Has anyone seen how they are making plastic cups and utensils from corn oil. Is there anyway to make a resin for surfboards that is based with corn oil as well. Please let me know if anyone has looked into this issue. thanks
sean
How do there Bulahi.
I believe that a chap whose name escapes me at present who was a founder member of the Surfers Against Sewage environmental action group in the UK, who now also happens to be some big bod at the Eden project in Cornwall, England had come up with a totally green surfboard manufacture process. I’ll try to remember his name and post it when I do. Not sure if his methods had anything to do with corn oil but he may be worth having a chat with about other environmental/surf related stuff.
Jase (MMM)
Try talking to these guys, sounds like they are currently working on corn and soy based composites:
The ‘eco’ surfboard you’re talking about is a project led by Chris Hines at the Eden Project in Cornwall.
It has a blank made from balsa grown at the Eden’s biomes, and cloth made from hemp also produced there - the resin is ‘vegetable’ based. The idea is it’s biodegradeable, so you could chuck it on the compost heap when you’ve finished riding it.
It was shaped and glassed by Cornish craftsmen Tris Cokes at Homeblown and Chris Jones (CJ Surfboards, Newquay).
The board was developed as a challenge to industry (surfing & non surfing) to be more environmentally friendly.
One of the boards was recently on display at our exhibition ‘Full Circle - surfboard evolution’ at Eden.
From October 21st you’ll be able see it rubbing shoulders with an original 200 year old Hawaiian wooden ‘Olo’ surfboard at the Captain Cook Birthplace Museum, Marton, Middlesborough - we’re running a special exhibition of British surfing history which celebrates Cook’s ‘surfari’ in the late 1700s and looks at how surfing has developed in Britain since…
Aloha all
Pete
Captain Cook probably saw more good waves than any of us ever will. Shame he didn’t surf. No wonder some of the crew jumped ship.
The Hawaiians showed him what happens to someone who exposes secret spots.
I’m really intersted to hear of the eco board. Do you have any sort of general feedback…weight? strength? etc…
Been thinking along similar lines myself lately. But more about - 100% eco-sound boards.
So far…
Sucrose Epoxy for, well… Epoxy 
Hemp Cloth as a replacement for fiberglass. Could use other kinds of cloth, too. Esp in balsa sandwich type construction (where I am heading).
Balsa is now a renewable resource (as are other timbers).
But the bit I am stuck on is foam… Recycled Polystyrene is the most environmentally friendly foam that’s freely available that I know of and that I am sure will work. I’m sure there’s other alternatives and that other people have looked into this somewhat (haven’t checked the archives yet). Thoughts.
Anyway, that’s just where I am up to 
-doug
The Eden ‘eco’ surfboards have performed pretty well in the water - a little heavier so not so good for shortboarding groms… but other than that little difference. They’ve done a longboard and a couple of shortboards and word is they ride well… they just don’t know how long they’ll last before they start to degrade… and they’re just under £1,000 (UK Sterling).
My veiw is that the way to improve the ecology of surfboard building you must follow a three fold attack.
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Reduce solvent emissions - Eliminate clean up solvents and solvent based resins. High solids epoxy resins and soap and water clean up using emusifiers to break down resins instead of solvents. Contaminated solvents are toxic waste folks! Use scrap glass to absorb resin from sqeegees and other tools. When the resin kicks it’s non toxic and won’t break down effecting the environment.
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Reduce and recycle - Reduce waste by eliminating products that require wasteful processes and clean up solvents (polyester resins). Recycle any waste that can be reused. EPS foam is the most recycle friendly foam now made. Nearly all waste from EPS is easily recyclable through the same companies that sell you the raw material.
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Improve surfboard durability - Make the things last just twice as long and you reduce environmental impact by 50% … and the consumer gets a real benefit as well.
Our business long ago achieved all of these goals and today this are our typical business practice.
Some of the ideas stated in former posts are nice but unworkable at this time. Keep in mind that when producing a product for the market you must be willing to compromise on some issues. There’s nothing wrong with trying to reduce to the ultimate level as an excersize but dramatic reduction in the impact of surfboard building in a production environment is the ultimate goal. That’s the goal that, in the end, counts the most.
Good for you guys Greg - the more effort more people make, there will be a benefit to our fragile planet… now where’s that email address for George W. Bush?!
