I’d like to order some paulownia wood to make a blank. It comes in lengths up to 8 feet, and it comes in widths up to 6 inches. How should i order the wood in order to glue up a blank? Thanks for the help. Or conversely, does anyone on the west coast make paulownia blanks?
Why not start with the master? Here’s Tom Wegener’s info.
<span style="font-size:6px"><span style="font-weight:bold">Tom Wegener</span></span> <span style="font-weight:bold"><span style="font-size:6px">Wegener Surfboards</span></span> <span style="font-size:6px"><span style="font-style:italic">34 Nandroya Road</span></span> <span style="font-size:6px"><span style="font-style:italic">Cooroy, Qld. 4563 Australia</span></span> <span style="font-size:6px">Ph. 61 7 5442 6924</span> <a href="mailto:%20Wegener@Universal.net.au" class="bb-url"><span style="font-size:6px">Wegener@Universal.net.au</span></a>
You state that it comes in 8’ lengths and 6" widths, so that’s exactly how you should order it in order to glue up a blank. Four 6" widths glued together will give you a 24" wide x 8’ blank. If you wish to make a board longer than 8’, you’ll buy an additional board or two and use either a traditional scarf joint or stagger and overlap the the sides of the pieces and butt end to end when glueing up (like a brick wall).
Don’t know what woodworking experience you have, but the most professional results will be achieved by running each piece through a jointer to get perfect flat sides to glue edge to edge. Add stringers if you desire between any pieces. If you don’t have a jointer, any woodworking shop could probably run them for you for a min. hourly rate (shouldn’t take 30 minutes or so, depending on any saw ripping, etc.). If you’re going to chamber (hollow out) the wood for weight, you’ll add another chapter to this book.
Don’t be overwhelmed though, it’s all do-able. Take your time, learn the process first if you don’t already have it down. Do it right and you’ll be proud of it. Go for it and enjoy the ride!
Tom makes nice boards and has a lot to say about design, etc. He’s a great guy, a great surfer, and knows his stuff. You won’t find any “how to” in his site, but you’ll possibly get some inspiration. Check out his site at:
http://www.tomwegenersurfboards.com/index.htm
My site has some “process” info on balsa boards that may help a bit (go to wave riding collection):
Yeah, Tom’s boards are beautiful. I was inspired by seeing them both on his site and in the movie Sprout. I have minimal woodworking experience, like one semester of woodshop and some projects here and there. My dad has been working with wood since he was a kid, as his dad built homes around Southern California in the fifties and sixties, and my dad helped out and still does lot’s of woodworking today. So he’ll be able to help me put it all together, and from there I can shape it. How thick should the boards be. It seems like i’ll probably have to carve rocker into them…But i want to build either a fish, traditional longboard, or an eggy deal, so I guess I won’t need too much rocker. Is it best to cut the rocker into the planks, or to shape in the rocker after all the planks have been glued up? Thanks guys.
Bandsaw the rocker profile into each plank prior to glue-up (a couploe of pics in my site). I owe much of what I initially learned about wood board building to Jim Phillips.
Thanks Richard…can’t wait to get started.
where can you order this wood and what’s the cost, roughly?
My email isn’t working so I haven’t contacted them yet, but here’s the site about the wood. I might give them a call tomorrow if I can’t fix my email account, and I’ll post what I found out. But here’s the link if you want to reference it yourself.
RichardMc,
I just had a look at your site. Great work!
Hmm. Nice looking but the stuff seems kind of heavy compared to balsa, 14 to 19 pounds/cubic foot. Would probably be better as veneer, hollow, or chambered than as a solid board. (unless you’re building a tow-in board).
Looks pretty pricey too. If you get a quote for your lumber can you post it here? thanks,
Japanese use of Paulownia can be traced back to A.D. 200. A tradition was developed that when a family had a daughter they would plant a Paulownia tree. When she married the tree would be cut down and made into her wedding chest. They also believed that when the tree was planted close to the house that the Pheonix would come and bring them good luck.
China has historically been the largest grower of Paulownia. They use the wood for making furniture, housing construction, toys, plywood, musical instruments and for packaging.
The tree made its way to the United States in the mid 1800s. Paulownia seed was used as packaging material for delicate porcelain dishes on their journey across the Pacific. Once unpacked, the tiny wind blown seeds became naturalized throughout the eastern states.
