see if you can use Delphi and post pics, you are welcome to try my free public Delphi forum Surfers Surfing Surfboards.

I will walk everyone who joins through the process. You must have a full-sized board template (plan shape) and rocker template (stringer shape) to proceed. Because this will be a group forum, we will learn from each other also, but without the distraction of outside observers and trolls.

Registration will be open until the end of the month. At the first of December, class will begin. What you will end up with is a wood surfboard perimeter rail. You can build your board using any method you want. While the class does not concern itself with the remainder of the build, I will answer questions and discuss the options for those who desire.

If you are interested, email me at doghousereilley@yahoo.com, and title your email "bahrman rails class"

- Huck

let's talk about it...

2010-11-10T18:22:00.000-08:00

My new forum is for everyone who cares to discuss the designing, building, and riding of surfboards. Come join us if you'd like.
Surfers Surfing Surfboards (forum)

converting retro-fish to twinzer quad

2010-11-01T21:54:00.000-07:00

This is a board I completed awhile back, but it hasn't been ridden much. I do recall it feeling "stiff" the few times I had it out.

So to get stoked on it again, I decided to convert it to a quad. I received some ridicule for the idea - one message board poster said "Does J.C Whitney still have those Rolls Royce radiator add ons for Volkswagons? Or maybe a continental kit for the motor lid... Quads are more than just two more fins. Ask a quad guy."

Yeah, I know, its the nerdy thing to do. All were in agreement I shouldn't do it to THIS particular board. "That's a pretty board to start cutting into, though." "I agree..., leave the other (yellow) board alone, beautiful board.

Nonetheless, I proceeded forthwith. I cut the keel fins down, so the quad fins I added wouldn't increase the overall fin area by much. I cut 2" off the swallow tails, to give it a narrower and more contemporary swallow-v. I added probox fin cups.

The probox cups need a "well" to sit in - with a hollow wooden board, there is no foam to create a well. So I had to build one out of fiberglass.

Then I set the cups in and glassed them in the normal way. While not required, I'll probably glass over them, just a little precaution I like to take.

Working on the board in my spare time, I'm getting closer to having it ride-ready, and being able to try my first and only quad-fish. Hoping its not a dog!

coming to a rail - ization

2010-10-24T22:08:00.001-07:00

The rails are stepped up to accomodate the rocker, once they're shaped you'll just see a fluid line.

The stringer in the center is there as a visual guide to help shape the rocker into the bottom of the rails.

a new board begun - 6'6" step deck

2010-10-24T02:01:00.000-07:00

This one will be a bit more experimental as far as board shape - its short (for me) at 6'6", but I'll add volume in the step-deck. I was going to go 23" wide, but I'm now leaning toward maybe 22".

hollow - I mean completely hollow - wood surfboard

2010-10-16T08:55:00.000-07:00

I decided to push the limits on this one - so I built a board with no internal structure. Rails, top deck, bottom deck, that's it. I used redwood for the solid rails, and 5.2mm plywood from Home Depot for the top and bottom. Glassed the whole thing with 4 oz. e-glass and Resin Research epoxy, then glossed with polyester resin.

Right now its a single fin, but I plan on adding sidebites at some point. First ride report: rides solid - easy standup, turns smooth and responsive, trims well, and doesn't show any signs of riding differently because of being completely hollow. Hope to get it into some more waves soon!

The board finished at 16 lbs. complete, but weight savings wasn't high on the list of priorities for this one. I didn't hollow out the rails like I did on the mermaid board.

This was really just an attempt to utilize the inherent qualities of the plywood to create the design. Meaning the spring angle of the rails combined with the flex of the plywood dictates the deck dome and foil. No computer drawn cross-sections, no tedious cutting ribs, stringer, etc. Rough-shape the rails, glue and clamp the plywood, finish shaping the rails, that's the surfboard, glass it and ride it.

My intent also was to see just how much interior structure is needed, no way to know unless you start with none, so that's what I did. I wanted to challenge some of the assumptions that dictate wood board "fishbones" structure.

Here are some of the comments my build inspired from the internet:

Nice work Huck,

Have you considered just placing a few small blocks between your skins, rather than having a complete void ? Would it work at say 18" centers just to give it some additional strength.

Also maybe the addition of an extra layer of cloth in your lam to compensate for no ribs. Just a thought, i know we do get these from time to time.

