Jonno here, skate bag maker, skater and dry docked surfer (moved to Finland last summer, need to get a car before it thaws to get wet again…).
Starting on a chambered wooden board project -7.2 Fish and maybe a 9.2 Pintail depending on costs- here and have access to native Finnish Alder, Birch, Aspen, Pine and Fir quite easily plus exotics. Plan is to keep it local!
Anyone have any experience with Birch? Lovely looking wood and millions of tons of it here.
Great source of information here on Swaylock’s, thanks for having me!
I never built a chambered board, only one with ribs and sheets. But I guess birch has quite a high density compared to balsa wood, the density is around 0,65 kg/liter. A Board like a 7’2 fish has around 40-45 liters volume, so if you don’t chamber you would have a solid board weight of 26kg. Then you chamber it, but you can’t get more than 60% off the volume, i assume. So would have a board with 10,4 kg. Refine the calculation if you have accurate numbers, but that’s my guess. I would try to avoid glassing it to save weight. Just epoxy. I’m shure the board would look great, but try to estimate the weight to avoid unpleasant surprises. Love the local attitude though, I read alot about the “green surfboard made of balsa”, which is true if you live in south america. If you ship the balsa around the globe to europe, balsa is no “green” material for me. keep us posted about your project…
and although a bit ambitious for a first build, if the birch proves to heavy, I can try it this way. There is some fantastic quality birch ply available here and many types of individual veneers.
Maybe this honeycomb construction with a stringer to begin with.
I am trying to avoid using glass, I hate working with it! Plus, the long term goal is to have as green a board as possible - that I can take in a car, van, jet planes etc! Oh well, it’s the thought that counts…
I also found one of the last traditional boat builders in Finland who cuts his own logs and have emailed him for clarification of the wood types as the colour and grains he ends up with are breathtaking.
I hate glassing as well. First thing i don’t like handling this poisonous stuff, you’re always in a hurry and the glass fibers stick to everything. And sanding is not much fun either. And my glass jobs turn out to be sub optimal:) But it protects the wood like no other treatment from moisture, i guess. If you’re after some inspiration for glass-less surfboards, you might find this page interessting:
Yes, I will be staggering the chambers so there will be no weak areas and the air can circulate through to the vent plug.
Been looking at a lot of new UK shapers as the waves here are similar to the worse (average Norfolk coast) waves. I had planned and drawn up a wide tail anyway but the trend seems to be straight wide tail, twin fins and a channel. Suits my materials fine and ties in with my own experiences surfing sloppy waves @100kg! Physics is a bugger…