October 14, 2009

Shaping All Done

Well... I am pretty excited moving on to glassing the board and getting it in the water. After doing a lot of research at my local surf shop, I think the board came out exactly the way I wanted it to. I am pretty lucky to be close to a shop (Icons of Surf) that carry a wide variety of boards, including retro boards that I can spec out.  

Just need to sand the fins and do the resin work. I have some ideas on the resin tints I want to place on it. I'll post it in the next few days to get everyone's opinion.


Mini Bob Simmons Fins


So with the fins all shaped, now ready to start glassing it. These fins were for the ShortSider board, but it's now going on the Simmons board. This was placed on hold for a while as I was trying to finish up the Blunt Nose Longboard. But here we go. Hope this turns out. Never done this before.


Top side all done. I took the fiberglass fin rope and drenched it in resin, then wrapped it around the fins.  Then took some 8oz cloth that I pre-cut and placed that over it. Resined that into place. I did notice that after I was done, that there were some bubbles in the fin rope. Oh well. I think I should of spent more time working the resin into the strands of the rope.   


After the top was hard, I pealed them up and glassed the underside. I put quite a bit of catalyst in the resin to make it kick pretty hot. Didn't want to wait too long.  I forgot to mention that I used wax paper under the fins. This made it really easy to peal up.  So with them all glassed, I need to sand and cut the bottoms to get the height I want for the fins. 


March 02, 2009

Mini Bob Simmons Project




I just started the Mini Bob Simmon board. I was originally going to do the ShortSider, but went with the Simmons instead. So here is the beginnings of it. Hopefully it will come out the way I want it to :-) You can see more photos and the progress at "thtp://www.boardside.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=13".  


February 27, 2009

BoardSide Surfboard Forum!

So I have been working on getting a forum or message board in place because this blog doesn't really have the capability I need to effectively communicate with all you Surfcraft Enthusiasts. Well, it's finally done. Hoping you guys will embrace this.  I'll do my best to answer any questions.

Also, if any of you guys are interested in helping me moderate this forum, create an account and email me. Your help would be great.

February 26, 2009

New BoardSide Logo



Actually put this together a while back, but wasn't sure if I would use it or not. But after some consideration, I think it might work for some boards. What do you think? I still need to make a silk screen for this. 

When making my logos, I originally used a laser printer to print onto the rice paper. I didn't have a bubble jet printer, so I went ahead and tried the laser. I was concerned that the rice paper would just melt, but it didn't. The only thing is it didn't print out as dark as I wanted to. Might of been my old printer... So I went with the real way - silk screening the logo. Not only did it turn dark and crisp, it was a lot easier than I had thought.

If any of you are interested in creating your own logo design for your boards, I used this thing called PhotoEZ to make my silk screens. Really easy!!! Just print out your logo on regular paper and expose it to the sun to develop it. Here is the link:  http://ezscreenprint.com/photoezstarterkits.aspx

Also, if you need rice paper, I went to Micheals and purchased a roll of it (probably about 10 feet of it) for only $12.00. I think you can pick it up at any art store. The rice paper will turn transparent when you glass it.

February 16, 2009

Almond Surfboards!!!


The buddies over at Almond Surfboards is going to be opening up their first shop sometime in March! I have been following their blog for a while now and am just really stoked to see them reach their dreams. Not only do they make great surfboards, but their art is just beautiful. Keep up the good work Dave. We at BoardSide support you man (Of course when I say "We" it's really is just me at BoardSide). 




You can check out their website at: http://www.lifeisjustswell.com/ or their blog at http://www.lifeisjustswell.blogspot.com/

February 14, 2009

Blunt Nose Longboard Ready to be Ridden



It took me a while to complete this, but here it is.  All done - the blunt nose longboard.  This is for a friend of mine, so I haven't even taken it out yet for a ride.  But I am hoping it's going to ride great....Hope she likes it.  Here are the specs:

Length: 9'0
Width: 23"
Nose: 19 1/2"
Tail: 15 1/2"

On to the next board.........

January 28, 2009

No. 4 Surfboard Template Design



Here is a new surfboard template that I just designed called "the No.4". It's the fourth template of the growing list of surfboards I want to build. Excited to know how it's going to ride with the funky tail that I put on it. I am expecting  it very loose but controlled. With the sqwirly tail shape, it has more surface area for tighter turns and the outward curves has a venturi effect, causing suction. I may be wrong though.

If you are interested in building this board or want to see a better view of it, like always, I included the template (PDF Format)  that you can download and print up.  Click here to download the template.

If you do end up building this before I do, let me know the hurdles you came across building this and of course - how it rides! I am sure the tail going to be a little hard to wrap the rails when glassing because all the curves. 

January 19, 2009

Someone Barfed All Over Mi Shoes


Looks like a little guacamole, maybe some sour cream. Yummmmm. Or the girl from the Exorcist went to town on my shoes.

Cheap Sketcher shoes, the soles are de-laminating!!! Piss me off.

Surfboard Resin High


I thought it was me getting high from the sweet smell of resin, but I guess I just had the shakes from skipping lunch.

Hotcoating the Longboard



For some reason, the photos I took didn't come out very clear. So, this is what I managed to salvage. Next step.... Sanding. I hate sanding!

Lamination Complete




A definite experience laminating four different colors. I felt very rushed and actually barely had enough resin mixed up for each color. I initially had each color in a plastic disposable party cup, but didn't realize, by the time I got to the last color, the cup started to melt and the bottom of the cup busted. You could imagine the mess I had on my hands.

Ready to Start Glassing









Preparing the Pigment




I spent a little time a night before preparing the colors for the Blunt Nose Longboard. The colors came out slightly different than the preliminary design that I rendered, but it should look pretty good.

January 11, 2009

Designs for the Blunt Nose Longboard


Here are some designs that I put together for the Blunt Nose Longboard. Not sure which one I will go with yet. I am kinda leaning toward the third one from the left. Any input? Leave a comment.....

Shaping All Done




Shaping is finally all done with the Blunt Nose Longboard. On to glassing - well, hopefully soon.

Here are the specs:

- Length: 9'0
- Width 23 "
- Thickness: 3"
- Concave Nose
- Square Tail
- Eggy 50/50 Rails

January 10, 2009

Shaping the Longboard

With the template cut out, I am now ready to start shaping down the board. I am using the Bosch 3365 3-1/4" Planer that I picked up at Home Depot for about a $100. Not too bad. Seems to work alright. Although on the last board cutting through the skin made some gouges in the foam. Hopefully it won't happen again.




Here we go!!!


Here are the rail bands being cut.

January 09, 2009

Blunt Noserider - 9'0 Longboard

Finally found some time to start the blunt nose longboard. Especially with the waves being so small lately, I figured that I might as well get started. This is a US Blank 9'3 and will be cut down to a 9'0 longboard. It's actually going to be a present for a friend of mine, so I am hoping it will come out the way I want it to.

Drawing out the template.






January 08, 2009

Caution


Seriously don't remember taking this photo, but for some reason it was in my camera.

January 01, 2009

New Surfboard Blanks Just Arrived


Just received a couple of new blanks for X-Mas (Thanks Sis!!). Can't wait to start shaping these.