Chambered paulownia mini-Simmons/stubby build

General Discussion
1

Okay, here we go with the
build thread for my first legitimate board build. I’ve made a couple of alaias,
and shaped a couple of kneeboards about 25 years ago, but other than assorted
woodworking projects (building bass amp and cabinet housings etc) this is real
rookie stuff. Apologies for the lack of informative photos but seeing as I’m
building it on an inner city balcony, mainly working in the evenings by myself,
it’s hard to get decent shots!

 

I’m primarily a kneeboarder, but I also have a 6’8” fish and 9’2” longboard that I muck around on from time to time. The idea of this board was to make something for small surf days – a real cruiser rather than a performance board (when the surf gets any good I’m on a kneeboard). I wanted something short and easy to transport. I’ve been fascinated by the mini-Simmons movement and also ultra stubby longboards so, after hours of trawling through old Swyalocks threads, I figured I’d try something that merged the two ideas together. I certainly don’t have any real shaping knowledge, and figure this is more about getting some skills together for future projects rather than producing something brilliant on my first go. My idea at this stage is to have a single fin box with a couple of FCS plugs in the corners for keels so I can run it as either a single fin stubby, or a Simmons with the two keels.

 

Most of the time when I make something I have a very clear idea of what I’m going to do and how it will end up – in this case I’m kind of making it up as I go along and will no don’t change things as I go!

 

And so to the project. The basic outline (below) is what I came up with, and I’ve decided to go with no tail rocker (a la Simmons).

 

[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b279/Basswombat/CS-Stubby1.jpg[/IMG]

 

First step was getting 14  20mm thick paulownia planks (from surfinggreen). I managed to cut 34 rocker sections and then used Titebond III to glue up 8 bits three planks wide, and 2 bits four planks wide from the best ones. I then spot glued all of them together (the 4 –piece sections on the outsides).

 

[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b279/Basswombat/PA100005.jpg[/IMG]

 

Next, I cut the outline…

 

[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b279/Basswombat/PA100006.jpg[/IMG]

 

[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b279/Basswombat/PA100007.jpg[/IMG]

 

And so to the shaping. I’m (very) slowly trying to get a board to emerge from this slab of wood. I’m finding that using a spoke shave and small block plane are my go-to tools at this point.

 

[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b279/Basswombat/PA140008.jpg[/IMG]

 

[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b279/Basswombat/PA140010.jpg[/IMG]

 

Any thoughts would be appreciated, and I’ll keep going with the updates as they slowly roll through!

 

Cheers

Chuck

2

Looking pretty good so far.  I'm pretty keen on it being a m-S in wood:  a little on the heavy side and all, but I'm a believer that heavier boards (not waterlogged or glassed heavy) are faster down the line - more momentum.  This little beaut is going to haul!   

What do you figure it weighs - rather, what are you shooting for? Glass, varnish or oil finish?   

3

Thanks for the feedback!

On the weight front, I’ve yet to measure - but it weighs a ton right now!! I figure I’ll wait until I’ve actually 95% shaped it then weigh properly, then weigh again after chambering as I’m intrigued to see how much I’ll get rid of.

As far as finish goes, I’m leaning toward glass right now. But as I mentioned, I’m really taking this project one step at a time rather than planning the whole thing out, and there’s every chance I’ll change my mind a few times before we get to that point!

4

Nice project! I have been thinking of doing a similar board with all of my plywood scraps from work.

My only advice is if you can’t get a hold of some power tools-planer ect, 30-40grt sand paper and a block are your friend. The low grit paper on a wooden block combined with long strokes will keep the bumps and wiggles out when shaping wood.

Have fun.

5

Curiosity got the better of me… with the board starting to actually look something like a board it’s weighing in at 18kg (39.5lbs). No wonder I thought it was an anchor! It will shed some pounds over the remainder of the basic shaping process, but hopefully the chambering process will bring it down to a more acceptable level (although I guess it’s never going to be a lightweight - a bit like it’s 6’4/95kg master).

6

looking good Chuck. i have no doubt its going to come up real nice. I take it you had enough wood in the end?

don’t be worried about the weight. You should lose quite a bit in shaping and when you chamber it if you do it aggressively it should cut the weight in half. 

you could go quite thin with the thickness of the deck and bottom considering you have so many pieces laminated together. I’m no engineer but I feel like it will be stronger that way than if it were just a few wider sticks?? 

and don’t be afraid to go without glassing it. Paulownia is quite strong on its own, the chambered boards I’ve made with it are really solid without glass. 

keep the pictures coming. 

Grant

 

 

7

I’ve chambered a few boards now and I’ll just echo what ‘surfinggreen’ said… go thin as you can! … take as much wood out as you can, 'cuz its still going to be heavier than you think.

8

Thanks Grant - yep, more than enough wood in the end!

Shaping is coming along - I’ll post some new pics in the next few days.

I’m now thinking a bit about the overall idea of having both Simmon-like keels and a single fin… I may well go with the single fin only. At this stage the rails are pretty soft through the first two-thirds of the length and then sharp through the last third. Has anyone got on thoughts on what the performance characteristics of this board (given zero tail rocker and the sharp rails in the last third) would be as a single fin only? If I take that path should I soften the rails a bit more down the back?

Cheers

Chuck

9

Any updates on this board?

10

Brett:

 

Any updates on the board you were to build? 6 months ago at least?

11

Sidetracked with law school. No space to work out of in my new place in LA. It’s still turning in my head though. I’m gonna be around for a week or two around Christmas, I’ll pop by the shop and say hello.