Swaylocker of the year, 2008

General Discussion
1

Durbs and I were bullshitting in my garage last night just talking about

all the crazy shit that we’ve seen and done so far this year with

bamboo, compsand, timberflex, etc and we got to talking about who

epitomizes Swaylocks.

Is there anyone out there who is constantly blowing minds the way that

Surfdadcpa does?

Homemade (manual-CNC) reproduction system:

moulded dual density blanks with various stringer, rail and skin arrangements

hollow carbons…

all so the family can rip it up on the lake!

ps. can also surf a door…

No industry ties, operating outside of the socal/aussie/hawaii surfboard scene

and making incredible stuff with a positive, sharing attitude.

Looking forward to seeing your 2009 projects!

2

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Wow. Th-th-th-THAT’S INSANE.

This thread needs links to the past SOTY* threads.

*nod to Thrasher

3

ssshhhhhhhh tyler… i think he likes being under the radar

I have learned a lot from the things I have seen him do.

Thanks to everyone on swaylocks, I am eternally grateful for being able to learn from your experiences and to collaborate/discuss with you all.

4

I don’t think there is such thing as SOTY.

I’m probably talking out of turn being so green here and calling it out, but

all this stuff is just totally bitchin…

5

I am TOTALLY with you on this!

Count me in.

Jeff gets my vote! Hands down!

6

sorry afoaf…this is a little off topic…but I’ve been wanting to share this with you for a while

This was my second load from surfding

Now back to our regularly scheduled program.

7

Bummer! Those where good slabs for making blanks?

Looking at all that XPS and all of the sudden I start getting orders for Blue XPS boards?

I had a guy call me from Up North who rode a one of my 3 year XPS SMurder models (Thruster Thumbtail).

He claims that had more life in it than his whole quiver of PU? So he ordered one.

Then last week-end at a NSSA competion down in South California two of my riders made it to the finals riding Blue XPS.

Now the Groms are reguesting BLUE XPS boards? The last 5 Billets will yield me 10 more blanks.

The last I heard: Dow will discountinue making the blue XPS due to the failure in the housing markets. (most of it was used for insulation)

With the ression the marine use is at a stand still as well. (Sea-ray boats)

The only thing that keeps the regrets down is when I hear my daugther playing on the USA made Fender Stratacaster you traded me for all the XPS you took home.

She’s Jammin! Al my music friends that have guitar collections are breaking out their Stratacasters and giving her lessons. Everyone that apreciates music loves the guitar.

Sorry to get off track. I saw the photo and had a flash of you purging my stock of XPS slabs ready for stringer glue up!

SD

8

Thanks surfding. And it was my pleasure to pass that guitar on to a budding new SHREDDER.

We have already glued up a bunch of our bamboo stringers into those xps blanks.

DAMN they look SWEET!

And the pre shapes are going to allow me to really get our glassing materials nailed down.

You ARE the man.

Oh yeah…hey afoaf…I thought the picture was much smaller.

I only meant to share it…NOT RUB IT IN! LOL

Jeff…PLEASE continue to inspire us with your amazing posts!

We should have a trophy made with a stinger plane on top.(HMMMMM…sounds like a job for “SUP-ER TWEAKER”)

9

Hey what’s goin’ on here–I thought XPS delaminated?

10

Ah yes! One would think that…

Until you visit surfding and see an XPS blue board that is 2 years old and heavily surfed, yet hardly has even a pressure dent on the deck!

Then the wise old sage bestows upon you “the secret” of non-delaminating XPS…then the sky opens up…and you are at peace.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH…

11

“Then the wise old sage bestows upon you “the secret” of non-delaminating XPS…then the sky opens up…and you are at peace.”

Would you (or the wise old sage) mind sharing that secret so that the sky opens for us, too?

12

Because I am but a humble apprentice(and because I haven’t actually done it yet)

I am afraid I am neither entitled, nor qualified to reveal these wonders.

And because I wouldn’t want any of you guys HATING ME FOREVER if I translated the information incorrectly!

Please forgive my silence(what? Me silent?) on this matter.

13

Michael (surfding) simply recommended roughing up the foam with a low grit

sandpaper prior to glassing…think mechanically! 50/60/80 grit…the rougher

the better…

At least that’s the part of the recipe he shared with me.

I just delivered two XPS billets from surfding to SrPato en route to Spence.

There will be two, stringerless XPS hulls with with bamboo decks and heavy

glass epoxy lams coming up soon!

These things are going to be soooo mackin!

14

http://www.swaylocks.com/…S%20surfding;#278219

Oh yeah and I nominate Steve Pirsch for SOTY, even though he’s not here.

15

Thanks janklow

I am relieved of responsibility for that one.

Hey guys…I wasn’t trying to keep secrets or anything…it was really more about self preservation.

As I said I haven’t actually done it yet. So I can’t say from experience what it’s about.

Would YOU want to be the guy that gave YOU GUYS the wrong information?

16

XPS is a great material to work with if you handle it correctly.

  1. Leave surface at 60 grit. Do not screen! (his helps prevent shearing)

  2. After glassing the bottom let fully cure before proceeding to finish the deck.

  3. I give it 24 hours. (Production shops hate this) - If you glass the deck without the bottom fully cured it will delam for sure!

  4. Don’t overheat while sanding (XPS has a low melting point) Do not leave sander in the same spot too long.

    In our glass shop the guy’s know how to work with XPS. Many shops do not that’s why it has a bad rap and never really took off.

I have been thinking about taking temperatures during the process as I feel they are an important element in the process.

So far I have 3 year old boards with perfect decks that are under 5 pounds. (HIGH PERFORMANCE SHORTBOARDS)

A 3 year old XPS will have more life in it than a 2 month old PU.

Please don’t get me wrong?

I still like PU because you need to replace them so often which is good for business!

I no longer push XPS however if someone asks I build them one for pure enjoyment.

Hotwire the deck rocker - Glue up the stringer with epoxy/cab

If you use your planer slow down your stokes. This will help prevent tear out.

CNC - slow down the spindle speed of the router and maintain the feed rate.

If you slow down the feed on the cnc you will melt the material.

Again keep in mind that the XPS is heat sensitive.

Once you get a feel for it it’s really not that hard to work with however it is different.

I’ve processed at least 400 or more in the last three years. For other board builders as

well as for my own boards.

Bon Chance!

17

O ye the XPS devotee…

This I say:- seek ye far and wide a “Bufo”, and have a REALLY GOOD LOOK at it.

Josh

www.joshdowlingshape.com

As for SOTY…I vote for the pizza box guy.

18

This I say:- seek ye far and wide a “Bufo”, and have a REALLY GOOD LOOK at it.

BUFO?

Josh,

Please Explain?

SD

19

Hi Ding,

Apologies, I was trying on the abstraction in the mystic spirit…

Bufo is a European label using XPS…I had the opportunity to see some…the way they are achieving a mechanical bond looks very interesting. Seems not only the shapes are laminated straight off the shaping machine, with the cutter grooves unsmoothed, but the surface is somehow shot up with roving chop…like leadshot from a sawn-off…

I’m not suggesting that I fully understand how its done, but having made some XPS boards in the 90’s and relying only on the rough sandpaper shaped finish for a mechanical bond, I can say what Bufo does is a better way.

Josh

20

seems like you’d use a lot of resin and add a lot of weight trying to fair out those machine grooves…