-------------

Huck, for heaven's sake, put us out of our misery and build a nice "normal" board using your original and practical method, nice light 4 oz glass job like you do..... and, for f#*k's sake.........DON'T BLOODY PAINT IT!!

-------------

By the way bottom skins which move in and out independently as described don't promote beneficial flex instead they do what is called 'oil canning' . I've experienced it, both on yachts and surfboards and it slows them down while reducing control. . . the very worst of both worlds.

Personally I think that you are barking up a wrong tree with the completely hollow idea. Either the board will oil can or if it is stiff enough not to, will be extremely rigid.

Also completely hollow boards usually rely on performance killing dome in the deck in order to get sufficient skin rigidity to support the rider

They also reduce the direct contact the rider has with the water and the surfboard hull.

The deck and bottom need to be connected.

----------------

the biggest question mark for me is with this is... natural twisting, that might be the double edged sword. lying on the beach, it torque into a cruel picassolike facsimile of yer former creation..lets hope not,though!

delam and filleted bonzer

2010-09-18T20:17:00.000-07:00

Because this was my favorite board, I started using it more. And one time, just once, I forgot to take the vent plug out after use. A few days in my hot garage was all it took - major delam on the bottom!

So I had to strip and re-glass. The mermaid was gone, but I decided to paint her again, which is a bit of a project!

However, it occured to me to try something else, while I was at it. Opening the board up, and doing some weight loss surgery. Sounds crazy I know, but I did it, and am just about ready to re-glass.

longboard rebuild - broke in 2 at Malibu!

2010-09-18T20:00:00.000-07:00

This longboard was donated to me after it was broken in two nightsurfing Malibu.

Since applying my "Bahrman Rails" method to a foam and glass board, I've been wanting to explore a little more the union of wood building techniques with conventional foam and glass surfboards.

I thought a broken foamie would be the perfect guinea pig - since many of us woodies are into it for environmental reasons, I figured salvaging a petrochemical byproduct from the landfill, and creating a surfboard from a recycled wreck would be a worthy cause.

I did not have a camera during the rebuild. So I have no "in progress" photos. Hopefully I'll get another chance to do this, and I can share my photos of the process.

I glued the two halves back together with epoxy resin. Clamped the two pieces down in place, but didn't mask it off well enough before I poured my resin,and it seeped out and ran over everything and made a mess. But it stuck together anyway, even 'tho it was a weak joint. So then I cut out a 12" section of rail on each side, and replaced it with redwood, epoxy-glued in place, then shaped the redwood to blend in. It was still a weak joint, and you could tell when handling the board.

To beef up and stiffen the repair, I cut a "stringer" slot out of the middle, about 3' long, 3/4" wide, and slid a piece of 3/4" cedar in, and epoxied it in place with 5 min. epoxy glue.

Then I cut a diamond shape out of the composite deck surface, the length of the new "stringer" (3'), and epoxied some thin redwood and cedar planks down, then blended them in once the glue dried. On the bottom, I just filled the glued repair area with bondo, sanded it, and painted it white to match.

I'm sure I've added a few lbs. to the board, but I'm not too worried about it, it still feels good.

ride report on my wood/foam hybrid

2010-06-12T12:51:00.000-07:00

OK, I finally got it out. Just once, in some fun small waves at Malibu. And I love it! Its not really an "easy paddler" per se, because it doesn't have the volume required for that. But it catches waves great - once its in the takeoff position, with the wave lifting the tail, it goes! Which is what I need, with the reduced paddling strength that comes with age.

I need to get some more wave time with this board, but so far I can say it catches waves well, turns and trims well, and looks to be a great, fun board! Got some comments on the beach as well, the wood rails give it a unique look.

Little Miss Understood

2010-05-18T21:37:00.001-07:00

This board confuses people! Its wood! Its foam! But its not a compsand! I had some delam issues before I realized the board needs to be vented because of the hollow stringer - the air inside expands in the heat, and has to have somewhere to go. So that's why the deck patch looks different in the two photos - I had to replace it!

"I don't get it"

2010-05-17T12:18:00.000-07:00

I posted pics of this on a wood surfboard building forum. This was one of the responses. "I don't get it". I told them, its a foam and fiberglass surfboard, with a hollow wooden stringer and solid wood rails. For riding waves. Don't know what there is to "get" - its not a disease or a math problem LOL!!

