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How To
Building even the simplest hollow wood board takes significantly more time, skills, and patience than the most complex foam /fiberglass board.
The time to design and build a hollow can take weeks or even months.
The tools needed to build a hollow are what a small wood shop usually has. tablesaw, stationary planer, router, belt sander, drill. etc..
An understanding of wood's properties and its tendencies to move are also required.
Also, there is a need to be open minded to materials not specifically designed for surfboards.
The number of steps to make a hollow board are many.
Foremost is the planning of how to create a blank from thin flat wood.
It requires a vision, and a plan with flexibility to make the complex form take shape.
It requires getting the right materials for the specific task, understanding the differences in selecting the right adhesives for specific tasks.
It requires cutting the rough parts to precise pieces. An intricate hollow board might have over 300 pieces.
It requires sensitivity with the tools, where one mistake can and will ruin weeks of work.
It requires patience beyond belief.
It requires a mastery of the process.
Finally, it requires the ability to adapt to minor crises and be mentally open to new ideas and materials...
"There are few original ideas in surfing"
True and not so true.
What I've done has been to take the basic Tom Blake idea of a skinned, stringer and ribbed paddleboard, and brings it forward to contemporary.
Contemporary rocker, templates and rails, strength and weight. A no compromises accepted mission..
"Originality"
I was inspired by the basic stringer and rib internal structure of a boat or airplane wing,
but from there forward was all-original for me, at least as it applies to surfboards.
I start with a planshape idea. Then transfer that one dimensional shape to become a gluing jig . Something similar to what boat builders might use.
Next, I needed a way to be able to get the interior rails to match the stringer's rocker. I came up with router guides between the ribs.
The progression to simpler construction methods has moved forward to the point where gluing jigs aren't needed on most boards.
These things are evolutionary designs…
With the basic frame complete, I needed to "skin" the frame...
I figured out a way to laminate multiple individual strips of thin wood together using something as simple
as masking tape to hold it all together when it's being laminated with fiberglass.
Fiberglass or Carbon Fiber reinforced interiors, that's original thinking.
Gluing the exterior skins to the framework with "construction adhesive", not as original.
Then the really hard part was figuring out how to laminate the exterior finished rails to the skinned frame.
With nothing but my nearly 30 years of carpentry experience as a guide, I tried three separate times with three different methods each taking a week,
to get the exterior finished rails to stay attached and look acceptable, until I found a way for it to work.
How frustrating, then eventually jubilant do you think that was..???...
Though the successes and failures I learned a lot.
Learned about the materials and the process, and more importantly,
I learned about myself, and my ability to push on through the difficult situations where the only future that you see at the time is failure.
Back to the boards. Shaping the rails with a belt-sander was different, maybe not original,
but it turned out to be the best way to it, at least for me.
Glassing wood with epoxy was at the time I started building my boards, not something as mainstream as it is now.
Back then, where do you find out how to do that? This was pre-Swaylocks...
Experiment and innovate...
A lot of time, money and energy went into finding out what works and what doesn't. All part of the process.
More than once I was forced to strip off a layer of glass and epoxy, because the whole thing delaminated. Hard lessons learned. Close to tears at times.
The results from each of these minor epiphanies was so rewarding, because it felt so original.
I hope each of you gets to experience the emotional high when the creative process is fresh and it feels like you are heading down a path, no one has ever been on.
There's nothing else like it. Intoxicating…
Finally, after I get the first board done, I think I have a "wall - hanger" but I need to ride at least one wave with it, but the ride quality of that first wave, changed forever what I'll ride.
The quest for a better hollow board moved on.
With what I learned, I wanted to share it. Not sell it.
Surfing has given me a lot.
This web site is a way for me to give back to surfing. Nothing more, nothing less.
With no web building skills, (Hey, I'm a carpenter) I struggled to create this web site. Oh, how I struggled.
Finally, after so many long evenings and weekends it was up and running.
If you look at how much content is here and you might understand the time commitment involved.
Again why...???...All as my way to give back to surfing.
You probably know that web-sites aren't free. You have to pay a fee to register a name.
Then there is a monthly charge to keep the web-site up on the net.
Again not free. NEVER have I asked for money to keep the site up and running. Never have / never will.
So too, never has anyone offered me money for what I was doing. That's the way it was / is and I'm ok with that.
All I wanted to do was inspire others to build their own boards, learn about themselves and help others.
Altruistic, yes.
Naive, now it appears so.
So far, I've made about twenty hollow boards for myself.
Some I donated to charitable auctions, several I've given away as gifts, and few have been sold...
The remaining boards I have and I ride. In all the years my site has been up, I have built boards for no one other than myself.
It's not about the money.
With the web-site up and running, I was getting a half dozen questions a week about the process.
Mostly the same questions over and over, and most of those issues already covered in the web site, if it was read thoroughly.
I can count an a few fingers on one hand the number of tips others gave back to me.
Getting back to originality, when I started HollowSurfboard.com, there were no web sites like it.
Since then, other wood and composite wood/foam builders have an internet presence...
Welcome to the party, I started early without you...
The reason I pulled the free "How To" content off the web was over an incident in September '05:
I did my typical "be at the beach while it's still dark" start...
