First off, hello Swaylock's. Thought I would share with you all the fruits of my research into the world of alaia surfboards as Swaylock's forums provided valuable information during my quest to make a finless surfboard. For that I thank you all.
I actually dreamed up the idea of a finless board somewhere around 2002 shortly before or after the creation of my 5 fin "bonzer" type 6'1". Over the years I have contemplated rail design and bottom contours, looked at some things others have done but always thought my first finless board would be made of foam and fiberglass. I began noticing the alaia boards poping up here and there. Then one day it dawned on me that since I have little to no buget to build me a new board I might as well build an alaia.
So, I looked around my brother inlaw's woodshop knowing full well that there was some old painted western red cedar hand rail leaning up against the side of the building. Since there was no other suitable material around the cedar hand rail is what I choose to repurpose into my first all wood alaia surfcraft. I was able to mill the railing down to get 1" thick by 3" wide stock out of the boards but they weren't long enough to make the desired 6'6" alaia that I wanted. I cut tongue and groove at the ends of the boards and spliced enough of them together to glue up a blank that was long enough and just wide enough to cut the outline of my alaia from.
Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures of the old black painted boards leaning against the shop, nor did I take pictures of the milled up stock. I did, however, take some photos of the stock being glued up.
[URL=http://s1050.photobucket.com/albums/s410/CedarAlaia/?action=view¤t=Cedar-Alaia-Blank-Glue-Up-1.gif][IMG]http://i1050.photobucket.com/albums/s410/CedarAlaia/th_Cedar-Alaia-Blank-Glue-Up-1.gif[/IMG][/URL]
Searching for a proper 100% waterproof/salt waterproof wood glue that would be strong enough and flex with the wood lead me to a product called Cascophen. It is a Rescorcinol Formaldehyde Adhesive that is used in wooden aircraft construction and repair. I don't know how environmentally friendly/unfriendly it is but with a 3 hour pot time at 70 degrees Fahrenheit and the fact that it is able to withstand the stresses and temperature fluxuations of aviation it seemed like a good alternative to using epoxy.
[URL=http://s1050.photobucket.com/albums/s410/CedarAlaia/?action=view¤t=Cedar-Alaia-Glue-Up-Splices.gif][IMG]http://i1050.photobucket.com/albums/s410/CedarAlaia/th_Cedar-Alaia-Glue-Up-Splices.gif[/IMG][/URL]
Glue in the t&g splice
[URL=http://s1050.photobucket.com/albums/s410/CedarAlaia/?action=view¤t=Cedar-Alaia-TG-Splice.gif][IMG]http://i1050.photobucket.com/albums/s410/CedarAlaia/th_Cedar-Alaia-TG-Splice.gif[/IMG][/URL]
After a day and some belt sanding I had my western red cedar alaia blank that I could draw circles and curves and stuff on in order to get my outline. I figured I could just draw the template directly on the blank rather than making a template and transfering it to the blank. This board is my template.
[URL=http://s1050.photobucket.com/albums/s410/CedarAlaia/?action=view¤t=Alaia-Blank-sanded-clean-fr.gif][IMG]http://i1050.photobucket.com/albums/s410/CedarAlaia/th_Alaia-Blank-sanded-clean-fr.gif[/IMG][/URL]
[URL=http://s1050.photobucket.com/albums/s410/CedarAlaia/?action=view¤t=Alaia-Blank-sanded-clean-ta.gif][IMG]http://i1050.photobucket.com/albums/s410/CedarAlaia/th_Alaia-Blank-sanded-clean-ta.gif[/IMG][/URL]
I started cutting out the outline and made the nose round at first.
[URL=http://s1050.photobucket.com/albums/s410/CedarAlaia/?action=view¤t=Cutting-Outline.gif][IMG]http://i1050.photobucket.com/albums/s410/CedarAlaia/th_Cutting-Outline.gif[/IMG][/URL]
[URL=http://s1050.photobucket.com/albums/s410/CedarAlaia/?action=view¤t=Saw-Dust-Flying.gif][IMG]http://i1050.photobucket.com/albums/s410/CedarAlaia/th_Saw-Dust-Flying.gif[/IMG][/URL]
[URL=http://s1050.photobucket.com/albums/s410/CedarAlaia/?action=view¤t=Round-Nose-Sanding.gif][IMG]http://i1050.photobucket.com/albums/s410/CedarAlaia/th_Round-Nose-Sanding.gif[/IMG][/URL]
Then I smoothed and squared up the rails and found this big block plane to be very good for the task.
[URL=http://s1050.photobucket.com/albums/s410/CedarAlaia/?action=view¤t=Rail-Shaping.gif][IMG]http://i1050.photobucket.com/albums/s410/CedarAlaia/th_Rail-Shaping.gif[/IMG][/URL]
[URL=http://s1050.photobucket.com/albums/s410/CedarAlaia/?action=view¤t=Shaving-The-Rails.gif][IMG]http://i1050.photobucket.com/albums/s410/CedarAlaia/th_Shaving-The-Rails.gif[/IMG][/URL]
Outline done.
[URL=http://s1050.photobucket.com/albums/s410/CedarAlaia/?action=view¤t=Rails-Done.gif][IMG]http://i1050.photobucket.com/albums/s410/CedarAlaia/th_Rails-Done.gif[/IMG][/URL]
Not sure about the round nose though.