Swaylock's withdrawals!!

2010-05-10T13:06:00.000-07:00

Swaylock's is still down! I thought anyone might like to know that I host a Web community that the Sway's crowd may enjoy. It's called alternative surfcraft - a place to discuss homebuilt, custom shaped, hollow, wooden, compsand, foam, or any other of various and sundry alternative surfboard building methods other than factory produced surfboards.

Everyone is welcome to join in on the alternative surfcraft message boards and I look forward to seeing you there!

To join our discussions, simply go to http://forums.delphiforums.com/alternativesurf/start

alternative surfcraft is part of Delphi Forums. If you've never used Delphi Forums before, you'll need to go through a quick registration (so you can post messages). It only takes a minute and it's free!

Hope to see you there, Huck

foam vs. wood?

2010-05-09T22:29:00.000-07:00

Someone asked me recently, What is the difference between a styrofoam and a hollow wooden surfboard? That's a bigger question than I could answer in just a few paragraphs, so I just put some of my random thoughts on the subject together.

Surfboards have been made primarily out of foam and fiberglass, since about the 1950's. Its light, strong (enough), easy to shape, looks good, and because its the acceptible norm, its easy to sell.

But, its a polluting synthetic petrochemical by-product, and in reality only lasts a year or so under normal conditions.

Wood, on the other hand, is a natural product, non polluting, and a properly maintained wood surfboard will outlast a styrofoam board ten to one, or more.

But, hollow wood surfboards are heavy - heavier anyway - say 10-17 lbs. compared to 7-12. The new EPS foam boards with epoxy resin are getting down in the 5 lb. range. Awesome how light they make 'em. But, they're fragile as heck. (Now, there are guys like Brad Tucker of Wood Surfboard Supply, Inc., shown in the picture, who are building with balsa and paulownia and are getting their boards very close to the weight of foam boards.)

Pro surfers don't care how fragile a board is - they get their boards for free. And the board manufacturers like surfboards to be fragile, because the more fragile they are, the quicker you'll have to buy a replacement. Environmental responsibility is not high on the corporate surfboard manufacturer's list. And most surfers want to ride what the pro surfers are riding, because, after all, the corporate advertising is telling us constantly that we have to mimic the sports superstars in order to be "cool". Now, no surfboard (that I'm aware of) is 100% "green", but longevity of the product is a huge factor in how environmentally responsible it is. If surfboards last 10 times longer, that's 1/10th the pollution, landfill waste, etc. You see the difference it makes.

So that's kind of the deal. Wood is natural, longer lasting, non-polluting, but heavier, and less 'corporate-advertising cool'. Surfing wise, I don't really see a noticeable difference in the water. After all, when you combine weight of surfer and board together, the few pounds difference is a small percentage of the overall picture.

Oh yeah, and hollow wood surfboards take at least ten times as long and are ten times harder to make. You could shape a foam surfboard blank and glass it with UV resin and have it in the water the next day. A good shaper turns a foam blank into a surfboard in a couple hours. A wood board is built over a period of weeks, as a general rule. By a backyard builder, way off the corporate grid.

And I might mention here, CNC has taken over a large portion of the corporate manufactured surfboard market, as well. Foam surfboards are now being shaped by computers, they just sand 'em and glass 'em and stick a popular logo on and send 'em on down the assembly line, knowing the kid's'll buy 'em up!

And I might as well mention also, the foriegn labor syndrome has made huge inroads into the American surfboard industry. Workers in impoverished areas are paid $2/hr (or less, depending on who you believe) to work 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, one day off a month, room and board provided by the mf'r. (rent and meals is deducted from their paycheck). 12 hours a day these guys spend in a little cubicle making surfboards that they haven't got a clue how to ride or probably even what they're for, day in and day out, sunup to sundown, for subsistence wages. Ship 'em off the U.S. with any logo you want "Malibu Surfboards", "Aloha Surfboards", you name it.

surfboard design lineage: another history

2010-05-07T07:40:00.001-07:00

TSJ POV - "Richard Kenvin behind the polyester curtain" from The Surfer's Journal on Vimeo.

can't leave well enough alone

2010-05-06T07:23:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I've posted here, I could come up with a variety of excuses. Like, why does my computer make me log in every time, even 'tho I click the "remember me" box, it never remembers me! Arrgghh! And then, if I kept an update, I'd have to admit that I'm tinkering with my latest board simply because I can't leave well enough alone! OK, so that's what I'm admitting.

