Is it possible to build a board from pine wood, and then extreme-chamber it to reduce it’s weight? I saw a web page where a guy says he chambers a balsa board after shaping it. is it possible? how do you unglue the planks after the shaping?
I’ve been thinking in building a board from solid wood, but here in mexico is impossible to find balsa. so i was thinking in chambered pine. is it gonna be too heavy? good idea, bad idea? what do you think swaylockians? Jack.
Is it possible to build a board from pine wood, and then extreme-chamber it to reduce it’s weight? I saw a web page where a guy says he chambers a balsa board after shaping it. is it possible? how do you unglue the planks after the shaping?
I’ve been thinking in building a board from solid wood, but here in mexico is impossible to find balsa. so i was thinking in chambered pine. is it gonna be too heavy? good idea, bad idea? what do you think swaylockians? Jack.
‘Hicksy’s’ hollow wood stubbie [‘H.W.S’] has a pine deck [?and bottom ?] …looks nice…very, V-E-R-Y nice…
In fact, I photographed it, and Gray Murdoch’s wood fish and 6’9" today [film only half finished, so far]
ben
[SEE: glassing hollow wooden boards thread for info / photos…]
I’m talking about using solid wood, not plywood. in fact i’ve built plywood 3 HW, but im thinking in something different: several pieces of pine to build a blank, shape it and then chambering it. Jack.
oh right, sorry, I misunderstood…
let us know how you go J, I’d love to see photos of THAT process… maybe you could do a thread ‘making solid wooden boards’ ?
good luck with it…sounds cool !!
ben
First, i want to know if it’s a good idea. i dont want to waste my money and time and end with an unrideable board. i have no space for a wallhanger. Any thoughts or comments? Jack.
You don’t “unglue” the planks. You cut the board apart after shaping it close to the final shape, hollow it out (chambering), glue the planks back together, either with or without stringers, and then do a final shaping. Needless to say, a HELLUVALOTTA work, and it is already a lot more work shaping a solid balsa board than a regular foam board (figure about a 10:1 ratio!).
Could you make such a board out of pine? I don’t see why not. Wood is wood is wood is…
Of course, pine is heavier and denser than balsa, and will be a bit tougher to cut, sand, etc. But still, it should make a decent ride if that is all you have available.
Why not try working on a smaller scale, say a paipo size board, to begin with, and see how that goes? That will give you an idea of how to go about it, the challenges, pitfalls, etc., as well as how a pine wood board will turn out.
What part of Mexico are you in? Balsa grows wild in tropical South America. Perhaps it is also growing in Mexico or some Central American countries closeby!
thank you guys! i’ll start this project soon and keep you posted about it’s progress. i live in tampico, in the gulf coast, but in a few months i’ll be living near guatemala. maybe there i can find some balsa, but want to try first with pine wood. about the size, a paipo, nope, maybe an spoon, but is too early to decide. Jack.
If you plan on chambering, as you assemble the wood keep drawing the outline on it. When it come time to glue it up, use only drops of glue about 2-3’ apart, holding the last drops away from the outline about 4-5". his keeps from snapping off the tips of the wood where it exits the planshape. Do the COMPLETE shape, down to where you would start to sand, the break the board apart along the seams. Sometime it comes aprt easily, othertimes a rubber mallet and a backing block to beat on. With pine it sounds a little heavy to easily muscle aroung, but I have carpeted floors in my shaping room and hold the board by the tail and slap it on the floor to get it apart. After that it is just a matter of hours and hours of careful routing and gluing it back together with inner tube strips, as curved surfaces don’t like bar clamps digging into them
J,
I have also considered doing this for mostly the same reason as youself (cost too). Would be great to hear how you go. I did some rough calculations for weight based on a 6’ x 20" x 3" fish style board. Based on a pine wood density of 500 kg/m3 I came up with the following figures.
For a “shell” thickness of 20mm and supporting beams every foot - 20 kg (44lb)
For a “shell” thickness of 10mm and supporting beams every foot - 10 kg (22lb)
For a “shell” thickness of 5mm and supporting beams every foot - 6 kg (13lb)
I would be very interested to hear how yours turns out weight wise given your “shell” thickness.
I guess once you have chambered all your pieces you can weigh it all before you glue it together again so you will know whether you need to cut some more out. I don’t know how thin you could go on the “shell” but I would think that it should be a fair bit thinner than if you were using balsa seeing as pine is a bit stronger. Somewhere around 6-8 mm maybe (if your timber is consistent and you can cut accurately enough). I am sure there are wiser heads than mine here however when it comes to this sort of thing. Good Luck.
i was thinking in a shell thickness of 5 mm. i want an egg shape, in the range of 6’4’’ - 6’6’'. wanna go lighter than my previous board (20 lbs). does anybody can make a template donation to me? Jack.
