OK I have read all the posts so far. I have never made an agava surfboard but I have cut the wood for more than a few folks. first off I recomend that you peel the stems with a draw knife. then put fiber banding (packing tape aroun the ends to help minimize splitting. If you can store them inside a garage it is helpfull as it makes it more difficult for the powderpost beatles to find them. I cut them with a band saw mill, but you can get by with a 14 inch bandsaw with riser block ( gives you an 8 to 12 inch cut depending on the saw) you would use a 1/2inch blade with 2 teeth per inch. Timber Wolf is an excelent blade and if you go to their web sight they even tell you about tensioning your blade and selecting a blade. You need to make a infeed and outfeed table out of plywood I recomend 8 foot infeed and 8 foot out feed. You need to make a carrage board to fasten you stems (logs) to so you can push them through the saw. I saw with the curve up (like the rocker of the surf board. Agava has a pith and that is not useable, so I saw out the the center slab usually about a 2 inch plank then I saw everthing else 2 inch thick down to slash the the slash 1 inch thick. It only takes a couple months for agava to dry but they should be stickerd and banded so they dry well and to help prevent warping. When you cut them on the band saw you may get a lot of bending try to work that into your surfboard rocker. If you have a very large supply of agava it might be worth setting up to saw them. If it is a one board deal,don’t bother agava is a lot of work and the end results is marginal. Having milled the stems (Wood) and knowing how fast it can rot and how weak and brittle it is I personally would not bother to make a surf board out of it. But if you have a lot of it and a lot of time to waste playing with it, why not you could learn a bunch. It for sure isn"t worth hireing wood shop to do it. I have learned what I want to know about agava and will no longer cut it in my shop for anyone. They could buy balsa for less then they would pay to have agava cut. Aloha Wood_Ogre
ok ya’ll i’m going to do all of this by hand. went to the store and got one b.a. saw mark one side with string mark the other with this tool i made a while ago and then cut them it seems to be working well. granted i’m a young buck and have it in me to do this way i’ll kep you all posted thanks for the help you’ve givin me so far
Here is balsa bundled and stickered for drying, agava is done the same way. About alaska chainsaw mills. I have one that I cut most of my logs with but I would never use it for a small light wood like balsa or agava. The chain cut is to wide and the mill is to agressive to control on small light logs. Bandsaw mill is the best or a bandsaw with riser block and carrier board. Aloha WoodOGre
It for sure isn"t worth hireing wood shop to do it. I have learned what I want to know about agava and will no longer cut it in my shop for anyone. They could buy balsa for less then they would pay to have agava cut. Aloha Wood_Ogre
Aloha Wood_Ogre - What is a riser block? A rip fence of some kind?
eastpac. A riser block is ! Please google Bandsaw Riser block. There is a pile of information there about what a riser block is and how to use it. A big bandsaw is expensive. A 14 inch bandsaw is afordable so anyone who is interested in making wood surboards it would be a good investment. The kinds of woods you use for surfboards are light and easy to cut so with a well tuned 14 inch bandsaw with riser block you can cut wood up to about 12 inches thick. If you get into harder wood you need more horse power. If you are looking for a 14 inch bandsaw make sure they sell a riser block for it. Jet, Delta, powermatic, ridgid all work OK. As for cutting Agava with a hand saw a good 4 point rip hand saw will work but takes some time and skill. Aloha Wood_Ogre