Mebbe you misunderstood, it can be tricky to understand me when I’ve got my tongue in my cheek!
With the population doubled in my lifetime (7.2 Billion and counting), my finite optimism resource is running low, may I borrow some of yours?
3 billion to 6.0 billion from 1960 to 2000. 6 billion to…
If the resources – natural, organic or otherwise – are thoroughly consumed, eco-friendly processes/methods and technology will not help.
Eco-friendly died with the advent of fire for heating, cooking, manufacturing…
Conversely, taking no action is not a solution. The future is created by the actions and inactions of the present.
Certainly, some alternatives are better than others. If it is important to the individual, some options (e.g. HWS) might be better than others.
No…grow yer own…it’s free.
I don’t really understand a lot about this subject but for what I’ve heard Paulownia HWS is the greenest it can get. Agave HWS is also an option because the tree dies when it blossoms (the flower is the wood) so you’re taking the wood of a dead plant. If well built it doesn’t need fiberglass (just oil, linseed p.e.). Regarding the glue you could try Cutler’s resin, a mix of pine sap with beeswax. It’s used to glue metal to wood in the grip part of knifes. I’m not sure if it’s really resistant but it probably is.
I’m actually going to plant right now some paulownia seeds I took from a nearby tree, hopefully in 5 or more years I’ll have some beautiful trees 
I would consult with some of the people that Oneula
mentioned. All are good wood workers with some solid info on building wood boards. Also check out some Boat Building sites. Maybe amature boat builders use very old methods and materials that are orgainic and can be applied to wood surfboard building. There is a foam that is organic. It is grown from a fungus. Ford Motor company uses some in there cars and trucks.
I forgot to mention what BSD said. Linseed oil forms a natural polymer that has been used as a wood sealer for years. I believe Tom Wegener uses linseed oil to seal his hollow paulownia surfboards.
Of course, we come back to how green. Is the linseed oil pressed or solvent extracted? How is the paulownia produced, harvested, milled, shipped…
There’s a very important thing that everysurfer said: the greenest board is the one that lasts longer. It doesn’t make any sense to make a surfboard (even if it’s impact is lesser that a PU board) that will not last. That is why HWS is the greenest imo.
There is also an interesting project about recycling wine corks, gluing them with Cutler’s Resin, natural fiber (I don’t know what) and bio resin (don’t know what is used here as well). See http://richpeoplethings.org. Here in Portugal I can easily get the corks needed because we are big wine drinkers 
I’ll bet you that we will see biodegradable fiberglass cloth, 100% bio-derived epoxy, and 100% natural surfwax take center stage within 5 years. These materials will be equal or better in short-term performance and environmentally sound in the long-term.
Changing the consumer mindset and/or bad habits is the name of the game. The forthcoming 12-13 billion people on this planet will live very differently from how we do today.
Had a quick look at cutler’s resin. Seems to be worth investigating.
Just a quick comment on linseed oil. For some people it can be very toxic. Some will have an immediate reaction such as a rash. For Others it will take some time for health issues to develop.
I do a lot of painting with Oil Paints and have read the warnings of a lot of the binders. color and others agents used in Oil Painting it’s best to wear gloves and work in a well ventilated place.
Linseed oil is also called flaxseed oil and sold as a nutritional supplement – a source of omega 3 fatty acids (oil) for cardiovascular health. I take a capsule of food grade flaxseed/linseed oil every other day. Flaxseed is also used in cooking.
ok. I’m With the idea that it’s not possible unless you want something that is way too heAvy. I’ve done a couple of balsa boards with offcuts from Eden grown trees. They obviously got the shipping carbon footprint down some but i lammed them with poly…hmmmm…undid all the good…hollow wood is defo less of an impact but you need to use some toxic glue to make it work. I would still go with that and an oiled finish but commit to only ever taking it to the beach by push bike. That will give you your biggest saving in carbon than anything you do in the build… Cheers rich
Seems ironic that something as natural as linseed could be toxic. I realise this whole issue requires a lot of thought. Maybe is better to try and be more eco friendly that 100% eco friendly
I agree with this line of thinking. The greenest board is the one that never gets built because it’s predecessor is still serving its purpose.