RDM wrote: “I don’t know how thin you could go on the “shell” but I would think that it should be a fair bit thinner than if you were using balsa seeing as pine is a bit stronger.”
Balsa has absolutely the best strength to weight ratios of all woods, better than pine, so this statement is a bit misleading.
In other words, although you might be able to make the pine shell thinner, that would not necessariy translate into lighter (at a comparable level of strength).
I think pine(and different woods within the pine family) comes in very different qualities, some of which are REALLY soft(not as soft as balsa though). There maye be some oddities with the grain around knots and so on which weaken the wood alot, so be very careful with the selection of wood when you buy. Also there can be sort of sap filled channels in the wood which may be really annoying. Personally if I was to do a project like that I would try spruce but that’s just because I’m more familiar with it.
regards,
Håvard
Jim - spruce, agave or century plant?
I don’t chamber any agave/cactus boards, it just doesn’t have the integrity to hold up if hollowed. For the pine, a shell of just over 1/8", if glassed with epoxy, which I think would be the better choice for bonding. Anyway, it will still come out heavier than balsa
mi first balsa. i by the blank in costa rica and send it too europe with DHL. Cut it, chamber, end glue together with an extra stringer. Lamination is uv-resin.The fin is cedar with pine
Mmm a mistake; i try to make mi profile
Jim
I have watched your video and would like to thank you for your insight and instruction. I cringe at the thought of battering a near-complete balsa board in order to hollow it out, but I’ll follow your advice on this unless you can reccomend a more practical alternative. I hope that I can trouble you with a few questions:
What is the minimum amount of carpentry equipment one can use to build a balsa board (excluding shaping tools such as planers, ect.) If a band saw is out of the budget,(the cheapest start at $800) is there some cheaper hand held saw that would be practical for cutting out rocker curves? is balsa soft enough that the whole thing could be done with a hand saw? (my carpentry experience is limited to cutting plywood hurricane shutters for my home, and I can probably count my handyman projects around the house on one hand, but I am absolutely inspired by the beauty of wood boards and am determined to make one) My initial goal is simplicity and time is really no object.
I understand that balsa boards tend to be heavier than conventional boards, but are potentially much faster. I would like to build a longboard for mushy Texas waves, and I currently ride a 9’0x2.75x23.75 with fairly hard rails that seem about 60/40, that is very effective. Is it reasonable to try to approximate the same shape and dimensions or should I adjust my approach due to the use of heavier materials? Is balsa practical in the hybrid range (7’0 to low 8 foot) for surfing mush or does its weight mandate a bigger shape?
With respect,
David Ryan
David - I’m not Jim and would never deign to be. But seriously, for Texas, and for limited experience with, & tools for, wood - you might want to follow the Roy Stewart plans. Search for Tom Bloke & a balsa board by Austin.
Reason being, all the cuts are flat. You can buy the wood milled to the right dimensions (Lonestar balsa is in Texas) and cut the ends, glue, and clamp. Cutting along the grain of any wood is harder than across it; along the grain of balsa tends to produce fibrous fuzz that’s best at clogging saw teeth and making you sneeze. If you’re working with anything less than serious power tools, crosscutting is your best option. And every scratch will look terrible under even the best glass job. Trust me, Jim does the good ones, but I’ve done the bad ones 
Roy’s build method has lots of merit. Don’t overlook it just because he has a ZZ Top beard and talks about hoop fins. Tell him what you want to do with it and he’s a very resourceful guy - I’m sure he can modify a design to work for where you live. If that works out well, finagle a visit to Richard Mc’s shop and take it from there.
Besides, how cool would it be to have a PowerSurfboards 11’ super pintail on both sides of the world?
Hey Jack, how’s things?
I’ve thought about this some time back for the same reasons, here in England all you can get easilly is pine and MDF. As Benny says, the Roy Stewart thing may be worth considering, though this might end up a bit heavier than chambering.
I’m going home to give this some proper consideration.
Oh, but you do unglue it! To cut the board apart after shaping will cause you to lose a lot of width due to kerf width. I spot glue for chambered bopards and I mean spot glue, only a drop of glue every 2 feet or so. Even at times, I have a difficult time breaking the glue with so few spots. Channin insisted on helping me with his wood boards and would use a 4" brush to “spot glue”, I had to take a thin kerf saw to cut the glue, what a bitch that was.
After that, I glued his blanks when he wasn’t around, it save me hours of headache! SPOT GLUE ONLY
