Shaping the bottom.

It's been a while since I've worked on the board.  Yesterday, I glued up the last of the balsa tile pieces at the nose.  Today, I shaped the bottom.

Planing balsa wood is probably the most enjoyable part of the build.  I like to use a small modelers plane.

The board still fits in the cradle like it's suppose to.  It's a good check to make sure there aren't any twists.

Baby steps

Probably the most time consuming phase of any of my builds is gluing on the rail strips.  The first one is the hardest.  With a little shrink wrap and a lot of patience it can be done.  I'm at the easy part where I can clamp the second one to the first.  Depending on how much you pull in the nose or keeping it fuller.  That will determine the size of the individual pieces.

It's pretty easy at this stage.

Time out

The best thing about being retired is the ability to travel.  I'm currently in Southern California with my girlfriend Julie visiting family, friends and doing a little surfing.  Last week, I paddled out at Imperial Beach.  It's a beach break I was very familiar because I lived there for more than 15 years.

Southern California has been getting lots of swell this winter because of the El Nino.  The waves that day were a solid 6'.  Imperial Beach is a thick heavy wave.  Frankly speaking, it can be nasty if you're not ready for it.  Well I didn't have trouble getting out, but I struggled to catch them.  The ones I did catch were extremely powerful and it humbled me.  The next day the surf was 8' and more than I felt up for.  The day after that the waves were even bigger.

For me surfing is about having fun.  If people want to surf big waves or be in contests good for them.  I don't feel the need to prove anything to myself or others.  I like to paddle out with friends and share a fun session.  Paddling out with friends means someone has my back in case something goes wrong.  Building boards is my way of combining my love of surfing with my love of woodworking.  It's not about trying to make money.  If I sell a board that's fine.   My goal is to design and build boards that work at my break.

New baby

This one is getting prepped for rail strips.  The board is very light and feels strong.  I'll add the last deck strip soon and clean up the tail.

It won't be done for Christmas.

Thanks Grandpa.

Today is a rainy windy crappy day here in Ormond by the Sea.  A good day to work in the shop and enjoy the process of building a board.  My grandfather was a good woodworker.  He had a small shop, a few power tools and lots of hand tools.  My favorite place was being in the shop with him.  He was very kind and patient.

Making patterns and parts.

I feel very fortunate for the time we had together.  Thanks so very much Grandpa.

Simple enough.

There is a beauty in keeping things simple.  I like to build a cradle for my frame work.  It keeps all the parts where their suppose to be and makes gluing the bottom to the frame much easier.

This board will be a 6'6" fish.  The nose and tail will be developed after the stringers are glued in.

The board will be covered in paulownia and balsa.  It should be light and strong.  Perfect for the waves here.

Surf what you build.

It's taken a while to make a board that works well here.  This balsa board is strong enough, light enough, has the right fin set-up and shape to handle our beach break.  I've taken it out the last three times I surfed and have had good sessions.  It's my all the time board now.

It's been a lot of fun building this board out and surfing it.  I love surfing my creations at my local break.  Balsa wood made it all possible.