well, my son’s 20th birthday was coming and he had been riding his $8 marine plywood alaia board the infamous “sliver of death”. i wanted to make him something better so with A LOT of help from swaylocks legend “motif” we built a 7’7" pine alaia. we based it off motif’s wegener but freestyled a good bit too. we started with a 16’ 1’’ x 8" of very old dry pine that had been in motif’s shop since dinosaurs roamed the earth. cut into two 8’ and then ripped one 8’ into 2 1"x 4"s. motif glued it together with the 1" x 8" as the center piece and the 1’’ x 4"s as the outriggers. cool. cut it out, gave the rails some grace and foil, a bit of hull in the nose and a double concave into a vee in the tail. 60 grit sand paper is my friend. filled the knots with bee’s wax, ten coats of linseed oil later and it is ready to rock. what did i learn? this is so cool. not much waste, rainy day fun with motif, with no rainy day at home there was a lot of saw dust on the front porch (sorry hon!) and almost no petro chemicals. the main thing i learned is it is great to have friends with a cabinet shop and crazy mad wood working skills. thanks to brian and everyone who shares their experience so freely on swaylock.
I’m curious how the bottom contour differs from the top contour, if much at all? Also the what looks like a 1" line drawn on the cut out of the blank, is that your rail band that you just round off with a belt sander or something? Any chance for some dims on that 7’6"?
Really cool, i bet your son is amped on that board.
the top is flat as the boards it was made from. the bottom has double concave in the last 18" or so of the tail and a subtle v. the lines on the blank were the wegener template and an inch added all 'round. yes, our boy was very very pleased with his gift. he is a pretty big guy but still a very nimble surfer, i’m sure he’ll have some fun on it. his only complaint was that he didn’t get to make it with me. this summer we’ll make another one or two- why not! all the materials- wood, linseed oil, sandpaper still cost less than a pu or eps plank. i would like one for prone riding.
yeah,glue??? and has the board been in the water??? 10 coats of linseed oil, did you cut it with anything?? i`m about to hopefully finish mine this week??? and really not sure what to seal it with. just wondering if the board has been in the water and has it delamned at ll? nice board!!
glued with epoxy. the board has not been in the water yet. i did not cut the boiled inseed oil with anything- we will see what happens! delam isn’t the issue- soaking up water might be. if my son is happy with the shape or wants to preserve it as is we can put spar vanish on it. other folks use just linseed oil and are happy. we will see- and report back. maybe i can convince my boy to post a report after he rides it a bit- he has a sways account good luck with yours-!
I ride mine prone too, and it is a fanttastic ride! The duckdiving is nice too, and cathing waves with hardly any float is allright with swimfins indeed Prone to the bone!
i used cheap second hand plywood to build mine, so i added some ‘rails’ that work as fins and stringers at the same time to keep the warping of the wood undr control.
The paint does work as a sealer, but most of the time i use 3 or 4 coats of linseed oil based varnish. That gives the boarda nice and slick surface too.
Here are some of my favourite other boards: a pintail alaia (for prone use), a XXL-size skull handboard, and a biiiiiiig paipo board for the small summer waves:
here is a close up of the smallwave board (i mean REALLY small waves), i finished this one in boiled linseed oil:
no- i can’t make it. big steiny (who used to be little steiny) will be there with his friends- he should be jolly, he finishes finals that day. my name on the poster? hmmmmmm, crazy!
Prone to the bone!
