Guess what? Warren (the owner/manager) has a 9’2" solid balsa in his office that he made.
Surprise, surprise we got talking They are great guys and Warren was interested in what I am doing with the Balsa (compsand). They even asked me to let them know how it turns out Naturally I gave him the Sways URL hehe!
He even let me take a piccie of the stacks… Makes me green with envy.
That’s only a fraction of it. The circled stack is identical to the one they had next to the door to ship to Bert.
Yeah, I thought it was pretty interesting too. I had a gander through the door at their processing room, some really sweet equipment in there. Don’t know for sure but it looks like they can easily get very uniform thicknesses to a fraction of a mm.
You’ll need a good jointer and a band saw with a good jig or a table saw wiht a kerf blade and a good jig. No matter what it makes a mess you’ll be in the lumberyard business if you cut your own…
Jim Phillip’s latest DVD has an excellent section on cutting your own balsa and working with agave.
This isn’t your shape a clark blank mentality at all it’s more like an artist or craftsman labor of love to cut your own.
Kind of like the difference of buying your bag of poi at the supermarket versus growing your own taro out back…
all my boards sport a logo with the saying “Wood is Good!” or “Good Wood!” which could be taken out of context by some in appropriate parties around here.
Here’s a pic of Tom (Pohaku) Stone (Associate Professor of Hawaiian Studies at Kapiolani Community College)
paying homage to one of his handmade creations.
I can feel the spirit of the wood in this one picture…
Aloha Oneula – One of the basic concepts of woodworking, besides the love of trees, is that it’s not that easy to make a living at it. It’s rewarding, sure, but juggling all the aspects takes a lot of hats. So, my suggestion is to make friends with some woodworkers who love surfing as much as you and work out a bartering deal. If I were in your neck or the woods I’d trade milling time for board building time, no problem. I do it all of the time, and meet many generous souls.
hi doug , funny you should mention branding, there is a guy close to where i live that does pyro art (posh branding) he had some stuff at a local craft fair and i was seriously impressed ,i think it would look fantstic on a balsa board, here is his web site , take a look,
Yup CMP started branding his boards years ago pretty simple but neat on wood.
One thing to consider is those board spec label laminates I’ve seen other shapers use. You could encorporate that in you brand so you could handwrite the boards specs right there in your logo… Never seen anyone do that yet.
Oh yea if the termites and bumblebees don’t ravage your wood the ants will get your EPS… It’s a losing proposition either way…
Nice idea Wonder if the Auszac guys want to trade some raw balsa for finished compsand boards ;D
peteuk,
Thanks for the link. That’s some pretty sweet stuff… And way outta my league! I was thinking more along the lines of a simple brand made out of flat steel stock.
oneula,
Yeah, I was thinking of a brand incorporating a logo. I take it CMP posted some piccies of of branded boards but I am having trouble finding the post (actually can’t find the old CMP in the user list, either). Anyone got a post number? LOL re termites, etc. We get nasty little things called wood-borers over here (you get them over there too, I believe). I learnt the hard way a long time ago to keep unused materials off the ground and wrapped in something air-tight. Heat sealead plastic or, my favourite, cling wrap.
They are great guys and Warren was interested in what I am doing with the Balsa (compsand). They even asked me to let them know how it turns out 
hehe!