I finished the blank, and wanted to glass it, but didn't have the money for glass and resin. So it sat there, staring at me. So I cut it in half, and added a wide stringer cut from a redwood 2x6 and hollowed out like a chambered board.

Now I've decided to try to figure a way to get some wood planking on the deck, and around the rails. On a foam board! A lighty whitey!

I do seem to have a knack for making everything more difficult!

the "f" word...

2010-04-20T21:48:00.000-07:00

(hahaha - thanks for the play on words there Squalyboy!)
...yes, that's right, its FOAM.

I'm taking a break from building wood boards to shape a foam blank surfboard. I won this blank at a raffle at the Surfing Heritage Foundation, and promised to build a board from it. I was gonna try compsand (wood veneer over foam), but decided just to shape and glass it as a foam board.

Its a whole different experience from building a wood board. I'm sure I'll get back to building with wood, but this is a great learning exercise. It's an egg, 7'0" by 21" by 3".

selling my scraptacular fish!

2010-04-12T09:07:00.000-07:00

I put my wooden fish up for sale on ebay, you can check it out here. I hate to part with this board, I love it, but my wife says if I'm gonna keep building these (I've started two more), then I gotta start making some money from 'em, hahaha. Why is she always thinking about paying the bills, I wonder?

two more for the quiver!

2010-04-07T22:48:00.001-07:00

finally completed these two! Now my shop can be freed up to begin creating again!

studying under the master

2010-04-06T17:04:00.000-07:00

I recently had a chance to attend a surfboard design class / seminar under the leadership of longtime shaper Bill Thrailkill. Bill has shaped for Velzy (1960), and later shaped for Challenger, Hobie, Hansen, Surf Systems, Surfboards Hawaii, and also as Thrailkill Surfboards. He also did some contract shaping for Lightning Bolt.

The seminar was held at the Surfing Heritage Foundation in San Clemente, which houses a museum of 100 years of surfboard history.

In attendance were about 18 serious board-builders, most of them backyard shapers like myself, and one other wood-board builder besides myself.

thirsty fish

2010-03-28T00:36:00.001-07:00

All it needs now is a hot coat and a gloss coat - can you tell this fish is itching to get in the water!

How I shape my "Bahrman rails"

2010-03-28T00:12:00.000-07:00

Since the rails on my boards are solid, some people have inquired as to how I shape them. Here's a brief video that shows the tools and methods I use. I'm sure there are many ways to do this, but I use what I have available, and what feels most comfortable and efficient to me.

getting close to saltwater time!

2010-03-27T23:40:00.000-07:00

keels get slotted in too

2010-03-27T23:36:00.001-07:00

fins mortised into hull of board

2010-03-27T23:32:00.000-07:00

I cut slots into the bottom of the board, and mortised my fins, then epoxied them in place, for a stronger attachment without a bulky fillet.

s-cloth and sb112

2010-03-22T09:46:00.000-07:00

I've glassed the hybrid with 4 oz. s-cloth, and sb112 resin from Merton's. The s-cloth is stronger than regular e-cloth, and the sb112 resin, while expensive (about $100 per board), comes highly recommended. It bonds with polyester resin with only sanding, and it has uv blocker. Its a slow setup, 12 hours, accelerated only with heat. It's purportedly good for lam coat, hot coat, and gloss coat.

mermaid under glass

2010-03-22T09:43:00.000-07:00

fish fins - sunny side up!

2010-03-22T09:41:00.000-07:00

flying fish!

2010-03-22T09:37:00.000-07:00

hull artwork ready to glass

2010-03-22T09:36:00.000-07:00

dolphin emblem - handpainted

2010-03-22T09:35:00.000-07:00

fishdeck - ready to glass

2010-03-22T09:33:00.000-07:00

yellow sunshine

2010-03-16T00:35:00.001-07:00

the prime thing

2010-03-14T23:57:00.000-07:00

fish skin!

2010-03-14T23:49:00.000-07:00

ready to deck

2010-03-12T10:34:00.001-08:00

Craftsmanship is dead in our society - murdered by corporate greed!