Very foggy, no idea of wave size or quality, but I'm here: I'm surfing...
I suit up, take down the board, and an old acquaintance stops by and we talk...
He mentions that D---- and J----, two Seattle guys making their first hollow boards were here yesterday...
For several months, J--- has been e-mailing me with specific technical questions...
And I've been guiding him through some rough spots...
Helping him avoid some pitfalls...Fine, I do it all the time, no problem...
About then D--- shows up...Pulls out his freshly finished first wood board and it's just ok...Rails as boxy as a desktop...
Decent woodwork skills, but there are a few obvious mismatches that disturb the visual appeal of the board...
Soon J---- shows up with his nearly identical board...Twins...How cute...They worked on their boards together.
We talk boards a bit, I give them some new ideas on how to improve their next boards
and they mention that some of their friends want them to make them boards...
Grrrrrrreat...I excuse myself and hit the waves...
After my surf session, the sun is out and I'm back at my van getting dressed and racking my board...
D--- comes over again, this time with his girlfriend...He asks to see my 7'4 which I briefly had out earlier...
He's holding it, examining the rails real close, and I'm answering more and more of his questions, again...
Next, a couple of guys walk by in wetsuits heading to surf...They stop, "ooh and aah", ask what kind of boards they are, etc...
I give them the same short story about the boards that always happens when I have them out...
Then unexpectedly, D--- starts up with how "Me and My Company (him and J---) are taking orders and selling exactly the same kind of boards"...
Whoa, easy there fella...
He goes on with a full on sales pitch about how their boards are "like fine jewelry", and boards like these are "investments"
and how what they're making is like "investing in fine art"... Huh...???...
He's saying all this while holding MY BOARD...!!!...
One of the surfers ask D--- "How much...???.."
D--- rolls out " Five Thousand"...
WHAT...???...
Then he goes into another barrage of "investment - jewelry - art"...
PUHLEEASE....!!!...
By now there are about a half dozen other people looking at my two boards while D--- just keeps on rolling...
I interrupt D--- to tell everyone, that what D--- is trying to sell, is all available for FREE on my web-site...
Someone then asks me what I think a board like this should sell for. I say based upon my experience and understanding of high-end boards, $2,500.
But, I'm quick to add, that I'm not really interested in making boards for others, but glad to help them make their own boards.
That's why I made the web site.
That just doesn't slow down D--- one bit...Now he's talking about CNC machined parts, limited edition boards...
And on and on and on...He just won't shut up...
I'm staying pleasant enough about it all, but I'm dumbfounded at this guy's blindfully arrogant approach...
As he was leaving, I said to him half serious "So when can I expect the royalty checks for you guys using "The Paul Jensen Method"...???...
He laughed at me and says "my partner J---deals with the money..."
Asshole…
On the drive home, I thought about what just happened and what if anything, to do...
So, I sought out the advice of some trusted friends and business acquaintances, whose opinions I value...
After several days and much thought and consultation, I've decided to take the free "How To" process off the internet...
My original intent when I created this process and web site,
was for it to be a place where individuals to go to for information on how to build their own boards...
A free resource...
I didn't design this process and web-site to be a source for others to use my designs, detailed construction process and ideas for profit...
To be face to face, as I was, with someone looking at these boards, not for their ride quality and aesthetic purity,
but as a means to make a buck, was like being covered in vomit.
Maybe if you've ever worked as hard and selflessly as I have to make something of pure obsessive passion as I have,
then freely give it to the world, you might understand how and why I feel like I do.
If you do, great you get it. If not, maybe someday you will.
To those of you who still think it's about the money, you're wrong.
To those of you who built boards and "found yourself" in the process, you are the ones I did it for.
You know whoyou are...
The new bottom line is this...
.
is a complete step-by-step guide
through the process...
Available as a PDF book on a CD-R
The "How To" CD has been updated (November 2010) to
Forty-Four sections fully describing the process with photos detailing every step...
All together, just the stuff I listed, prints out to around 820 pages...
Get a big binder if you decide to print it all out...
Also on the CD-R, are more than 670 pictures of every Hollow Surfboard I have made and, if that wasn't enough already,
I've added close to 600 pictures of surf from my home grounds...
Finally, (whew) I've included 116 of the Best Songs (mp3) to listen to while building your HollowBoard.!!!...
The "How To" CD-R is still a deal at $100 ...
(No one ever said they didn't get their mony's worth...)
Templates Kits are available for any of these boards, and more...
A Template Kit will include:
The Gluing Form Template.
The Stringer Template.
The Cross Rib Templates.
Template Kits are $50...
RecentTemplate Kits have been refined
so you do not need to build a Gluing Form to make the board...
Included with those Template Kits are the "Outer Frame Rail" templates...
By not having to build the Gluing Form, you save about three days of mornings and evenings of building time...
Template Kits with the Outer Frame Rails are $75...
Template Kits are full size tracings of the Frame Parts with a new black Sharpie pen
onto heavyweight brown “construction paper’ mailed in a big manila envelope…
Click on a picture to learn more about a board...
Click on a PayPal button to order a Template Kit...
5’6” Bellyboard Template Kit
5'9" Mini-Simmons Template Kit - Includes rail templates.