DIY surfboard

Wow, way ambitious.

Wow that looks great!!! I got to think you can buy one for less than what you have into that?

That board sure looks fantastic. I hope you are going with a clear finish on it. It would be a shame to cover up that great woodwork.

Thanks, I am just doing clear over it. 2 layers of 4oz glass on the deck and 1 layer on the bottom, with Resin Research epoxy.

The cedar should really pop with with clear and the rails are cork layers alternated with ply. Those will look good with the clear on it too, I hope.

Yeah; The CE Epoxy has an optical brightener (bluish tint) and a UV inhibitor.

Dries crystal clear. All the surfboard builders are using it if they're not using Poly.

Mark Mel wrote: Yeah; The CE Epoxy has an optical brightener (bluish tint) and a UV inhibitor. Dries crystal clear. All the surfboard builders are using it if they're not using Poly.

Be real careful and do check out just how good the UV inhibitors are. I've run into several Cedar strip canoe builders that have had poor results. The preventative fix is to give the epoxy 4 to 5 coats of the best spar varnish available.

When you mention "poly", I take it you mean a polyester resin. Watch out for it as well since it's hygoscopic.

foam or not foam?...lol
nice work there!

awesome

Well, I'm certainly no expert, I wouldn't even consider myself a real surfer, but most modern boards are foam. The kids that do all the cutbacks and spins like a very light and thin board like a potato chip. Not many surf wood here.

The longboarders, mostly older will surf a hollow wood board because they like the feel and the way they float. They are also coming back for the nostalgia factor.

The weights can be very similar but a similar foam board will usually weigh less. Some don't find this a detriment in the water and prefer the way the hollow wood board floats and feels. Mine weighs 17 lbs right now without the glass - we'll have to see what the final weight is, I'm hoping under 20 lbs. Typical 9'0" foam longboard weights range from 15lbs for a lightwight to 25 - 30 lbs for a noserider.

Taken from Paul Jensen's site - his boards were an inspiration for mine.

"Imagine surfing waves on a board with a distinctive resonance in the water, similar to an acoustic guitar that has morphed into the perfect surfboard. The air core and tensioned wood skins of a hollow wood board allow for a unique energy transfer between the wave and the rider. The feeling of the wave is amplified on a hollow, it has a more alive feel. Once you’ve ridden a hollow wood board, foam boards feel dead…

A hollow wooden board feels a little heavier on land than that a foam board, but due to the board having an air core, feels lighter once it is in the water. The weight advantage of hollow board has the benefit of more momentum when paddling, catches waves easily and rides smoother. Hollow wood boards also allow you to ride further on a wave than a lighter foam board. If you are into “busting airs” you are better served with as light a board as you can find and that isn’t a wooden hollow, but if you prefer to ride smooth and flow on a wave, a Jensen Hollow Wood Surfboard is the ultimate surfing pleasure…"

Very nice work. I have been looking at making one for quite some time and just never got around to it. Did you use a frame kit, patterns, or just wing it yourself?

wow ya, put some strings on it and play it! Excellent wood working, maybe your next project could be an acoustic guitar, I may to commission one.

Mark Mel wrote: No kit it's all DIY. I designed it in a program called Aku shaper and someone created a plug-in for it that will take that shape and export the frame template to .pdf fullsize that you can use to cut out your frame. wow ya, put some strings on it and play it! Excellent wood working, maybe your next project could be an acoustic guitar, I may to commission one. Thanks, I am a musician and I have built tons of things, speakers, lyrics box, do my own guitar setups and repair but I have never built a guitar from scratch. It's on my list of things to build.

I am also a musician, and Im a bit of a gear nut and do some basics, mostly along the lines of the electronics routes, built a few small amps and some stompboxes. I would love to build a guitar but I think I lack the woodworking skills to make something I would like. Also Im pretty so I would be worried I would spend alot of time and money and not like it.

Well it's glassed and glossed with the epoxy resin.

Had some trouble in the gloss coat with fish eyes, did the bottom twice, first time had fish eyes, scraped the uncured resin off. Sanded that and recoated, fish eyes again. Did the deck came out better but still some fish eyes. Going to leave it for now since I'm going to be in the Cape this weekend and I want to get it into the water. In a couple of weeks when I have time, I'm going to sand off the gloss coat and recoat with spar varnish. I've seen wooden boards done with the spar varnish and they look nice.

Here's some pics. Intentionally crappy pics to hide the irregularities in the finish.





The mark on the bottom by the tail near the finbox is a brand that says Handcrafted By My Name. I forgot I had it. My wife had the branding iron made when I was making furniture. I'd show a close up but the finish is lots of fish eyes there. The pink in the fin plugs is play dough that I haven't dug out yet.

Wow, That is absolutely beautiful. Great branding design as well, I love the "MM" shaped waves. AWESOME!

Ha, and upon further review, I missed the subtle-ness of the overall shape of the brand (surfboard) all pulled together with the darker center board and edge boards both on the brand and deployed on the actual product - That is one of the best brand marks I have seen in a long time. Are you by chance a graphic designer - really well thought out. Its almost as impressive as the board itself!