hi big Daz [‘dower’] …
just wondering if work has started on it yet ?
…I’d like to see some photos of it [when you do start building it], please !!
cheers mate !
ben
Hey chips !
i have to come up with a whole new method of construction, chips. i’ve been searching the archives and there’s no info on concrete surfboards, believe it or not.
And then I’m not sure how to give it a soul. And should I vacuum bag it ? And if I vacuum bag it will I be sucking the soul out of it ?
And if I make it hollow, will it be souless. And worse than having no soul, what if its a reflection of me ? It might end up being another “Frankenboard”…
impregnate some cardboard or fiberglass in cement and wrap around a skeleton. but honestly this a dumb idea, uness you are doing it for shits and giggles.it would crack really easily not to mention the flex patterns would be bad, heavy like to heavy so honestly give it a shot but i don’t think it will be worth yur troubles
Don’t forget concrete leaks water, so you gotta waterseal the frickin mess too…
I’m sure it could be done, and I’m sure it would catch and ride waves. No groundbreaking performance characteristics, but a ride nonetheless.
I remember seeing some guys on tv making a concrete and chicken-wire hang glider wing, and yes, they flew it. Again, no high performance thermaling, but it flew down the slope they were on.
There is a hollow concrete canoe contest at some New England engineering schools. They race down the Charles River in Boston MA… only one not to sink wins
I found a company that specializes in concrete blanks, they’ve got loads of them! They don’t sell the blocks pre-lamanated, but it should not be much different than making a timber board. I’d recommend spot gluing the blocks together, then taking the hand plane to it. After about 15 years of grinding away, you could break it apart, chamber it, and glue it back up with an epoxy based glue. Dose anyone want to recommend a glassing secdual?
Great idea. No need for much nose rocker or worries about pearling, as the board will likely change the shape of the wave it’s riding or just barrel through it. Probably no lip or air moves, but strong knees needed for those pivot turns. Who says there is nothing new in surfboard technology? Do they ship these blanks three to a box?
I think you can buy them individually, Shipping would proably be a lot, best just to pick them up.
Cheers,
Austin
A good friend of mine built a house out of a concrete and foam block. You could cut it with a hand saw. I’ll have to ask what the product was. The stuff he used made 20-24" thick exterior walls. You stacked it and filled it with concrete. It also had vertical steel reinforcement.
Should be easy enough to shape into a board. Would that qualify as a concrete surfboard?
Well, It should float,
but if that won’t work we could attach a 350 Hp motor to it. That should be enough to get it moving.
Or we could settle for one of these, but its a little small.
that’s the spirit rhino !!!
I must find that picture of the concrete canoes …woodmaven posted it to me when he heard of the project !
ben
The product is most likely PERFORM WALL.
In the PNW it’s called Rastra…
I did finish work on a house built with that stuff…It was like trying to nail trim onto cheese…
Be easy to duck dive. Mike
You may laugh, BUT:
When I was a youngster (last century, to say the least) I was given an old, severely battered early Barland longboard. We (a friend and I) started to rip the old fiberglass with plans of reshaping that thing into something shorter and lighter.
And I swear that the skeg (I wouldn’t call that a fin) was made out of concrete.
But then the fiberglass laps were STAPPLED into the rails, too…
Oh, yes, we have come a long way…
Balsa,
If the board you are talking about was a BURLAND, it was made in La Jolla, Ca. in 1958, and was shaped by Wayne Land. I still have the original BURLAND template that was given to me in Sept.'58 by Wayne when he closed the shop and went to the Islands for the winter surf on the North Shore. Too bad about the board, you had your hands on a valuable treasure. My first surfboard was a board I shaped, but my first “real surfboard” (my 2nd) was shaped for me by Wayne. I would love to find a BURLAND surfboard. I consider them to be as collectable as a SIMMONS, though for a different reason than the historic significance of Bob Simmons.
Bill, fortunately it was no BURLAND but BARLAND/ROTT surfboard. Michel BARLAND was one of surfing (and surfboards building) pioneer here in France in the early 60’s and became famous some years later for inventing (and operating) the first digitally controlled shaping machine.
Michel BARLAND was a mechanical engineer and Jacky ROTT a cabinet maker. They joined forces to set up the first french surfboard factory, experimenting with polyurethane foam at a time when even those who were actually producing foaming systems didn’t know much about them… Later, Barland was able to blow Clark Foam blanks under licence for his own factory and he would eventually agree to sell rejects to young would-be shapers in the 70’s. That’s how I really got into it: until then, the few boards I had made were shaped out of either balsa or insulation foam blocks… We french shapers owe a lot to Michel BARLAND who paved the way for the next generations. A number of great shapers including Bob COOPER, Mike DIFFENDERFER, Gary LINDEN, Donald TAKAYAMA have made boards at BARLAND’s. The man himself died some years ago and one of his sons, Philippe, is now in charge of the factory.
And, although that old log was a BARLAND and not a BURLAND, it still would be worth some money today. But admitedly less than a BURLAND…
Balsa,
An interesting sidebar to the name similarity is that in 1958 Diff was riding a Burland surfboard shaped by Wayne Land. This was many years before Diff began shaping boards himself.