It’s been a while since I contributed much substance to this forum and thought its time I payed some dues!
I started a new project today with a friend of mine who has been building jensen style wood boards for a little bit now (hes on here as Ozwolfe)…we like those but thought it was time for a few chambered boards…the first is for me (7’6 x 23 x 2 3/8 bladed out hull), the second will be a 7’2 egg for him.
The wood finally arrived (enough for a few boards so far) and we got crackin’ today:
Rough pile:
Adventures in surface planing:
Rocker template ready for action:
Trued planks:
Our planks are only 6’ so joining is necessary:
As they stand now…glued and ready to have the rocker cut in:
I’m looking forward to seeing your progress. We haven’t had a good wooden board build thread lately. Is it going to be 100% Paulownia? Have you ever built a chambered board before?
The chambers will be pour-foamed in if that makes it non 100% paulownia; otherwise yes!
this is my first chambered board, ive been looking to do one for quite a while now and im really excited to work on it more. Tomorrow we are going to get it to a shape-able state, but I dont think ill shape it till this weekend as ive had strep throat for two weeks and just had an abscess in my throat worked on yesterday…needless to say im not quite up to speed at the moment!
I don’t mean to be the safety cop, but I have to speak up. A shiver went up my spine when I saw that image of you using the tablesaw. The block that is about to be cut out – next to the fence – looks like a kickback missile ready to fire. You aren’t standing in the flight path, which is a good thing. It looks like you are are pretty accomplished woodworker, so I’m not preaching to you. We all have our own comfort zones. I’m just worried that others will see this image and try to do it themselves.
Edit: I couldn’t resist passing that photo on to another woodworking forum that I follow. Here’s the link to the post…
I moved the blank to my shaping room today and it must weight around 50 lbs at this point (pre chambering and shaping)…its pretty intense!
not sure on the price right now, will find out for you if i can!
edit:
the pour foam in the chambers is gonna eliminate the need for a vent (i hate vents), and id rather not spend hours carving out bits of EPS to shove in there; plus pour foam is really fun to watch
I’m guessing that your 7’6" board will probably end up between 1.59 and 1.76 cubic feet (45 to 50 liters). Paulownia varies between 15 and 19 pounds per cubic foot. Your fully shaped board – unchambered – will likely weigh between 23 and 34 pounds. The chambering process will allow you to remove between 50% and 60% of the volume and weight. If your unchambered board weighs 23 pounds, then you are looking at a final weight of 11 to 14 pounds. If the unchambered board weighs 34 pounds, then the final weight will be from 17 to 21 pounds.
The above estimate is before adding fins, or fiber glass. After you finish shaping the unchambered blank you should weigh the board, and then decide if you want to add the foam. The foam will probably add another pound or pound-and-a-half to the final product.
Will the foam add much load bearing capacity? If so, then maybe you could get really aggressive on your chambering. That could bring the weight down quite a bit, but then you essentially have a comp-sand board and 50 pounds of sawdust.
im planning on chambering pretty agressively, the paulownia is so hard it should be just fine under my feet, i wont be stomping hard on it…depending on the hardness of the final ‘skin’ ill have to decide what weight pour foam to use and where to put it…maybe ill use a heavier foam under my feet and a light eps in the nose/tail/rails…hmmmmmmm
i have more photos to put up but no time yet…its nearly rough shaped, I spent about 5 hrs on it yesterday getting the blank trued up and the foil right…now im in the process of filling a ton of holes (the natural pith of the wood) all over the board; most of which are about 6" long and 1 1/2" wide…spent 3 hours carving little discs to fill them up today!
I am interested in the question of weight… I recently bought an Andreini chambered balsa (some photos posted on ‘post Hull pics’ thread page 63) It is 8’1", 3.5" thick, and weighs 18lb. Although this might seem heavy when compared to other material boards of this length, once in the water, and in the wave, it seems perfect. The weight must increase momentum, but what about acceleration and velocity? It certainly adds smoothness and flow. My question is what is optimum weight? My feeling is that minimum weight may not be the best choice for these boards.
I am interested in the question of weight… I recently bought an Andreini chambered balsa (some photos posted on ‘post Hull pics’ thread page 63) It is 8’1", 3.5" thick, and weighs 18lb. Although this might seem heavy when compared to other material boards of this length, once in the water, and in the wave, it seems perfect. The weight must increase momentum, acceleration and velocity. It certainly adds smoothness and flow. My question is what is optimum weight? and how would one calculate it? My feeling is that minimum weight may not be the best choice for these boards.
Many thanks for the thread.
im not looking to get it super light at this point, i want some weight for the exact reasons you mentioned…I think its just rediculously heavy at this point so im questioning exactly how light it will be, but we’ll find out soon!
This is so obviously going to turn out to be an utterly superb piece of work. Love the way you’ve filled the holes, reet smooth. What tools are you using to shape with? Planes, spoke-shaves etc?
Really excited about this thread, I just wish we could get decent timber in the UK.
