Report from the North Shore

I couldn't ask for a better Christmas present than to get an email from Dan Pasette, my first handplane test pilot, with pics from the big island-I'll be mindsurfing with you bro!

My latest Conundrum

My latest project-an attempt at "firewire meets Greg Griffin".  Flat bottom, tucked edges nose to tail, perimiter stringers, and resin x.  So far I'm 2 months into it-I keep hesitating on cutting the lower railband, but I think I'm almost ready.  It's so easy for me to get held up on these projects for fear of making a dud.

 the outline...

 ...many clamps, gorilla glue and epoxy later. It took me almost a month to get this to work, what can I say, I'm slow.  I had to switch from gorilla glue to cabosil and epoxy because the stringer bands weren't staying in place. I eventually made a clamping tool to hold the clamps in place on the rail and put them on two layers at a time-seemed to go smoother if I did more than one. Next time I'm going to keep the foam cutoffs and use those for the clamps. 

 ...the plug is born, rocker and outline done,  just railbands to go and it's almost there. 

Handplanes for the Holidays

No heat in the studio, but I still managed to get 10 handplanes finished to pass on to the surf crew before taking off for the holidays.  The shapes are all modeled after what everyone rides and crafted from broken Bustin skateboards.  Their shop just happens to be 2 blocks from my studio.   I learned a lot and the next ones will be way more pro. As soon as I finished I had an epiphany about how to get a perfect finish with the urethane, lots of little details that are hard to get the first time, like how the stain looks better on the lower quality maple decks.

I was stoked to get one of them into Dan Pasette's hands before he headed off to Hawaii. Can't wait to get the full report when he gets back.  His board came from the pintail template, 2nd from left.

 

Templates

 shaped...

 

 ...last hand holds get routered...

 Not the best finish, but they're sealed.

...the detritis