Have you guys seen Chris Garrett’s website…these are the boards that Rasta is spotted with all the time.
I saw some people making paper honeycomb for use with composites. So I guess that’s not that far off a strecth from traditional board making. I just think it would suck if you got water in your board though.
Rio
go to the redwood forest or any forest and find a large 14’+ fallen tree.
take it home and shape it down with a stone adze, fire and sharpened rocks.
round ottom flat deck pulled intail with heavy vee for a hot curl
rub it down with the sap of banana trucks to seal the wood and then kukui nut oil for shine.
paddle it out and trim
Call Pohaku or read about Velzy’s work.
There’s even one made out of pawlonia in the resources
green as you can get
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Have you guys seen Chris Garrett’s website…these are the boards that Rasta is spotted with all the time.
Thanks for the link! I’ve been trying to learn more about this since I read the article about these boards in “Surfer” a couple years back. Anyone have any thoughts on how you get 2mm wood veneer to bend over a rail like that? I’m assuming you would use a vacuum bag. Regardless, it seems like the wood would break and how can you get a long piece of veener like those in the picture to bend in two dimensions (rail curve and template curve) at the same time? Thanks for any insight anyone can offer.
Roy Stuart makes “green boards”.
Tom Wegener does too.
Using palunia wood which doesn’t detererate and “glassing” without fibreglass and using linseed oil.
he grows the wood and scraps are used for fins and dust is used as mulch. thats too me about as enviramental as you can go.
good on you roy and tom!
novel az idea. but moving from novel to practical is where the hard part is . … wait
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Using paulownia wood which doesn’t deteriorate and “glassing” without fibreglass and using linseed oil.
Is this for real? Whoa. If it is . . . much props to the God who dropped that species upon this earth.
have to agree with wells . . . we must hit the biggest stuff first. Unlike financial planning where you negate and pay off smaller loans first . . . its better to take care of the big impact stuff. And you know we’re all responsible. Do your own part, even if its small . . .
I mean look at the concrete jungle. you could do solar panels. Or put solar panels up in space and broad cast the energy down in streams (but this may affect the environment) al la GI JOE movie . … Make fuel from ethanol. instead of cars have ultralight air vehicles for people, so we can get rid of roads and excess parking places … . or how about striking a balance between human development and nature? Rather than feeding the greedy whoms appetites are never satisfied by building another stadium for a football team whose wins are as fickle as cloudbreaks.
But anyways heres some food:
http://sport.guardian.co.uk/…0488,1541560,00.html link sometimes dies but anycase . . . found in surfermag of all places. article below
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Newquay debut for alternative to toxic models as festival opens
Steven Morris
Wednesday August 3, 2005
To the outsider, surfing may be perceived as one of the more environmentally friendly sports, but enthusiasts are all too conscious that the green image conceals a dirty secret - the toxicity of many modern boards.
So as professional surfers on the Cornish leg of their world tour waited for the waves to get up yesterday and thousands of visitors enjoyed the sunshine at Newquay’s Fistral Beach, environmental pioneers were busy promoting an eco-friendly, biodegradable board.
Made of nothing but wood, hemp cloth and plant-based resin, it looks a little old-fashioned compared to its more garish modern synthetic counterparts but there is no doubt that the concept of the green board is beginning to make a splash on the international surfing scene.
The pioneers behind the project believe that within 10 years surfers across the world, including the sort of stars at Newquay yesterday, will be riding environmentally-friendly boards.
Chris Hines, sustainability director at the Eden Project in Cornwall and one of those behind the eco board, said: “This board is a challenge to surfers and to the industry. Surfers pride themselves on protecting the sea and the natural environment but the vast majority still ride some of the most toxic pieces of sports equipment on earth.”
Many visitors at this week’s event - the Rip Curl Boardmasters, the most important surfing competition held in the UK - were clearly impressed. Steve Smith, a 30-year-old surfer from Devon, admitted: “We all know that our boards are made of really hideous substances but tend to bury our heads in the sand. In our heart of hearts we know there have got to be major changes in the industry.”
This week’s event has grown from a regional surf contest in the 1980s into what the organisers describe as the UK’s “largest free lifestyle sports festival”. Around 10,000 visitors are expected to attend to watch not only surfing but pop concerts and BMX biking, skateboarding and motorcycle demonstrations.
Male and female professional surfers from around the world - including Americans, Brazilians and Australians - have arrived in Newquay to compete for prize money of more than $125,000 (£70,700).
The event is so prestigious because it is the only world qualifier series held in the UK. Surfers compete for ranking points to attempt to win on the elite world championship tour. Qualifier events are rated on a star system, six stars being the most important. The Newquay men’s event has four stars.
So far, however, this week the event has been a bit of a disappointment, with the actual competition being delayed due to the lack of waves. However, by tomorrow the surfing conditions are expected to be ideal. If not, the surfers and fans will have to make do with the consolation of rock stars James Blunt and Razorlight, who are performing on Friday and Saturday.
In the beginning, of course, the surfboards ridden by the Hawaiians and others were lovingly crafted out of hardwood, but since the 1950s synthetic materials - cheaper, lighter and easier to source - have become ever more popular.
Now many of the 750,000 surfboards “shaped” each year are made of a cocktail of synthetics and glass fibre put together in an eye-watering industrial process.
In contrast, the eco board contains nothing but old-fashioned vegetable-based products and can be made in a relatively benign environment.
