I picked up a news stand copy of Surfing to read the Bert interview. I was struck by one of his comments when asked if there was a difference between the traditionalist and the experimenter:
“Man, absolutely. Because the guy who experiments, he’s in it for the love. In all ways. There’s no money in experimenting. There’s no payday. If you bang out a bunch of traditional boards in a week, you get paid by the end of the week. If you experiment, you aren’t getting paid. So you’ve got to be in it for the love. I’ve noticed that with anybody I’ve ever met in this business, people who are searching or trying alternatives, they’re doing it because there’s a passion there; they’re searching for something. They’re definitely not doing it for the money.”
I really appreciate the pro’s who post here because I know they are helping the experimenters satisfy the passion part of this. I’m guessing that’s why they give so freely.
But for me, the experiment, the pushing, steep learning curve, all the excitement over something new (even if it is only new to me) is what it about.
My current experiment is building a very light board. Just want to see how light I can make it without compsand tech. Using 1 lb eps, a better lam process that I picked up in post from Doug S, and some help from Hank Johns at Graphite Master, and some hunches, and some bamboo perimeter stringer material and some crossed fingers. Yeah, I sell a board here and there. But I’m no threat to the pro’s. I just love to experiment. And practice my chops.
I’m pretty sure I know exactly what Bert was talking about. In my own small scale way.
And I’m pretty sure most of us are here for that reason too.
This thread is a little early for me, but I have blank and I now how to use it. Well, actually I’m figuring out how to use it. I’m about to build my first board and for some idiotic reason, I feel compelled to make something unconventional. I figure I could go to a store and buy something standard. Since I’m building it, it won’t as expensive an error if it blow it.
It’ll be a big guy shortboard for knee to head high waves. Wide in the tail, Thrailkill inspired parallel single fins with some removeable side fins for flexibility. Still working on the details but my attitude is fast and loose. Still working it out in my head. There’s a really long distance between my brain and a living, breathing, functional surfboard but I’ll give it my best shot.
First go. Only repairs up to now. I’ll probably blow it on a few things but that’s the nature of it.
Now if I could just get those home projects out of the way, so I can get back to surfboards.
My last big experiment was making a pair of concrete molds and pouring 2 part poly foam to make my own blanks. Made about 4 blanks, but only glassed one. Took lots of photos if anyone interested. Molds were two halves, should have been one whole blank that was cut in half to add stringer. Was very hard to match two separate halves. Foam was super light but full of air pockets. Wasted about $600…but was worth a try.
And if you want to multi task, you can dig up the root ball, burn it in an oven, shove it in a still, and make your own Tequila.
Look out for:
Very sharp, vicious spikes. If you fall into the plant you will be disimboweled… and die.
If you get to the stalk, and you cut it down when it’s green, the pulp / saw dust will make you itch and breakout. Kind of like the caustic stuff when you trim a Fishtail Palm…but worse. Just make sure you wear a long sleeve shirt / gloves.
The juice from the agaves is nasty, irritating stuff. Not at all like the aloes. The spines will maim you and swell bigger than a hornets sting. The fermented juice from the ‘hearts’ is another story altogether. I keep a bottle in my garage for an occasional blast while talking surfing and boards. Mike
I’m building a noserider, and playing with volume, foil, and concaves… kind of complicated, and possibly done before, but it’s new to me. So… here I go…
I’m trying to increase volume in the nose, putting in some concave, and I’m putting a bevel on the front nose rail. The rail is foiled and rockered as normal… almost pinched…but the stringer foil in the nose is almost uniform thickness until the beveled tip. I’m hoping it will allow you to noseride across mushier sections, and allow better steering from the tip…
2 beneficial things about agave - it looks nice, and its free (if you don’t count your time, labor, blood, and first aid costs). Other than that it’s a pain in the neck to work with.
Running off a recent post from LeeV. I’m making a new 7’4" eps hull for my wife. Lowes eps with a 1/8" divinycell stringer. High density plugs for single fin box and two Probox sidefins. RR epoxy resin with three layers 6oz deck and two layers 4oz bottom. The rails are less pinched than traditional hulls and the bottom under the nose is nearly flat transitioning to a rolled/domed shape between the front of the fin and the middle of the board. The theory is that this will make the board easier to ride than mine, and she’ll stop borrowing my hull.
waiting to get some suitable weather and time to glass my parabolic stringer board!! (applying to colleges,work, school are always in the way) The blank is from Ken at Segway(the check is on it’s way i dropped it off in the mail box an hour ago.) can’t wait.
