Paulownia Surfboards

Some pics of wooden surfboard builds using our clean Australian paulownia.

 James Kale has done a great job with this chambered paulownia fish.

Nice clean lines and neat joinery.

Burleigh veteran Glenn Clark with his foamcore balsa and cedar tracker. Super-nice glass job by Maddo at MSD surfboards Gold Coast and thanks to Grant Newby for the board design.

 Another Clark, Tim has shaped his first Alaia with one of our premium Australian paulownia blanks

And a bit of nice pyrography to finish.

This board was built by Bruce Porter and his mate from scratch. No computer generated file and minimal tool kit.

Mark Gibbs and his son from Brizzy used one of our build packages to build this nice little shortboard. I remember they first came in a bit doubtful as to whether they had the skills to take on this challenge. I reckon they've really nailed it. That is NOT an ornament! That is a high quality, lightweight wooden surfboard and the best thing about it is....it's going to work!

 Dee Why surfer Mark Charters has gone for some complex detail with his build.

There's probably 100 or more pieces of timber that make up his board. Well worth the effort I reckon.

For everything you need to build your own wooden board

www.paulowniatimbersales.com.au 

Offcuts Board 4

Continuing on with the marathon chambered build.. up to about 6 months now I suppose.

I've never built a board like this and I must say it was a refreshing change to be shaping freely without fear of shaping into fresh air - a different experience altogether from hollow or foam-core construction.

Ive used sacrificial MDF spacers in this build. These will be replaced by a 3mm cedar stringer glued to the face of each chambered section.

The transverse grain makes these sections kinda fragile, especially those tapered ends so all movements are in slo-mo.

This cedar is also a bit fragile so I laminated with epoxy and some 4oz fabric..

..and traced my sections with a bit of overhang.

Then I cut them out and epoxied each one to its mate.

All the bits

Bit by bit

One each arvo.

Nearly finished.

For everything you need to build your own wooden board

www.paulowniatimbersales.com.au 

WOOD SURFBOARD DAY 2014

Sorry I, once again, forgot to take many photos of this year's Woodie Day and most of them I accidently used a weird filter thingo.

Sergi checks out one of the many high quality boards on the grass at The Alley.

I would have loved to get around to meet more of these builders but time got away.

Two professional looking SUPs which I believe were brought all the way down from Mackay.

Two reeeally nice boards, including a clinker channel bottom by Paul from POG surfboards on the Sunny Coast. Andrew Wells of Grown Surfboards runs a wooden eye over them.

Kim Staples should look pretty chuffed. This photo really doesn't do the finish justice. A really classic pro looking board. 

Another beautiful board by a builder I never got to say gday to.

Foam-core Hot-Curl by Charl B (Dorff boards) who's always got a new idea itching away in his head.

A lot of recycled timber in this one.

This board was built by my mate AV who loves to surf anything different. This was his first wooden board and was built from scratch with pencil and rule..no computer aid at all.

All hand made fins too.

and a nice inlaid logo.

Scotty Dickson from the Sunny Coast with a beautiful chambered board. Super clean lines are a dead giveaway to his pro cabinet making background.

Another pro looking job by a mystery builder.

And a classic by Gold Coast board builder and Wooden Surfboard day organiser Grant Newby, aka Big Fish.

A good day was had by all.

For everything you need to build your own wooden board

www.paulowniatimbersales.com.au

Chambered Longboard - Traditional "Pig" by Kim Staples

Gold Coast Firie Kim needs an outlet to help him unwind.

And outlets don't get much more enjoyable than creating a classic wooden surfboard with your own hands.

He's started by sourcing some beautiful clean Australian-grown Paulownia Fortunei

The traditional, flat "log" rocker fits nicely on 100mm wide timber minimising waste and expense.

Faces of the Paulownia timber are dressed for glueing. At this point the timber is only temporarily glued or discreetly screwed together. 

Outline is cut and the board is shaped in the same way you would shape a foam board.

The shaped board is then taken apart so the inside can be "chambered" to reduce weight.

The idea is to remove the maximum amount of material from the innards while leaving enough to maintain shape and strength.

Individual profiles are permanently glued back together.

Kim's done a great job shaping. No flats or bumps. Everything nice and fair.

The beautiful piece of camphor-laurel he has selected for the fin and tail block blend beautifully with the grain of the Paulownia.

And a really professional glass job to finish the work of art that it is.

Beautiful and...

 ...Beautiful.

For everything you need to build wooden surfboards of any method

www.paulowniatimbersales.com.au

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