These guys in England were involved in the eco board and are doing their bit… http://www.homeblown.co.uk/
While I appreciate some of the efforts of businesses like Homeblown they are still involved in polyester and urethane. Emissions and waste. There is a vastly better way. No one should advertise their high regard as to personal environmental intentions while also selling Silmar 249 on their website.
Our business spearheaded environmental surfboard constructions over 20 years ago. Other businesses are now beginning to voice ideas that fall well short of work we and others have already done. This is unfortunatly the case with Homeblown. Again I appreciate Homeblown efforts in regard to MDI based foams but this is a small change in the overall “business as usual” pu/pe scheme they are involved in. And not one that adds up to much in the long run.
I vaugely recall hearing of someone making a board out of “hemp foam”. But haven’t seen/heard any more about it.
The foam aspect aside I am quite keen to give this a shot one day (EPS looks the most env-friendly to me so far).
Anyone know of more env-friendly foam alternatives? Maybe with references (URLs)?
-doug
Very true Greg - was flagging up more their involvement with the eco board/balsa blanks from managed sources…
hi there dougirwin, I’ve made a board that Is made out of biodegradable eps which is made out of corn. It’s supposed to biodegrade in six months if burried in soil or water.
i used hempcloth with epoxy over it.
My friend is a Hempguy(owns a hempshop) and he’s been in contact with a manufacturer that is saying that it’s possible to make “hemp foam” and hes been telling me to handle some over to me when the samples are made. but dont know when because of economical
reasons.
I dont now anything technically about the process of making it though…
but I’m looking forward to it.
right now I think regular EPS is the way to go.
recycalable and cheap.
Jimmy yoshio shibata.
To my understanding, extruded polystyrene was the most environmental friendly foam. My supplier told me I can give him back the offcuts from the blank and then he reinserts them directly into the production line. Extruded polystyrene is made from melted polystyrene resin. You can then melt the foam back to resin and blow a new blank.
Therefore, since as of today vegetal foams are not available (at least over here in europe), and since balsa cannot be grown locally, extruded polystyrene seems to be the best solution as long as you find a way to solve the delam problems.
Quote:
hi there dougirwin, I’ve made a board that Is made out of biodegradable eps which is made out of corn. It’s supposed to biodegrade in six months if burried in soil or water.
Hi Yoshio,
Do you have any more details on that corn foam ? What are its mechanical properties ? What density ? Closed or open cells ? How does it react with pressure dents ? Can it be shaped with standard shaping tools ?
Quote:
Been thinking along similar lines myself lately. But more about - 100% eco-sound boards.
So far…
Sucrose Epoxy for, well… Epoxy
This seems very interesting but all I could find about it on the Internet dates from 1999… Anybody knows if the idea was carried out further and if we may expect some products available in the near future ?
Hi pierre, the foam I used was 1.5 pound density. And its yellow.
and its just like eps,closed cell if i’ve got everything right.
shaping it was much like shaping regular eps maybe a little bit more difficult because some chunks would come out if you went a little hard on the foam.
and it felt a little bit stiffer than regular eps same density.
didnt have any problems with dents…but had problems with delam because of no vent i guess.
Jimmy yoshio shibata
That seems great. When you say 1.5 lbs I suppose this per cubic feet, right ? If so, the metric equivalent would be 24 kg per m3. This is pretty light, similar to EPS.
I’d love to give it a try. Do you know who produces this foam and where we can get some in Europe ?
EPS is recyclable the same as XPS and XPS still has some CFC issues. They have improved that significantly over the years by going to a newer blowing agents. This has reduced environmental impact by about 90% but the last 10% is still there. EPS is blown with 2.5% cyclo pentane which is a bit better environmentally than either XPS or urethane.
Degradable plastics usually contain starches which allow for a breakdown back into the environment. There is a catch to doing this. Sometimes you don’t want this breakdown because it can actually cause contamination of air and groundwater. Landfills are actually designed so that the contents DON"T breakdown and cause worse problems environmentally. It’s my view that surfboards should be made to be more durable to reduce environmental impact, not the other way around.
Again I’d like to stress that this all must be able to be done IN PRODUCTION. Otherwise these are all just excersizes. An excersize might teach you something but if what is learned is not applicable to prodction then it’s meanless in reducing impact.
Great points Greg! Sometimes biodegradable is not the best for this planet’s safety. Durability is the ultimate goal for eco-friendly products. When you said “learned”, I thought I could Bert saying “learnt” in the background.
Love, Delbert Pumpernickel