2010-03-11T23:51:00.000-08:00

http://www.utne.com/Spirituality/Crafting-a-New-World.aspx

In the above referenced article, sociologist Richard Sennett describes craftsmanship as an “enduring, basic human impulse, the desire to do a job well for its own sake.” He adds, "It’s also an impulse that contemporary culture, with its obsessive embrace of efficiency, financial reward, and the bottom line, has devalued—to its own detriment."

Another quote from the article: "Part of craft’s anchoring role is that it helps to slow down labor. It is not about quick transactions or easy victories. That slow tempo of craftwork, of taking the time you need to do something well, is profoundly stabilizing to individuals.

"When people are forced to do things quickly it becomes a type of triage. In the process of working very fast, we don’t have the time for reflection and being self-critical. We tend to go into autopilot and mistakes increase. Self-critical faculties decrease with speed, and the brain does a better job of processing when it goes slowly than when it goes rapidly.

"The capitalist economy sacrifices the logic of craft, which results in poorly made objects and a degraded physical environment."

And further in the article, he observes: "On a more practical matter, I think that craftsmanship flourishes in small-scale business and I’d like to see our government, like the British government, invest more in small-production businesses. That’s an absolute necessity. To support craftsmanship you have to support enterprise on the small-scale level."

The article concludes with this salient observation: " I think the web is a fantastic medium for craftsmen. It is a means for mutual support, skill sharing, and problem solving. There is something inherently workshop-like that dwells on the web; it is a great technology for craft."

fins and fish ribs!

2010-03-10T19:12:00.000-08:00

fins shaped for hybrid (bonzer), and back to working on my fish!

Trader Joe's wall hanger

2010-03-07T23:17:00.000-08:00

I swear this thing looks like a wall hanger for Trader Joe's!

File under "not likely to happen again anytime soon". Turned out to be WAY MORE WORK than I anticipated. But its basically done now, according to me. My wife, on the other hand, says it still needs work - my greatest critic. She'll tell me stuff like "her hair is too brassy", "make her mouth more friendly looking - and soften her eyes, she looks too mean" or "what is this worm doing in her eye?".

This morning I just sandpapered the face completely off and started over. She kept bringing me pictures from her clothing catalogs, saying make the eyes like this, or make the mouth like this. I swear I spent as much time on those eyes as a woman spends in the morning! I don't see how they do it every day hahaha!

I didn't want to continue the mural into the fin area, and finally came up with the simple design you see here, after a lot of thought and sketches and a few false starts. I thought it would be funny to make the tail part look like foam - you know how you see foam boards painted to look like wood? So I painted a wood board to look like foam!

I don't know if it shows in the pic, but I painted it gray, then sponged white over it, to give it that stippled look of foam. It really does look like foam up close. And I added a fake "stringer" - and to complete the look, I carried the bogus stringer across the board, you can sorta see it in the blue water behind the mermaid. (might have to click on the pic to see it larger).

painting moves slowly!

2010-03-03T09:27:00.000-08:00

I added a deck emblem to distract from all the sandpaper scratches! (I gotta start following up with finer grits!)

White oil based flat, then acrylic artists' paint, then clear polycrylic.

And the bottom painting is progressing...slowly!

Shakira goes surfing

2010-03-01T17:06:00.000-08:00

For my hybrid, I decided to give some thought to painting the bottom. I had already decided to paint it (because the bonzer channels looked ugly in plywood!), and thought I might get creative. I ran the idea of a fish or a wave past my wife - she suggested a mermaid (with modest long hair if you know what I mean LOL). Immediately I thought of a Shakira-type mermaid (my wife is a Shakira fan). So here's my sketch, needs a lot of work, but its a start.

deck stain

2010-03-01T10:15:00.000-08:00

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2010-02-25T22:19:00.000-08:00

2010-02-25T22:18:00.000-08:00

2010-02-25T22:17:00.000-08:00

2010-02-25T22:15:00.000-08:00

2010-02-25T22:13:00.000-08:00

2010-02-25T22:11:00.000-08:00

2010-02-25T22:08:00.000-08:00

finger lickin' ribs!

2010-02-23T19:08:00.000-08:00

dry-fitting the ribs

2010-02-22T08:32:00.001-08:00

tail reinforcement and 1st ribs

2010-02-21T19:50:00.000-08:00

I added a layer of thin plywood at the tail, in case I sand some channels in the bottom, and to beef up the fin attachment area.

stringer be in

2010-02-21T18:25:00.000-08:00

I cut the rails

2010-02-20T19:14:00.000-08:00

I cut the rails down, now I've decided to add some ribs and a stringer - the skin is just too "flexy" as it is. At least on the 7'6" hybrid. On the fish, I might still try to get away without ribs.

