Swied,
I usually go thinner for my wood boards, 1/4" to 1/2" depending on shape, since air is more bouyant than foam.
A wood board can be performance orientated. I shape single to double concaves, vees, spiral vees, belly, or whatever into my wood boards same as foam. They ride just as responsive and quick as my foam boards.
My favorite but suddenly water-logged board didnt respond to my input (quick pumping rail to rail action) that I am accustomed to. I'm hyper sensitive to board response and light boards do this very well. I was able to drain the board of its water using light compressed air and surf it again and got the response back I was so familiar with.
It had nothing to do with buoyancy. Sorry that I didnt explain the issue in more detail.
Oneula's photos clearly show just how much more BEAUTIFUL wood boards are. Eye Candy for sure...thanks for that.
Its a shame such beautiful boards need a big thick schmear of wax snot in order to surf them.
Veneer + Foam (WMD) is the best of all worlds. A few years ago, I made a beautiful bamboo skinned 6'6 semigun that I was planning to take to Mex but never went. So now it hangs on the wall in the busiest room in the house. Beautiful, tough as nails, and only 6.2 pounds.
Oneula your sooooo right about marketing!
Is that grain surfboard standing in front of a surfshop or a starbucks? Looks like starbucks dude!
Is that a surfboard or a coffee table?
Roy...first off I understand wood, I was by trade a furniture maker of high end custom pieces, I spent years learning every aspect of wood working, repair, replication, restoration... I still make items for selected clients, so please don't get me mixed up with some one who puts together a few planks crosswise and calls it a surfboard. I don't understand much, but one thing i do understand is wood...........by the way, how's that fin reattachment going on the Pipeliner? do you think the 2009/2010 is going to be the one?
Now as for the HWS...Meaning: Hollow, Wood, Surfboard. Please don't get a foam core EPS with a wood veneer in the same boat as an HWS. If thats the case then the Timberflex construction will blow away a HESS surfboard. Were talking about Hollow Wood Surfboards....And I still hold the line on my observations, i.e., Heavy , Funky, Beautiful... Greenpeace!!
One last thing, There is a place for Heavy and Funky, and there is a big market for Heavy & funky...That is old retro 60 style, Retro Fish style etc, etc. Surfing is personal.
well
hollow wooden boards are beautiful, but i cant ride pipe with em?
seriously, for me, it is a combination of things
first off, money. If i were rich, i-d have any board available… from aviso to brewer to fellow swaylockian shapes,
where i surf—> holland [for now] such a board does not do my waves justice, or vice versa. surfing a fast and short shorebreak wave with a -heavy- log, na thanks
Performance, possibly? i have never surfed one, so i cant really claim anything substantial here. But, hws are heavy, and for average waves, heavy is not my preference, light is. but then again, on a long pointbreak, after heavy drinking the night before, yes, hws would be perfect i think, groovy.
the build–> even though hws have come a long way, they are still far more complicated to build myself than any other shape that does well in my country… so that would be a consideration too
+++
As far as service goes, i remember a thread by pj getting thrashed for no reason, and being a gentlemen pur sang, so service is not an objection to buy one from him…
Beautiful boards.
more sustainable then say standard pupee.
dont know more right now.
w
double post sorry
Resinhead,
I’m more than happy to hear your worst criticisms of wood boards, thats the idea!
By finding out what wrong I have some direction for my efforts…
I hope you guys laugh me out of the park for setting such high targets 
It’ll give me the motivation to prove yas wrong! hahaha
Wout,
The build method is something I really want to concentrate on.
I’m hoping to be able to take a BoardCad or Aku file and produce a board that is within 1mm tolerance of the computer design.
