New Balsa Gun

General Discussion
1

I wanted to pass on some pictures of my latest learning experience. Note to self: “Balsa doesn’t shape like foam”.

After realizing that each piece of lumber within the blank has a different density and takes different pressure to shape, I slowly sanded, filed, and finessed my way to the end of this project. The fin was a challenge I’ve been thinking about it for some time: Wood and translucent resin together in the same fin. Looks striking in the sunlight.

Anyway, here they are. Some more to follow. Doug



2

Damn sweet!

Looks to be 70’s retro bolt

whats the lenght?

I need dimensions to build an 8’ 6’

please share

3

Damn Doug…Thats is is one bad a@@ looking board! Can you post some rocker/construction shots of that beuty? Id love to see the journey from start to completion. Be sure to get some shots of that carving up and a clean face.

Bob

4

Thant’s one of the baddest tail pieces I’ve seen.

What’s the story behind this board? Bravo!

5

Nice work!

That is a beautiful board. Is it solid or chambered? Are you going to surf it or is it a hanger? I rember a while ago you posted something about glassing a board for hanging on the wall. Is this the one you were refering?

6

Absolutely beautiful board. Any plans to ride it or is it going on the wall? I hope ity gets ridden.

I like the Duke stamp. I remember when they went on sale I bought a page. Later a friend of mine said, “Oh yeah, those are collector’s items.” So I went back to the post office to buy some more and the clerk told me they sold out almost immediately. “When they sell out that fast the usually become collector’s items and go up in value.” Great. I used mine to pay my bills.

Anyways, that board’s a gem.

7

To All,

Thanks for the kind words.

The board is solid, not chambered. Shaped from a Rhino Balsa Blank. It is a wall hanger for Mark Nelson (the guy in the photo). He wants to bring back some water from Waimea to sprinkle on it. I’ll post some more pictures and the dimensions later since I don’t have the dimensions in my head.

The planshape is similar to a Brewer gun that I saw in Surfer’s Journal



8
Quote:

Great. I used mine to pay my bills.

Same here… but by doing so, we spread some aloha, no matter how small…

9

sweet

10

The Duke stamp I have was used by someone to mail us a letter. My wife promptly cut it out and posted on the fridge. I just confiscated it after reading this, to laminate onto the hollow wooden SUP I am currently making. Than you…to someone out there that also used the Duke stamps for mailing…to me.

11

Sprinkle water on it??? How does that make you, the shaper, feel?

Someone should give the board a proper baptism at a minimum.

Roger

12

Sorry but to hear that that magnificent piece of ocean going function is going to end up on someones’ wall for yuppies to oooh and ahh at makes me a bit sick inside. Surfboards are meant to be ridden, paintings are for hanging on walls.

13

Art is for hanging on walls. That boad IS a work of art. WELL DONE DOUG.

14

Doug, inspirational. I have a couple of balsa blanks. Since about 3 years ago. I’ve found every excuse not to dive into the project. Until your post.

“Doug would go”. To coin a phrase. I’ll post a pic in about 6 months. ha.

15

doug, that surfboard is utterly, utterly wonderful. i’m stunned & speechless. thank god there are people in the world who make such beautiful things.

internally, i’m torn between the hang/ride debate. i love riding surfboards, but i love beautiful things for their own sake, too. art for interaction or utility is special & significant, but art purely for appreciation is equally so.

also, & more practically, delam problems can impact the decks of balsa boards in only a short time. so i understand the decision to not ride it from that angle too.

my dad made a balsa singlefin some years ago that has never been ridden. it stands proudly in a corner of the loungeroom where i always look at it, admittedly a little wistfully. i still like studying its curves, handling its rails, testing its weight underarm, & admiring the grain of the timber. some surfboards, whether they see the sea or not, can be ridden in the heart.

again, congratulations on such a gorgeous & singular piece of work doug. i’m awed.

16

The only thing that gives a surfboard significance as an object of art, gives it any meaning whatsoever is it’s history as a functional item of expression. Boards created solely to hang on walls have a sad and impotent quality about them because they lack the meaning which is intrinsic to their purpose (ie to ride waves).

