for me, fixing any hollow board is more difficult - its hard to lay a patch over air… not to say it can’t be done, you just have to think about it more.
Weight is one of the keys to performance in my opinion… not only meaning lightweight, but it’s more about getting the appropriate weight for how you want the board to perform. Sound good?
What area of performance has been lacking in the wood boards you’ve tried?
1. Compared to standard PU/PE construction, they're a shitload of work, ergo unsuited for anything other than a "labor of love".
2. Using epoxy is a real hammer when you have to pay for it, and epoxy is so mixture-sensitive, unlike PE resin.
3. Once you've got it down for glassing with UV cure - take an hour to get a lam just so, then drag it into the sun and it's done - anything else seems a utter humbug.
4. Layering on the balsa rails is a hassle and I'm not fond of cork. Buying the balsa is another one. Finding an affordable substitute for balsa is next to impossible, and you pay a penalty in weight/density.
On the plus side, the Giant Squid with its bookmatched veneer, is beautiful,except that the squid itself seems a curiosity and a distraction.
I'd be interested to know what the opinion would be of a wood board that was only marginally higher priced than a PU.
It's really unrealistic that there is a way of beating the current method of machine shapes and UV poly, it's just too refined to challenge.
Performance is the real challenge I know....
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No chance Kit. PU is molded and made easily from relatively cheap raw materials. Wood has to grow over time, harvested, processed, assembled, glued etc etc. From what Ive heard, the closest thing is a Hess. HWS can be simulated using ultralight density esp core and youve been able to make those. Its easier to make, but ride dampened without any resonating hum. Water untrusion is the chigger in the wood pile. Btw, If I had a choice of uni-projects, I'd chose something really epic relating to laminating. There's real opportunity there cuz its all done by hand.
I have been developing wood boards that are comparable to the weight of foam for 5 years now. There are a lot of advantages to wood boards that outweigh the disadvantages (ie time to make/price). My boards use a parabolic frame that eliminate twist in a center stringered board while enhancing spring back and drive out of turns. My frames are very light weight constructed of balsa and a structural cedar honeycomb. These frames weight less that 2 lbs shaped. Poplar or paulownia wood skins are then added making the finished glassed board around 8 lbs (short board).
Wood boards also don't fatigue like foam. Foam has a short life span in terms of flex. Every time you flex a foam board you crush a very fine layer of the deck due to compression forces on the deck side (tension on the bottom). After awhile the deck becomes soft and the foam is tired and will not perform as good anymore. Conversely wood never gets tired since it is a natural fiberous material.
As far as dings go, yes wood boards are harder to repair, but they are also a lot harder to ding. A repair may be more expensive, but you can expect to require a lot less of them compared to EPS or PU.
The materials are also more expensive. Part of the reason foam became some popular was because its cheap and easy to make, easy to shape, and light weight. Wood is a natural product and "Green" (without getting into locally harvested and all that, wood is biodegradable, foam is not).
I am not knocking foam at all though. I still make foam boards as well as wood. But if you are looking for a sustainable board that will last a life time with the proper care, wood is the way to go.
Performance as in "High Performance". There's no way a HWS surfboard can weigh as little as a marginally built EPS board. Weight is (argue aside) probably the most important factor in a surfboard performance. a 8 ft EPS board will weigh 8-9 lbs with fins.
Performance in shape, rail design, flex:
*Wood is stiff, piling it up on the rails 2 inches thick is stiff, baseball bat still, don't care if it's cork, balsa, or maple.
*Rail design, for some reason I've never seen a HWS wood board with good Brewer style rails. Also it seems that the nose is always a bit off. It might be in the way the wood joints up? But I've seen many good balsa boards....so what's up with the HWS?
I think most HWS have fat rails and noses due to the spine and rib construction method. Although I have never tried that way so I don't know for sure. I shape my frames that same way I shape foam, with my hitachi planer so they have the same rails and foils as any foam board.
You'd be amazed how much my balsa frame flexes while I am shaping it. Wood does flex.
Take a look at Danny Hess's boards. He makes high performance wood boards with an EPS core for Dan Malloy. His rails are still 1.5" thick wood.
Don't get me wrong, foam has its place. I am not denying EPS is far lighter than any wood board. I am just trying to make the lightest performance wood boards possible.