And while discarded boards - the pros get through more than one a fortnight as they snap in two or lose their “zing” - take centuries to rot away, the eco version can simply be chucked on to the compost heap.
But does the eco-board cut the mustard on the ocean?
Yesterday, with the help of Rip Curl, the Australian surfing company sponsoring this week’s competition, the Guardian tested the revolutionary board.
For the first time, the short board created by Mr Hines and a team of Cornish-based surfboard experts, was given a coat of Mrs Palmers Surf Wax and the leash which ties the board to the surfer’s ankle in readiness for its maiden voyage.
Then came the tough part - coaxing a surfer out of bed when there was no real surf to go at. Finally, 19-year-old Australian Ben Dunn, twice junior world champion and ranked 30th on the world qualifier series, was persuaded out of bed.
The first thing the experts tend to do when shown the new board is sniff it. Keen surfers love the smell of a new surfboard just as enthusiastic motorists adore the scent of their new car. This one smelled of vegetable rather than plastic but not unpleasantly so.
When he came back from the test run, Ben did not seem overly enthusiastic - but he admitted he was a little grumpy because he was still on “LA time”.
He said: "It was easy to catch waves on - I’d have struggled to catch waves on mine today because it’s so flat - and it was easy to paddle out so it would be great for beginners.
But the board, as its makers accept, is too heavy to be any use to a top surfer, who needs a very light board which is easy to turn.
Concerns about the environment are not likely to make Ben swap his board for an eco version any time soon. “Surfers do care about the environment but at this stage in my career I need top performance. Maybe when I retire from competition I’ll use one like this.”
Watching the trial, James Hendy, marketing manager for Rip Curl UK, is surprisingly up front about the dangers to the environment surfboards pose.
“There is no doubt the surfboard is a really toxic product and that doesn’t really fit in with the ethics of surfing,” he said. “We have been making surfboards using the same processes for 30 years. We haven’t moved on but we have got to. We have just hired an environment officer to look at issues like this.”
The weight problem highlighted by Ben is already being addressed by Mr Hines and the other pioneers, all Cornwall-based, who believe they will eventually create a surfboard which the pros would use.
Norman Frost, of Sustainable Composites, said they were looking at using starch waste - taken, for example, from potato peelings - to create an environmentally friendly foam as light as the polyurethane foam which forms the core of the modern surfboard.
Mr Frost, still a keen surfer at the age of 60, said: “We’ve a long way to go but this is a viable product. If we can produce an environmentally friendly board as good and cheap as a conventional board, it will sell.”
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novel az idea. but moving from novel to practical is where the hard part is . … wait
Quote:Using paulownia wood which doesn’t deteriorate and “glassing” without fibreglass and using linseed oil.
Is this for real? Whoa. If it is . . . much props to the God who dropped that species upon this earth.
for real! and from what i’ve heard the linsead oil rides alot better than fibreglass!
hey cleanlines
i was just thinking that when i read your post
how tough are they
it would work
you could grow a 6 ft 5 surfboard gourd
i dunno how tough they would be though
i heard a guy was growing violins
I started a hollow wooden a while ago and this post made me think of ways of making my board have the “au-natural” appearance. So I made eco friendly accessories… just finished a 8’ leash made of hemp rope… weaved the whole thing using the following weave pattern…
took realing F*cking long to make (over 20 hours on and off)… no beads though… ill post pics when I find my digital camera…
did have 1 question… does anyone have any ideas on how to attach the leash to your ankle… i tried it just tying it on, but it itches and digs into your ankle… any eco-friendly ankle cuffs?
just weave a really wide one.
im thinking of using natural hemp twill fabric and run it through the washing machine about 100 times with fabric softener…
hemp gets really itchy…
another problem… what do I use for a clasping system? trying to keep using natural materials…
There are two ways to get rich.
1.work harder.
2.work less.
Hey Daklaw
wouldnt it be…
-
work harder.
-
spend less…???
Getting back to the subject at hand…
I once saw molded pumpkins, squash, or gourds(?).
The grower had apparently created clear (plexy) molds and placed the young developing “fruit” into the oversized mold. As it grew it filled up and took the shape of the mold…surfgourds anyone??
hey aqua!
its a reference to the riches you aquire when you’re not in the workforce…like surfing, spending time with kids/family and enjoying life.
Rio
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Getting back to the subject at hand…
I once saw molded pumpkins, squash, or gourds(?).
The grower had apparently created clear (plexy) molds and placed the young developing “fruit” into the oversized mold. As it grew it filled up and took the shape of the mold…surfgourds anyone??
i like it… eco freindly pop outs
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Blank made from cork.Glue in 3 wood stringers.Route a deep slot and glue in a wood fin.Coat with pine tar pitch.The cork doesn’t need a skin,its waterproof anyway.smack it with a hammer and the dent bounces back.Pine Pitch has been used for around a thousand years to waterproof boats.You could also use a good linseed or tung oil based spar varnish.The best varnishes come from Holland.I have already played around with cork and it is great stuff making a huge comeback.It is self generating…harvested from the bark of trees.Check it on the internet and be amazed.
Ever read Cork Boat it is a true story about this guy who’s childhood dream is to build a boat from cork, and when he is in his thirties he does it, quite interesting.
oh yea i forgot
my method would be
cheese doodle blank, and cover it in butter to make it water tight, plus if i get hungry take a nibble
Check out
Sustainable, renewable, and recycleable surfboard building materials feauturing natural bamboo stringers and bamboo laminating fabric