Ive stated to fall into the rabbit hole of wooden surfboards, unfortunately most forum posts on the subject are filled with dead links and Im struggling to find much information. Ive binge watched any youtube videos on the subject I could find.
From what Ive seen, some form of hollow construction is the method calling to me. Although I have seen many diffirent ways from cnc cut skeleton to different framing like Paul Jenson or Danny Hess, or the rail first method I found mentioned but struggled to find much info.
I like when solid rails are glued on and shaped like a normal surfboard, but what cant find any info on how you put different contours into the bottom of the board. Can you just shape the internal frame with contours and glue the bottom deck on? Im not sure how you would get the deck to adhere to the concaves accurately.
Sorry for noob questions Im currently just researching the process, would love any working links for any part of hollow construction.
Hi Scott you could build them into the frame or just sand them into the shell, depends how subtle the contours are and how thick the shell. I really don’t build hws anymore, but I used to keep the contours subtle and just sand them in. I have seen some pretty extreme contours built into the frame, I guess you would have to clamp the skin accordingly when gluing up the shell.
I use a rockertable and put shims onto it for the contours. You need a little of experience since the bottom is pressed into the frame then; if contours are to extreme something will break…
I design my boards in BoardCad. If I design a concave front concave into a lingboard, the ribs of course are shaped according to it, stringer to. Then I set my rockertable and start building my frame. If the frame is ready, I do the rockertable fine adjustment. For example the frame sits on the rockertable at the outer frame, but the stringer does not, because of the concave. For this gap, I cut a shim and glue it with tape onto the table directly there where the stringer goes.
I then remove the frame and lay the bottom sheet onto the rocker tabble and the the frame onto the bottom. I I press down the frame now, the bottom bends into the concave.
This all works depending on your wood. You cannot bent an one inch bottom or thin hardwood can break, if the concave is too extreme. Start with light contours to get your experience.
If you watch closely the above picture you can guess the bottom contour. Front concave flat in the middle and convex, rolled, or vee in the tail.
I usuall press the frame and watch what the bottom does, then I adjust my shims. After some iterations you get the wanted result (or you ruined your bottom, or even worse, your frame). So do slow, apply even pressure…
These angle brackets are located above each rib position on my rocker table, enabling downward pressure for gluing skins to any type of curve along the rib e.g. the double concave in above photo.
Here is a photo of the angle brackets being used to hold down a deck strip.
I always glue a 5mm by 5mm strip of paulownia to each side of the rib giving me a 15mm wide area to glue to the deck strip.
Gidday Scott2
Sorry no builds online.
About a decade ago I was a regular contributor to the Tree to sea forum under a different name, was building chambered paulownia surfboards back then.
Now make boards using the Spine and ribs method, on average make one board per year, a few mals, a few mid lengths and a few asymmetricals.
Hi there you all,
A rocker table and vacuum bagging have worked for me to get the wood skins (3-5 mm) to follow bottom and deck contours when building my modern logs. Vacuum bag can be tricky to set (leaks and pressure control) but then the infinite clamp idea is wonderful.