Without a CNC of course
“on a long pointbreak, after heavy drinking the night before, yes, hws would be perfect i think, groovy”
I hear ya on that one mate! Hahahahahahaha
my thinking on HWS is trying to find a way to reduce weight and deal with water intrusion.
after looking at those old solomon boards i started thinking why not laminate both side of a 1" panel of blue dow with a sheet of the woven bamboo veneer and then cut out on a band saw the internal; rib structure. The 1" thick ribs wwould provide plenty of waterproofed support for a fraction of the weight
seems to me that most of the strength of a HWS comes from it 1/4" thick skins and solid rails so the “fish bones” are there pretty much to just hold it all togethor.
this is as far as i’ve gotten so far although i did cut out a bunch of blueboo fishbones from a 2x8 panel
another thing is to get hooked up with a good cnc shop so you can design on the APS nd have the shop cut out all your ribs. Just look at what Mike Hseldrake is doing with cardboard for inspiration.
I’ve also thought of using 1" bluedow panels for the skins and lamming a layer of veneer over then top of that as a pseudo wood board. this way if water got inside of the hollow all you would have to do is drain it out since the interior of the blue dow is waterproof.
too busy to finish any of these half baked projects though…
Very true!
And as I have the infusion capabilities, i’ve already roughed out a system for lamming hollow boards like that.
Infusing something hollow… get your head around that! I’m struggling to!
Stoked that everyone’s taking an interest, it’s really appreciated guys!
At the risk of leading my market research focus group (LOL) towards the answers I want, here’s a little background of what i’m trying to achieve -
My Design Brief:
Standard high performance shortboard, entirely of wood, epoxy, E-glass. No foam.
Target weight of 5 1/2 pounds for a 6’2", but with durability far exceeding an equivalent PU.
Flex at least as good as my compsands, which are at least as flexy as any PU i’ve ridden. With flex return of course.
Design of systems to reduce manufacturing cost so as to allow a board to retail at no more than 20% more than a PU.
Solving of other issues… i’m all ears!
I’ll conceed that a wooden board will probably never match an EPS core in ultimate light weight - i’ve made plenty of sub 5 pound compsands, so I know this to be relatively easy to do.
So simply equalling or slightly bettering the weight of a performance PU is my goal.
Here’es my latest compsand
Hey Kevin,
I noticed your boards a while ago, they look hot mate, sex on water!
I went through a whole invetigation into honeycomb styles, inspired by what I saw in your boards. Even did some FEA computer modelling and some other stuff!
I’ve actually gone with something completely different though, I had to make something that suited my needs.
I agree about wood being brilliant… natures carbon fibre, readily available!
Right on Bernie!
What you’ve showed there is the kind of thinking i like.
And I agree about the marketing, as you said earlier.
I am planning on having the board completely water proof on the inside, great point.
I’ve had a good look over those cardboard surfboards, and ran some FEA and mechanical analysis over the internal latice work.
Withoutout detracting from the awesome stuff he’s doing, it doesn’t quite do what i’m looking for
I’ve got a system that can be cut out by CNC if desired. Especially if you’re doing multiple duplicate boards, a CNC could cut out 20 of exactly the same shape in no time flat!
However one of the most important things for me is that a completely unique custom board can be made in a very short time, exactly to computer spec.
The system i’m running with takes about the same amount of time to do a single board as it would to set up and cut the ribs by CNC.
Feels like i’m on the right track so far!
KKSurf,
Best of luck to you with this project, i can tell you from experience its a long sometimes frustrating process. PM or email me anytime for feedback or whatever.
I think mixing natural materials and modern technology and methods is the way to go to get a performance orientated wood board.
My statements are based upon the current state of affairs of HWS. I also feel that if there is a will, there is a way, I have no doubt that someone will come up with a respectible HWS in performance and cost. Just a matter of time, energy and money.
Roy, what are your personal objectives for a performance surfboard, I mean, what do you see as performance, and how do those attributes play out in you HWS shapes? I know we have hashed some of these topics ad nausem, but from the videos posted (granted I haven't checked out any new ones in over 1 year) I haven't seen any performance that jumps out in my mind and says "WOW resinhead, I got to make one of thoses so I can take my surfing to the next level"
What I see a great novelity items that would be fun to surf on occasion, or ride like an SUP when it's flat, or get towed behind the seal Slayer 2000 with a BB gun picking off sealife at will.