[URL=http://s1050.photobucket.com/albums/s410/CedarAlaia/?action=view¤t=Round-Nose-Outline.gif][IMG]http://i1050.photobucket.com/albums/s410/CedarAlaia/th_Round-Nose-Outline.gif[/IMG][/URL]
So I changed the nose to be more pleasing to me and gave the deck a slight 1/8" dome shape.
[URL=http://s1050.photobucket.com/albums/s410/CedarAlaia/?action=view¤t=Nose-Reshaped.gif][IMG]http://i1050.photobucket.com/albums/s410/CedarAlaia/th_Nose-Reshaped.gif[/IMG][/URL]
I shaped the bottom to have beveled edge to 1/4" thick square rails with a single concave starting about 2/3 up the board from the tail fading into a double concave tail nozzle starting about where the waist of the board is.
[URL=http://s1050.photobucket.com/albums/s410/CedarAlaia/?action=view¤t=Double-Concave-Tail.gif][IMG]http://i1050.photobucket.com/albums/s410/CedarAlaia/th_Double-Concave-Tail.gif[/IMG][/URL]
A mixture of tung oil/paint thinner and Japan hardener was applied to the board twice with a light sanding between coats.
[URL=http://s1050.photobucket.com/albums/s410/CedarAlaia/?action=view¤t=Oiling-Bottom.gif][IMG]http://i1050.photobucket.com/albums/s410/CedarAlaia/th_Oiling-Bottom.gif[/IMG][/URL]
[URL=http://s1050.photobucket.com/albums/s410/CedarAlaia/?action=view¤t=First-Coat-Bottom.gif][IMG]http://i1050.photobucket.com/albums/s410/CedarAlaia/th_First-Coat-Bottom.gif[/IMG][/URL]
Then the board was lightly sanded again.
[URL=http://s1050.photobucket.com/albums/s410/CedarAlaia/?action=view¤t=Sanded-Tung-Oil.gif][IMG]http://i1050.photobucket.com/albums/s410/CedarAlaia/th_Sanded-Tung-Oil.gif[/IMG][/URL]
And finally 2 coats of marine varnish were applied. My alaia was finally ready for the waters of La Push which looked a bit daunting upon our arrival yesterday. The fear was compound by the fact that I haven't been in the water since March after sustaining 5 broken ribs in a non-surfing related accident involving old farmhouse stairs and a puppy. Everyone asks so I will answer, the puppy was uninjured in the accident and can be seen here in the following photo of the finished board at the beach.
[URL=http://s1050.photobucket.com/albums/s410/CedarAlaia/?action=view¤t=Alaia-at-La-Push.gif][IMG]http://i1050.photobucket.com/albums/s410/CedarAlaia/th_Alaia-at-La-Push.gif[/IMG][/URL]
And the fat guy with the thin board heading out to get pummeled by a set just before making it out to the lineup.
[URL=http://s1050.photobucket.com/albums/s410/CedarAlaia/?action=view¤t=Fat-Guy-Thin-Board.gif][IMG]http://i1050.photobucket.com/albums/s410/CedarAlaia/th_Fat-Guy-Thin-Board.gif[/IMG][/URL]
The board dimensions are as follows: 6'6" long, wide point of 16 9/16" at 16" from the nose, narrow point 15 3/4" from the tail, tail squared off at 16 3/8" wide, 3/4" thick with concaves tappering from nothing to 3/8" deep.
Yeah, these alaias don't float very well at all and this was probably not the ideal place for my out of surfing shape arms to try to paddle out for the first time in 5 or so months. I found it extremely difficult to keep the board under me while paddling through the white water and after being pummeled by a set I turned tail and headed for shore. This turned out to be difficult too since I had to keep ahold of the leashless board and was finding it increasingly difficult to paddle and breath. I finally made it in and recuperated. I was pretty happy the thin cedar board didn't break under my weight and that I made it back into shore alive. I really should lose about 30 pounds.
I decided to give it a go using my old Churchill swim fins and attempt to ride it prone. Wow what a difference! I was able to get out to the lineup like I was a motorboat with the fins on. Duck diving barely slowed me down at all, its been years since I last rode a bodyboard. I was feeling confident and comfortable with the fins on. I quickly kicked into my first wave and was blown away at how the rail locked into the face of the wave and the SPEED and stability of the board and spray coming off the nose hitting my eyeballs and the unmakeable sections being made and the tail sliding around while trying to kick out of the wave without catching a rail. Wow! It actually worked exactly like all the videos showed and things I read about alaias . My photographer/girlfriend was so blown away that she forgot to take the action photos even though the camera was in her lap.
I got quite a few more waves on it and every one of them was a faster and longer ride than I could have achieved on the 6'1" bonzer I brought as a backup board. I can't wait to get it out on a point break somewhere and I really want to stand up on it now too and see if it will turn at all.
Any questions, comments or advice would be much appreciated. My next build will be out of an 8 foot tall western red cedar stump that is currently acting as a corner post of a wood shed that my parents are taking down and moving. I get the solid stump/log to split down the middle and hopefully shape a couple boards out of.
Thanks for looking.