Much credit for this latest Firewire series goes to Grant Newby who advanced the process to this point…
http://www2.swaylocks.com/forums/green-waxless-board
So, 4 years later Firewire is right back to the point where they started?
Swap Paulownia for Balsa and you’re right back to where they started with Bert.
I guess they needed to learn it on their own before it really sank in that there was a method to Bert’s madness.
Burned some bridges there, a quick call to one of the core guys in their startup strategy would have given them a wealth of knowledge.
They’ll get turned on to cork in another 2 years or so.
I hate to be so negative about what is a really cool process and a great end result. It’s the manner in which Firewire goes about it that leaves such a bad taste in my mouth.
I evolved a lot of what I do straight from Gary Young and Bert Berger’s work. They really paved the way for composite wood boards and were nice enough to share they’re methods with everyone. Bob Simmons was also making composite wood boards back in the late 40’s. Nothing new about this Firewire tech…
Must be vexing to those in the USA who can’t obtain cheap paulowinia to build boards with?
Grant Newbys build process sure copped a flogging on here.
I was interested in it but ultimately turned off it by that discussion.
Now Firewire have picked up the ball and run with it globally.
ha’’ if they want to keep a good reputation i will bet there not using monky glue to apply the skins’’
cuttle you should know the surfboard industry puts out more spin than our current politicians’’
** cheers huie
**
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Must be vexing to those in the USA who can't obtain cheap paulowinia to build boards with?
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I wish somebody'd bring me a mass of paulownia...............
The only thing I see different from the original firewire/compsand construction method they used, is that it has no outside skin. Big whoopee. How long before they start changing this around because the wood is too hard to get uniform weight, density, stiffness?
If paulownia is tough to get now, imagine what it will be like with that manufacturing beast developing an appetite for the stuff. The trouble with getting balsa is the big industries like Baltek buying up so much there is little left for anyone else.
…they supply you with a packet of anti-fatigue pills ?
very nice board and firewires designs are good . i would be very worried if i couldnt make one like this and i owned a surfboard business. me an roy have got and have access to cubes of paulownia for spare change, mebe if some of you nerds were not such d!cks to him, he would send you some over. wasnt ryan planting it about 5 years back? . he should be harvesting in another two.
.
firewire probably started a plantation back in the day. sensible!
is anyone else cutting there own veneers besides huie , we are doing it here now. sabs used to do it with balsa. sand it with an orbital and infuse the skins. that one he made at 3.6 pounds was dope…back in the day. anyone tried using a porky for infusion. fark theres still some tricks up the sleeve hey huey.
That’s a pretty easy order.
ah i remember that grant newby thread . sticky tape for the rails and monkey glue lol. um a bit 8 years ago. still nice looking boards, but paulownia does absorb water dudes. i hope firewire didnt invest too much money in dat method
Firewire didn’t exist “back in the day” Paul…it’s kinda funny , I showed a skinned balsa blank with strip-laminated balsa rails to Nev Hymen about 10 years before he started firewire…he gave me a strange look , took my phone # and never got back to me…I often wonder if he still remembers that ?..(lol)
Hmmmmm.....I have a few friends with Firewire Surfboards........light and strong.....
the masses don't care about the "back story".......interesting information.......
Keep it going............Share the Stoke!!!!!!
Ray
I don’t go for the skinless part. More fragile = finite life span. How is that greener? The skin on a composite is as much about durability as it is about the structural integrity. I notice they still have the internal layer of cloth.
And I am milling my own balsa skins. It’s not terrible tough with a table saw and bandsaw.
Another interesting twist to this topic , is the boards made by Don Burfords brother , in the loft at the Burford factory in Currumbin…I was shown some really nice photos of these boards by Richard Harvey , and I’m sure Dick Van Straalen still has one in his posession.They were cedar skins laminated to a foam core , with thin multi timbered strip laminated rails…no glass , just resin coated and sanded to a polished finish…and lightweight !..they would easily be thirty years old now…
Don’t they say these are glassed inside then strips of glass over the rail join? A 3-4mm bit of timber isnt hard to ding if you drop the board shut it in a door etc.
Yes. That is the case. The house of cards waiting to crash. Living on revenue while the popularity is still there. Place and chase. Life of the retail side of the surf industry.
"Firewire didn’t exist “back in the day” Paul…it’s kinda
funny , I showed a skinned balsa blank with strip-laminated balsa rails
to Nev Hymen about 10 years before he started firewire…he gave me
a strange look , took my phone # and never got back to me…I often
wonder if he still remembers that ?..(lol)
thats one dude that should of opted for a last name change imo…
My view is very basic Ray…whatever is good for any local surfboard industry , is good for surfing as a whole…and whatever is bad for local industry , is not good for surfing at all…the endless attempts to re-write history are very amusing at times…(lol)