2010-02-14T20:22:00.000-08:00

2010-02-14T20:20:00.000-08:00

2010-02-14T20:09:00.000-08:00

this smells fishy

2010-02-14T20:05:00.000-08:00

I'm doing another retro fish at the same time...

flexy flyer

2010-02-14T20:03:00.000-08:00

the bottom felt a bit too flexy, so I painted it with some polyurethane resin I had on hand, to see if it would stiffen up. It did, so I'm undecided if I'll glass the inside too, or just the outside.

screw this...

2010-02-14T19:58:00.000-08:00

Instead of using a bunch of clamps, I screwed the bottom plank to the rails...until the glue dried. Then I took the screws out, and filled the holes with putty.

2010-02-14T19:57:00.000-08:00

rocker cut, and bottom glued-up

2010-02-14T15:05:00.000-08:00

layout the rocker on the rails

2010-02-14T15:04:00.001-08:00

rails built - board to follow

2010-02-14T15:01:00.000-08:00

Bahrman Rails again

2010-02-14T14:56:00.000-08:00

I like building these rails-first boards, different from the way everyone else does it.

2010-02-14T14:54:00.000-08:00

template time

2010-02-14T14:52:00.000-08:00

next up: hybrid funboard

2010-02-14T14:48:00.000-08:00

My next board is going to be a hybrid funboard shape. I have sketched it out here, along with some notes and ideas - but like most my stuff, the actual construction process will be worked out as I go along. Yep, I make it up as I go. Also called "faking it" hahaha!

OK, this board is done and dusted!

2010-02-09T20:56:00.001-08:00

2010-02-09T20:54:00.002-08:00

2010-02-09T20:54:00.001-08:00

2010-02-09T20:53:00.001-08:00

2010-02-09T20:52:00.001-08:00

2010-02-09T20:49:00.000-08:00

2010-02-08T11:06:00.000-08:00

System 3 epoxy resin from Merton's

2010-02-08T11:05:00.001-08:00

2010-02-08T11:00:00.000-08:00

single layer of 4 oz. s-cloth from e-z foam, top and bottom

2010-02-08T10:58:00.000-08:00

2010-02-08T10:56:00.000-08:00

2010-02-08T10:48:00.000-08:00

here come the pics

2010-02-08T10:42:00.000-08:00

I'm gonna post some pics to try to get up to speed. The board shown here has been completed, and I have started two more, so I'll keep the commentary to little or none, and try to get caught up with the present!

Bahrman Rails are different

2010-02-07T21:30:00.000-08:00

My system is unique. Solid rails. Rails first. I mean, there's nothing new under the sun, but most hollow wooden surfboards today are built frame first, rails last. And usually the rails are built with strips of wood, not shaped from solid wood.

Anyway, I'm taking an interlude here to share some reactions to my system, from the compsand and tree-to-sea forums:

How are you planning to support the deck?
It's a nice method, similar to Hess. But there are far easier and quicker ways to build up rails...
you are turning heads with a different method of building... thanks for inspiring us...looking good for sure!!!
Intriguing build ...I'm wondering about how you're going to support the deck
Good luck
One of my issues with any solid rails build method is not the necessarily the additional weight of the heavier rails (opposed to bead and cove), is the fact that where the weight is. I would guess the heavier rails would make the board harder to turn opposed to a board with the weight more evenly distributed.
Im loving your different approach to HWS building
IMO new/alternative methods that are still in the development stage seem to need time to catch on, such as yours and mike torres's. while i found your solid rail method interesting, the need for special carpentry tools to make it work makes it difficult for me to even attempt to try it out
by the time i build one you'll realize how long i've thought about taking that approach but never went for due to its personally-costly tool requirements (until now). If by that time you'd still be interested in seeing a solid-frame method like yours but made lighter, easier & more economical, i'd of course post it here

closet pole dowels for fcs plugs

2010-01-21T20:33:00.000-08:00

I used closet pole dowel to anchor the fcs fin plugs.

upper deck begun

2010-01-21T20:31:00.000-08:00

bottom decked

2010-01-21T20:28:00.000-08:00