Well most Swaylocker's make their boards so many wouldn't by one. They are heavy. From a shaping standpoint foam has mostly uniform density and non-directional structure (no grain). As resinhead alluded to, the structure of the wood products make these transitions abrupt or not well developed. I have seen very nice ones and many that look cobbled together. Like where the deck boards are joined at the nose and tail.
I have been developing wood boards that are comparable to the weight of foam for 5 years now...
making the finished glassed board around 8 lbs (short board).
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Light shortboards weigh 5.5 pounds. An 8 pound shortie is more than 50% heavier than the standard. Im sure there are some advantages to wood board, but lightweight is not one of them.
I had a really good eps board that weighed 6.5 pounds, one session it had a leak and by the end of the session I could barely do the things I normally do with it - I was literally missing waves and sections. Only when I got out of the water and picked up the board I felt something was different - it felt slightly heavier. I thought maybe it was just arm fatigue and my mind was playing tricks on me. When I got home, out of sheer curiosity I weighed the board it was 7.5 pounds. Surfing it felt like a dog, with only a one pound gain. My comfortable limit is 6.5 pounds, anything above that are dogs. Heavier boards are good in bigger and more powerfull surf.
The most significant advantage of wood boards is AESTHETICS, BY FAR!!
I love looking and feeling wood boards, even if its just veneer over foam. There is something earthy and pure about them.
I like wood boards, I just prefer to ride foam, even my compsands, corecell skinned boards feel better than balsa. Balsa felt too sensitive, good for glassy waves, but not for texture or bump. But hey, thats just me.
Price is a biggie too! Hess is getting FOUR FIGURES for his boards. Yikes!!! No thanks, I'll pass!
I think it'l just be a matter of time but it'll always be a niche thing..
The anti-tuna, porpoise saving fanboys will generate interest with the rich hollywood types(already started see the Grain Blog) while associations with companies like Burton/Channel Islands will help with the adoption curve. It's all about marketing more than anything else. Same folks who don't use plastic bags, want to ban styrofoam, drive hybrids will envision a need to also surf an HWS and probably don't shower all than often to save water. Not that any of this is bad but being around along time it just all reminds my of the whole what causes cancer debate..
Hess is still the upper end of the performance spectrum but at $1000-$2000 for a shortboard? Might as well get a carbonfiber Aviso for the same price. You also can get a Brewer shaped hollowed balsa gun for about the same price if you look around.
Here's the current definite example but it'll continue to grow with the new marketing support, just look at the crazy alaia come back strong enough to make Tom Wegener "Shaper of the Year", how ironic that several years ago it was Bert Burger who won that title.
I have an Al Merrick 6'4" full outline thruster that weighs 8lbs, PU and poly resin. A PU fish with gloss coat can weigh around 9-10 lbs. So 8 lbs for an all wood boards seems pretty good to me.
I had a really good eps board that weighed 6.5 pounds, one session it had a leak and by the end of the session I could barely do the things I normally do with it - I was literally missing waves and sections. Only when I got out of the water and picked up the board I felt something was different - it felt slightly heavier. I thought maybe it was just arm fatigue and my mind was playing tricks on me. When I got home, out of sheer curiosity I weighed the board it was 7.5 pounds. Surfing it felt like a dog, with only a one pound gain. My comfortable limit is 6.5 pounds, anything above that are dogs. Heavier boards are good in bigger and more powerfull surf.
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That's a bad analogy to use. You are talking about weight when you should be comparing buoyancy. Water was leaking into your board, which caused both the weight to increase and the buoyancy to decrease. A 1 pound piece of metal will sink, and a 10 pound log of wood will float -- go figure. You replaced low density air with super high density H2O while keeping the volume the same. I remember that I was suprised when my 15 pound 6' 2" chambered balsa board floated me just as good as my EPS/Epoxy board. When building wood boards you usually pump up the volume a little to allow for the buyancy to match the buoyance of a similar board made of foam. The rule of thumb that I have heard others use is to add and extra 1/8" of thickness.
as a hollow wood surfboard builder, making traditional longboards, i will say that if you are looking for a wood board, all wood that is, no foam! surfboard, you shouldn’t be looking for something high performance and radical. If you want 3+ fins and tripple concaves and are trying to surf the wave like it’s a skatepark, ride a foamy. Surfing like that would be a disgrace to the 50-100 year old tree you are riding!