They are essentially a cologne masking the odour of nostalgia which is poisoning our proud and noble harvest from our adventure on the sea. The climate of comfort, the requirement of luxury, which is the milieu from which this kind of activity takes place has turned most surfing experiences into a kind of chauffeur driven golf game where money and status entitle you to the kind of item which should go to those of merit and committment . Sprinkling it with water from Waimea…tame, mediocre, gelded. Could there be any more graphic illustration of the soulless impotence which lies at the heart of modern western surfing culture.

A contrary view : I was at George greenough’s house (he was my neighbour for years) when someone from california rang up and offered him 10 grand for his last velo spoon. it was pretty classic. George went into his yard and dug around in the leaf litter until he found it. Scraped the debris off it and threw it into the back of his landcruiser to take in to ship. to him the item was now worth nothing, the ten grand to be sunk into his next project designing a new rescue boat for hawaiian lifeguards. moving on, moving forward not trapped in some weepy eyed nostalgia essentially wasting time building things for the instant gratification of the undeserving.

when the best craftsmen of our age are wasting their time and energy building faux art objects for the rich then I think that is a symptom that something is pretty wrong. Steve

17

when you are right

you are right.

take the time out

to ride a 60lb gun

every day for two or three months

so you can get an inkling of a clue

on the topic of what to do with a heavy missile.

oh yeah then when you are done

put it under the compost pile

and let it cook[kook] for about twenty years

then sell it.call that imparting

soil to an inannimae oddjet de’ art

it oughta be ridden

arguments are best

fronted by those who wish to construct and finance

fine Q boards and also make

a concerted effort to grok the soul of them as well

by riding them…

it has all been done before…

baron scott ferguson von lunchmeat

made a balsa redwood in the 70’s

rode it everywhere

on this island

h-lei

pakala

majors

and all minor spots inatween

oh yeah finless

sam reid tmplate nose blox tail blox

then left it in the yard

went out to pick it up after a couple years of ignoring

and the bugs and dry and wet

-==== rot,YES ROT…

had to throw it away

AAAUUUUWE

aloha oe

zen master says

plastic gets the ten grand.

hangawall

drop it in sure

but wreck it and it aint no mo

good to any body.

dishes are to break

and cups.

…ambrose…

my grand mo pissed off the inlaws by saving paper plates

they bought the papr plates cause they dint wanna do dishes

thow way boards?

heirloom boards?

when use means wreck

use a plastica.

save the woody for reproduction…

a beautiful wood wallhangie

will beget many plasticos in the minds of

beholding minds…

I wanna ride your board…

I WONT WRECK IT

HONEST

IF I DO I WILL SAY

SORRY>

AND MEAN IT>>>

18

lennox: beautifully expressed. i hear you.

like i said, i’m torn over this debate. i love riding surfboards, even old ‘collectable’ surfboards, that may be worth a penny or two. i’ve ridden several eight-or-nine-out-of-ten singlefins into the ground, & turned them into sub-five-out-of-tens, all with a big appreciative grin on my face, just to enjoy the feeling of exploring the trim & turn characteristics of each board.

& i’ve hung a few surfboards on the wall too, just to enjoy their sheer beauty & potential energy.

i reckon it’s all good. at the end of the day, as much as we esteem them, they’re only surfboards.

19

Hi guys, Lot’s of interesting comments. I appreciate everyone’s point of view.

I wish every one of my boards would get surfed, but it’s really up to the person who buys it. And I have no problem if someone wants to display a board. The guy I made the balsa board for is a good friend of mine, the kind of guy who is there for you when you need help as well as when you have something to celebrate. Solid as a rock, and he surfs. Just not this board. He sees it as a piece of art that he wants to display in a special spot in his house. Although it won’t get surfed, I’m honored that he holds the board in such high esteem.

I understand the debate, but for myself, I see surfboards as both art and functional objects. Either way is fine with me.

Doug