my first ALAiA shape... new member...

General Discussion
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Hi, im a new member; i’m from Puerto Rico… i’m 23 and just finished college(industrial design), always been interested in making stuff with my hands, and woodworking; and for a the last year i’ve been researching in my free time about surfboard design and surfing history… i have been reading for a couple of months around the general discussions for lots of different topics, i am super stoked for finding these “surfboard design forum” with lots of great people and information… and what a better time to jump on board than after finishing a prototype…

I started really surfing one year ago after shaping myself a fun-board ( 8’ ) with the help of a local shaper… right now i’m hooked on longboards , riding most of the time a 9’4" I bought a couple of weeks ago, I love cross-steping and nose-riding…

 

but for this project i decided to work on a ALAIA… i have only seen one of the wegener’s alaias in a local surf shop and at that moment i decided i needed to try and make one to try it (theres not much access to these boards here or paulownia wood)… i’m almost there…

worked the template on CAD, printed out the nose and the tail and then draw a line with a flexible piece of wood(1/8) to draw the rail… i prepared the template of one half of the board…  used some type of mahogany (i don’t know the name in english, its “Caoba rosada” in spanish ) to prepare the blank out of two (9" x 3/4" x 8’) that i found on a local hardware store…the was a darker piece, which i cut in half to use it one the rails( 18" x 3/4" x 8’ - blank)… in part for aesthetics, and because i didn’t want to glue the boards up in the middle thinking that with the single concave that part would be thinner…

 

question # 1:                   glueing up the boards down the middle could’ve been a weak point right…?

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Question # 2:             i don’t know if it’s a good picture for this but i’ll give it a try… what type of rails can i consider these? (picture #3) knifey, parabolic( i don’t understand these very well)    …maybe we can discuss them using the width of this blank(3/4") as a reference…

 

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the point of view on this last picture is not straight down the middle but it shows the single concave bottom with rolled rails(at least thats what i think is called, if not someone please correct me)…maybe another shot to help with the “kind of rails” question I made earlier… 

… while working on the finish of the board, on the waiting periods, i started working on a “protective sock”/ cover for the ALAiA… thats what’s beneath the board on picture #1…

 

thanks for all the well organized information in these forums, hope to be a part of it from now on… i’ll try and keep my english at the best,  I’m practicing here with the reading and now posting… 

 

any comment would be greatly appreciated…

 

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parabolic rails have a curvature that goes toward the stringer (center of the board on an alaia).. kind of like the opposite of what is on normal surfboards. the term refers to the actual outline of the board. that board does not have parabolic rails. ive never heard the term "knifey rails" but they look pretty sharp to me. they probably hold great when you put pressure on them in a wave. maybe someone else can help you with that one. i dont really know how to describe them. they arent hard down and blocky like i have seen and felt on wegener's alaias, but they arent soft 50/50 rails like on a traditional longboard. it looks really fun though. puedo hablar en espanol si tu prefieres, pero nadie comprende y los otros hombres tienen informacion mejor que mio y hablas ingles mas bueno que yo hablo espanol. haha 

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haha… Muchas gracias scboy, but it’s better in english so everybody will understand, as you said…

so if I didn’t get it wrong parabolic rails is the concept used on the outline of snowboards, where the shape in the middle of the board’s outline is thinner…?

 

ill try and get some info of where i read about the “knifey rails”, i think it was in an article that jon wegener wrote about rails…

 

im looking forward to get it on some waves, and after a couple of times maybe i’ll try and reshape the rails to see the difference… 

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you got it with the parabolics. just like a ski or a snowboard. when you have parabolics you can put pressure on a rail and the shape will initiate a carve, its one of my favorite feelings in surfing to pressure my inside rail and carve up the face then release pressure and slip back down the face and take advantage of not having a fin on the alaia

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I noticed you used mahagony wood of some sort. Looks really nice. The "thing" about alaias made from paulownia wood is that it has flex. It helps you catch waves a little easier by leaning on nose to create a reverse rocker and also it helps hold into face of wave. I round the top edge of the rails so it simply isnt sharp when you sit on it. On the bottom edge of rails I keep really sharp(knifey). It just grabs alot better than soft rails.

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Thanks bobbyg…  i’ll have to try and get some paulownia sometime to get to feel the difference…

i was concerned that this wood maybe wouldn’t have any flex when finished but it has some… but I imagine its not even close to the flex of paulownia wood… (maybe later i’ll make it thinner to try and get to flex it easier)  this takes me to my next question… 

 

I got this finished board to weight around 11 pounds… (i can still make it thinner to minimize the weight) 

                       does anyone know how much does a paulownia wood Alaia of this size (6’8") would weight aprox…??

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I have a 6'6'' paulownia alaia which is 3/4'' thick at its thickest. Its totally finished with linseed oil and gum turps and has been ridden, and it still weighs 5.5lbs.  If you make your board thinner be careful. These boards barely float , especially ones out of heavier wood.

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Ricky I forgot to ask what you finished your board with? Looks nice..