Since the 1970s Japan has not been able to grow enough Paulownia to meet its high demand. They have a great appreciation for the appearance of the wood and most Japanese households have at least one piece of furniture made out of Paulownia. OnceAmericans became aware of the Japanese demand, trees growing in the wild were harvested and sold at great prices. Even today, the Japanese are the largest buyers of old growth Paulownia.
Fast growth varieties of Paulownia were cloned to produce a light, strong wood that could be harvested in about 10 years. These trees are now produced from tissue cultures and are grown in well-maintained plantations. These special tree farms are predominating in the Orient.
China alone has 1.2 billion Paulownia trees growing. Promising investment programs have been created by innovative companies like Kiri Park in Australia. Large Paulownia plants are replacing diminishing natural hardwood like Western Red Cedar. Aggressive planting programs have also been established in North, South and Central America.
During the 1990s many Paulownia Plantations were established primarily in the mid-Atlantic and southeastern United States. These Plantations are now ready to harvest the high quality lightweight wood. The faster growing Paulownia is an affordable alternative to the increasingly rare naturally growing variety. Paulownia can also be used as an alternative to Balsa, Maranti and Basswood.
You can check out the ‘Making Your Own Balsa Blank’ thread on Swaylocks to see how I cut rocker into the individual planks (on my 5’6" Fish) before they were glued up into a complete blank. Doing it this way saves time, effort, and materials (the cut pieces can be used in another project).
You don’t say how thick the Paulownia planks are/will be. This will determine the maximum amount of rocker available to you in your finished board. I think I started out with a 3 1/2" blank and the planks already had a slight bit of rocker cut into them. As you will see in the finished board (shown at the end of the thread), the rocker in the finished board was quite satisfactory.
When I bought my balsa (at Frost Hardwoods) I looked at basswood as an alternative to balsa. However, it was quite heavy and dense and was just as expensive as balsa (balsa was $5.80 a board foot, basswood was $5.72 a board foot). So basswood is/was not something I would make an entire board out of (but it might be nice as a stringer). On the other hand, I don’t see the necessity for a stringer in a short wooden (e.g., balsa) board, since strength is not an issue and stringers just add extra weight (which is an issue).
Another thing I was thinkin,it seems very possible to grow some of my own paulownia sometime in the future. Ala Tom Wegener. What a feeling that would bring to turn a seedling into a tree into a surfboard…I really appreciate everyone’s input. Extremely helpful and encouraging. Thanks guys.
Please report back if you actually get any wood out them. They all seemed nice, but they didn’t seem to have the goods. Got tired of dealing with them.
we are an PU foam blank factory in China specializing in the R&D of polyurethane product. We introduced the manufacturing technology of polyurethane surfboard blanks completely from Australia, with unique technique , high standard and strict quality control. The product is characterized by its high strength,dense structure, ideal extensity and is easy to be shaped.
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we are an PU foam blank factory in China specializing in the R&D of polyurethane product. We introduced the manufacturing technology of polyurethane surfboard blanks completely from Australia, with unique technique , high standard and strict quality control. The product is characterized by its high strength,dense structure, ideal extensity and is easy to be shaped.
[/quote]
How much are your Paulownia blanks? :)
First, our blanks are made of polyurethane and EPS rather than Paulownia. If you need any more imformation, you can contact me by my email: meteor999@gmail.com . Thanks for your attention,buddy.
Hey Brett,
I just bought some paulownia here on the East coast. 8/4 stock was $4 bd. foot. Every area is different when it comes to wood supply. Try to contact some of your local woodworkers to ask whats up in your area to see where you can get stuff. I used to live in an area where there were several wholesale suppliers I could walk in and buy just about anything I needed. Where I'm at now there is little or no availability of local suppliers. So I use a good supplier in another state who ships me wood reasonably. Some cabinet shops and woodworkers will order what you need for 10% fee. Find one that surfs and he'll probably do it for nothing. You can get longer lengths as well. Sometimes you will pay a little more to specify width or length.
Try laying out a sample rocker on some ply,cardboard whatever, so you can see the drops you will have available from say 6" wide boards. You may be able to use them on the outside rail pieces. And if you don't mind you can join other short drops staggered to make a few extra pieces. That can make for a wide perpendicular glue line sometimes though which is distracting.
Plenty of information on chambered paulownia at the Tree to Sea wooden surfboards site.