With that said, some materials and build processes use more resources (not just carbon energy) and involve more waste than others. If you can substitute a layer of hemp for a couple layers of 4oz fiberglass and limit your fiberglass to just the outer layer that could be a little greener. If you use a process that requires less machine sanding that could be an improvement. If you use a shaping process that requires less energy that could be an improvement.
But in context and as others have said, the mode of transportation most people use to get that board down to the surf probably has a far larger effect on the environmental and resource footprint of that suf session than the net savings between the greenest vs dirtiest board process you can imagine. And that’s if they never travel to surf.
kayu wrote:The reality is , buying a well built local board is about as green as it gets …built it yourself , even better…mass produced imports have a massive carbon footprint , regardless of the materials used to make them.
I agree with this line of thinking. The greenest board is the one that never gets built because it’s predecessor is still serving its purpose. Or, a greenie can rehab used boards, the impact for which has already occurred.
With that said, some materials and build processes use more resources (not just carbon energy) and involve more waste than others. If you can substitute a layer of hemp for a couple layers of 4oz fiberglass and limit your fiberglass to just the outer layer that could be a little greener. If you use a process that requires less machine sanding that could be an improvement. If you use a shaping process that requires less energy that could be an improvement.
But in context and as others have said, the mode of transportation most people use to get that board down to the surf probably has a far larger effect on the environmental and resource footprint of that suf session than the net savings between the greenest vs dirtiest board process you can imagine. And that’s if they never travel to surf.
Looks like there’s a lot of interesting input in here - but here’s a couple things nobody mentioned:
I wouldn’t ever reccomend chambering Paulownia - I could be mistaken, but it was my understanding that the wood is already so light and soft that chambering it would lead to some structural issues… maybe I’m thinking of a different wood becase I’m speaking off hearsay not experience there…
IF you want a 100% eco friendly board, you’re only going to achieve that by hand-cutting a redwood tree that you traveled back in time to plan for this specidic purpose, hand-shaping it using rocks, and then sealing it with kukui nut oil and no kind of fiberglass or cloth - And even then you’re still making a small impact… Trying to achieve “100% eco friendly” is a futile effort in an industry that relies so heavily on power tools to create its products.
That said, his goal should simply be to make it as “eco as possible” - assigning percentages to things like this only serves to make you look like an asshat later when some more-environmentalist-than-thou person comes around and calls you out for using a planer brand that caused the extinction of the white-spotted bumble ant or something like that.
If you really want sustainable, build Agave. You harvest the dry stalks yourself, you mill the stalks yourself, glue them up into a blank yourself, shape them yourself, and then when it comes time to encapsulate, you can chose things like bamboo fiber cloth over fiberglass and some Super Sap or soemthing bio-friendly as the resin. Agave is maybe the most sustainable material in the surf industry… And possibly the most beautiful.
…it’s also the biggest pain in the ass. So far I’ve been working on mine going on 4-5 months now and it’s still just ready to be glued up into a blank (most of that is due to scheduling issues, but there’s lots of time-intensive steps involved, especially on the first go-around)
Do you really need to glass a HWS? I’ve seen a number of projects that weren’t glassed. I’m currently building a skimboard with wood leftovers and I’m not thinking about glassing it.
You can buy “organic” linseed/flaxseed oil on-line for human consumption/ingestion and sealing wood cutting blocks for food, non-toxic. That should be about as green as you are going to get. The oil is cold-pressed rather than solvent-extracted. Periodic re-sealing with linseed/flaxseed oil is needed.
I suspect toxicity for some linseed oil products is related to it being extracted using solvents.
As I mastered my process for making the boards and the paulownia suppliers were getting better at milling the wood, I found that I did not have to glass the boards any more. I could make a hollow water tight board that did not need a coat of fibreglass to keep the water out. I sealed the wood with linseed oil.
Tom Wegener does not.
Let us not forget the absolute importance of the surfboards performance. What good is a 100% eco-friendly surfboard if it weighs a ton and rides like crap? It’s a complicated world and many variables must be balanced and weighed agaist each other in order to make the best possible solution.