This one’s fresh out of the glass shop.
Balsa blank from Bali, epoxy lamination (4/4+4 by my friend Jérôme Barbe), keels by John Cherry. Been a long while since I made a fish, and I’m stoked with this little board. Pretty straightforward San Diego style - should make a fun rider.
Beautiful work. Do you mind if I ask what the finished weight is?
Bitchen.
Thank you.
I haven’t weighed it - somewhere between 12 and 13 pounds is my guess. I had nice wood to start with!
I think that’s a good weight for a traditional fish.
Very nice!
That looks sweet Jeffrey…did you make it from logs , or shape it from a balsa blank ?
Thanks, kayu.
This one is from a blank. I’m out of lumber and haven’t built one from scratch in a few years now.
Still thinking of doing that chip replica, though! That might be my winter project…
Looking forward to a ride review when you get her in the water…I think it’ll be one of the keepers…cheers. (We had a run on the Indo balsa bout 5 yrs back…a few pieces still turn up among my off-cuts…it’s nice stuff to work with)
Yes very nicely done Jeffery. At 12–13 ; Am I correct in assuming this is an unchambered solid wood blank? Don’t intend to so like an illiterate, but know so little about blank weights in wood. Those fins are indeed “Cherry”.
Thanks.
This one’s from a chambered blank.
The wood density varies enormously, but solid you’d be looking at 15+ pounds. Super heavily chambered, and going old school for the process, you might get it under ten if you start with really nice wood.
Longboards get even crazier. I have an insanely nice 9’3" blank that should net me an all-arounder at about 13-14 pounds finished weight with glass and fin. That was about as light as I’ve ever seen, and beautiful wood. Well worth the premium I had to pay compared to the others in the shipment. It’s really easy to end up with a 25-30 lb board, which is fine for some applications but not for my daily drivers where I surf.
