I was going to mention that the outline shown in your above photo looked a bit too full all around, compared to the original Pipeliners that I recall seeing. They were essentially a semi-gun/speed/ pointbreak shape. Typically for the period, the East Coast models of many styles had a slightly fuller outline but still retained much the same curves. This was true for boards by Weber, Greek, and many others. Weber did an EC Performer, and Greek did East/West versions of many of his shapes.
And, just for the hell of it and the fact these are handy on my hard drive, I’ll throw up a couple of Bing related scans. The black and white pic of Bing was shot by Leroy Grannis on Feb 24, 1963 at 22nd St in Hermosa Beach. Chances are, this pic is in Bing’s book. This, however, is an actual 8 x 10 print done by Granny in his dark room.The writing in the outlined section at the bottom is a scan from the back of the print. Leroy’s notes and the Grannis Studios stamp. Second image is just a scan of a 1964 Bing ad. Note the gun on the wall above the counter. I recall that board selling for some serious coin a few years ago. I’m sure Bing can chime in with more background about who’s in the pic, and possibly more on that gun, too.
Edit: Why are the pics so much smaller than the ones I uploaded to Tinypic? Damned if I know…
Awesome work!! I love freakin longboard build threads! I always wondered what the best way to true up the blank before the stringer was installed.. Very cool! Im about to cut in some stringers in an 11'3" blank sometime this winter. Thanks for the inspiration!
Pete, I used something called “universal tint” for paints and it seemed to work OK:
Those should work fine, too, as they are special PE pigment pastes:
Anyway, I’m glad I did a test before attempting the actual thing as it didn’t turn out that great:
I mean it’s glued all right but the color is barely visible at best. So I decided to glue the wood parts with clear glue and to keep the color for glueing the stringers to foam.
I agree with Paul. back in the late 60’s we used colored paper as stringers to make our Karmas lighter. I’m sure it would work with wood stringers as well. But, test first.
Paul and Bing: thanks for the input and ideas. I might have to try a fin panel like that for one of two balsa fish that are coming up.
I’ve personally never tried it on a full-length board due to the trouble/cost buying a roll of paper for the few boards that I stringer up.
Where I’ve used your paper idea really successfully is in my wood tailblocks. Reds, blacks, blues, greens… it really breaks up the wood nicely and is super easy to do. People always wonder if they’re glue-lines and are surprised to learn that they’re paper. I’m sure that I’ve read posts here from other shapers doing the same thing.
…thanks for signing Balsa’s (swaylockian, not the wood) book, too:
Well, back to work. I decided to play it safe and glue the T-bands to the center part of the blank first and I will glue the sides tomorrow when that first part is cured. Paul, Bing, I did think about colored paper but just as Jeffrey said I can’t find it over 3 foot long (or I should buy a full roll). Anyway, I have already glued blanks using colored Elmer’s glue and it has always worked fine. So, crossing my fingers on this one:
Awesome build thread! Great tech and historical stuff going on here - makes me very proud to be a part of this one. Holding my breath for the next board update, and already thinking about how in the world I'm gonna match that green in the t-band joints . . . Actually Balsa, would you mind saving me a chip of that pigmented glue in case Jeffrey decides to incorporate the green into the fin layup?
Never used the colored paper trick, but anyone on this thread willing to comment on the lightfastness of the paper lines over time? I'm guessing a high-quality, acid-free charcoal paper would be ideal?
Hi Camplus, as we say here: “Les grands esprits se rencontrent”. Something which means, more or less: “Both of us are very clever since we had the exact same idea at the same time”. Yeah, I saved some tinted glue for you. I don’t know how we can send it to you, though. I can imagine the customs guys standing in circle around that dangerously toxic terrorist’s mixture…
Thanks for the kind words Jeffrey. I certainly appreciate your high level of craftsmanship as well and have to admit that I am a bit humbled by it. At the same time, though quite proud of the association.
Good call on customs. I can see us both being hauled over to Guantanamo, trying to explain that one. Maybe it's worth a shot purchasing a Jackson Pollock post card and gluing that sample in the middle of it (but then how would I find it?). Ha ha! - just a crazy morning - haven't had any coffee yet - idea.
