Bout time for an update...

Too many vids of other people on here. Time to show you the status on the log. Way overdue.

A few more days of obsessing over tiny details should be enough to get this puppy ready for glass. I made the tailblock last night and cut off the tail so there's a nice flat surface to epoxy to. Tell you what, taking a saw to this board was terrifying. It turned out great though, and should look sweet and be super sturdy with a solid tail. I'll fill in the gaps tonight and hopefully get the tailblock on latenight.

I was up til 1am last night sanding in my spare bedroom. My closet is in that room so now all of my clothes smell like cedar. Nice.

More updates soon.

Good news!

This weekend, I got working again in a new workspace (my neighbor's backyard). Thanks, Guy! Beautiful day and great space for shaving and sanding. I was covered head to toe in sawdust when I got home last night. Smells so good, but man the wood boogers this morning were nasty!

The good news is...the devastating crack that I was so worried about is not a big deal at all! Hardly visible and definitely possible to work around. Stoked!

In other news, I believe I will be having a pro glass my board this time. I really think it will be worth the extra time and $$ to have it look absolutely perfect. I've already started talking with a couple local glassers and now I just need to decide who to go with. Details soon.

Old Growth

Whoa. Check this vid out. Doc Ball, LeRoy Grannis, Lorrin Harrison, and Greg Noll making a non-hollow wooden longboard. I dig the 80's style of the ski hat and those PVSC jackets are money. Can't imagine how heavy that board must have been.

CRACK!

So, I got a lot done last night. SO much, that I decided to just go for it and get the top planks on. Everything was looking pretty good as I got all the planks, clamps, glue, 5200, etc in the right places. Once everything was locked down, I went around the board checking for places that I could squeeze a little tighter for a better fit. I got all the way done with one side, then started the other side and heard a loud CRACK! The right edge of the board got a 10" crack down the outside edge. I started swearing like a sailor but got to work filling it with titebond and clamping it back in place. No sooner had I finished that when another CRACK...k....k..k.k..k..kkkkk.k. I actually watched the wood splitting down the side, a couple inches away from the original crack. Screamed and swore again (sorry, Mike and Jen) and did my best to fill it in with titebond. We'll see later tonight how it fared, and if there will be any other cracks to deal with.

Check the vids below for progress from last night. Cheesy looped music courtesy of Flip.

80 20

What is it about projects like these that makes the last 20% of the work take 80% of the time?

It's all good, though. Still having fun and plugging away with minor setbacks here and there. I was trimming the top planks last night to get to the rough outline of the board before putting them in place when I got 2 cracks. Luckily, the trusty manual had a quick fix involving tite bond and a razor. We'll see how it worked out once I'm back in the shop tonight.

As of now, all of the blocking (fin, leash, and vent) are in place and all of the knot holes have been plugged up with epoxy. Tonight I'll dryfit the top planks and add any final blocking for extra gluing surface. If all goes REALLY well, I'll get the top planks on tonight, but if not, tomorrow will have to do.

I wanted to have my board finished by this weekend

but it's just not workin' out.

Zoinks

We don't have this problem in NY. Water is never clear enough to see past 4" deep.

Indo

Man, it's been way too long since I've been in the water.

Saw this video today and got so stoked. Must take a warm water trip sooooooon!

1 more week

I moved most of the equipment out of the workshop this weekend and into my basement. I'm still looking for a well-ventilated place to do the glassing once the board is finished. I've got til the end of this week to get the top planks on and at that point I'll be able to take the board anywhere til I'm ready to glass it.
Thank you, Mike and Jen, for the extra week. It will make a world of difference.

Back at it

After a couple weeks of downtime, I got back in the shop last night. Downtime was due to work, travel, and sickness (not my own). Good to get my hands working again and great to smell the cedar while sanding and shaping last night.

Last night was mostly prep work for tonight and tomorrow:
I shaped and trimmed up the blocking for the fin box and got it dry fit.
I added strips to the keels and frames in the nose for strength and larger gluing surface.
I got a couple knots ready to fill in with epoxy.

Tonight I'll mix up some epoxy and put in the fin box blocking, the ventplug blocking, the leashcup blocking, and fill in the knot holes.

Friday night should be about time to put the top planks on! Sweet!