As a viable surf vehicle in all waves it's just not there yet? I know your still refining the design, and i look forward to seeing G-Mac riding it at Big Sunset or Pipeline any day. Heck I'd even love to see Rhino surfing it a Jocko's...something he can chase Crawford out of the water with.
Post some pictures of the Primitive in action in Hawaiian surf from 2008/2009? I'd love to see any surf session.. Chuns, Leftover's, Pinball's..... maybe, anything?
listen,
When I made my first wood surfboard, it was heavier than a foamy. I rode it for a few hours, and it began to feel completely normal. Now I can ride the thing better than a foamy and throw more spray around when doing cutbacks, ride the nose and get barrels on it. But it's heavier.
But the thing is, it's wood! So don't expect it to be like foam or desire it to be. It should be what it is.
Now when I ride a foamy, it feels cheap and chattery. That's the truth. I have been riding wood almost exclusively for about a year and a half now, and have only ever gotten one ding, and it wasn't any harder to fix than a foam ding. Other than that, the boards still look brand new.
If you are looking for a natural ride, a ride that feels beautiful, life lasting, and awe inspiring, a wood surfboard is for you. That's it's place. If you want to use more fins than fingers on one hand and surf vertically and pretend you are kelly slater, wood isn't for you. Foam has it's place too, and foam is best suited to that kind of surfing. It's best suited for gliding.
WHOO NOW!
That makes me want to go make some granola, take all my clothes off and get a tattooooo!!! ....Go Feral...Oh wait I Got a job I can't do that... I do want to be one with my inner self.
Trustafarians Unite!!
Yeah there’s no way i’d want or expect a wood board to be exactly like a foam board.
But at the same time i’d love to ride a fully woody that would allow me to do the same manouevres as a potato chip poly.
Going upside-down in the pocket is one of the greatest feelings i’ve experienced!
As Resinhead says at the sart of his next-to-last post, the current state of HWS doesn’t allow it.
So i’m trying to design something that will.
In my view, performance comes from both shapes and materials. Poly boards have decades of refinement in both, the shapes evolved to suit the surfers and the waves, within the constraints that the materials posed.
I’ll never be a pro shaper, so the refining of shapes is something that comes later, and will be done by others more skilled than me!
But you’ve gotta start somewhere, and having the capability of building 5 pound boards, and adding weight from there is a good start.
Being able to build such a board economically both in term of time and money, and being able consistently build at a close tolerance to the indended design…
Now THATS a good foundation for performance development!
So here’s me giving it a shot
I have a half done HWS. Here’s why it’s not finished.
The places I like to surf are quite a long paddle from shore, and I haven’t been comfortable with the idea that any hole in the board will make it near impossible to get to the beach before the board is totally filled with water. Because of this I painted the ribs with resin to seal the wood. I also painted the inner bottom panels. I’ve even bought several cans of spray foam in case I decide to fill it up.
I also worry about the board breaking from a good pounding, so I made 3 stringers. As it stands, the board is sitting in a pile of other half finished projects. Among those are 4 HWS in various stages.
I think you could make a HWS that has the same profile, rocker and rails that a regular foam board has, but it takes a lot more work. After spending all that time making a board that you end up liking, it would be a disaster to have to swim in a couple hundred yards pulling a heavy waterlogged HWS.
Cheers for the feedback man.
That looks like pretty clean build so far though.
Wow you’ve got more unfinished projects thatn I have!!
That brings up the subject of drain plugs and vents, what is the opinion of those?
Your user profile is blank...just white space.....
Here's a quote from my user profile.....
"...Stop over thinking the process...."
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It's Amazing that a beer drinking dumbass like me can even shape a board. And mixing up that 2-1 resin ratio is really tough......oh ,did I miss spell a word....Hope that doesn't have a reverse net worth on my reflex gain.......or was that grain........Build it , surf it , post it ,move on........
