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"From the beginning, I visualize it finished."
My first surfing experience was on Galveston Island in 1965. I still surf, and though I don’t portend to be adept, I love the ocean and enjoy my time out in the water. I love the lifestyle of surfing – I wear shorts 365 days a year. I especially love surfing with my three grown children who love surfing. I’ve been blessed to ride waves with them including a few in Hawaii and Costa Rica. I recently taught my niece to surf. She now has “the stoke” and we surf together often. Surfing is a sport that brings every age together by a common denominator - a love of the sea. Because my home and shop are located just a few blocks from the beach, my wife often encourages me to grab my board and go ride a few waves. It’s common to receive a phone call shortly after she departs to the grocery store: “The waves are cleaning up so you better go”
Crafting a surfboard begins with researching surfing history, studying various shapes and styles, and a lot of sketching. Ultimately a surfboard with the right combination of stringers, shape, and size, formulates in my mind. Even as I begin to choose from the pile of rough balsa lumber, I do so according to the vision of a certain surfboard. From the beginning, I try to see it finished. I try to visualize every detail, curve, and shape as I begin the layout work and initial milling of the lumber. It may sound a little cosmic, but I find that having a firm picture in my mind from the onset keeps me focused and helps guide me through each step. I am inherently not a patient person, but strangely, I have found that I love the meticulous process of creating items of wood, as much as I love seeing the finished product completed.
I have been a furniture maker for 30 years. I endeavor to design and create heirloom-quality furniture that can be appreciated for generations. It is my passion.
I especially love hand tools, as quiet peaceful work is my choice when practical. I remember when one of my kids suggested I shape a surfboard. “Dad, you love sculpting furniture, you should sculpt a surfboard.”
I didn’t think much of it until my daughter sent a copy of “Surfers Journal” in which Greg Noll was featured with his masterful replicas of turn of the century Hawaiian-style boards made of solid planks of redwood and koa wood. I later stumbled upon an article in another periodical that featured a collection of 1950s solid balsa surfboards.
Suddenly, it seemed a natural evolution to take my woodworking experience and apply it to crafting wood surfboards. As interest grew I began a quest to find dependable sources for quality balsa, a difficult task, and to gain knowledge of the history of balsa board crafting. In the process I have come to know several old-school surfboard makers. They are a rare breed, products of surfing’s original culture, friendly, quick to share advice and encourage. One such famous surfer who began his wave riding and surfboard shaping career in Hawaii told me: “I don’t think there will be many more generations of wood board craft persons”. His encouragement has helped inspire me to perpetuate the art of crafting solid wood surfboards.
There are many gifted modern foam board shapers today doing beautiful work. They are true artists who have invested years perfecting their trade. Several such professional shapers have helped and inspired me. The few shapers who attempt balsa boards will admit it is an altogether different crafting process than that of factory molded pre-shaped foam blanks. Many admit a preference to shaping foam for reasons including the fact they are far more profitable. I am not a surfboard shaper who crossed over to wood. I am a furniture maker and woodworker who also makes old-school wood surfboards. I find crafting wood surfboards to be an extension of making fine furniture and it connects me with the soul of surfing.
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