Handshaped Paulownia Handplane and Alaia Tests

did you check with jon wegener?

Quote:
did you check with jon wegener?



That is where I first heard of Paulownia, but he is in Austrailia and they have it locally down there.

I did see a place in Georgia that you can buy a sapling and grow your own wood, but that is for when I buy my ranch up in Lompoc, ca.

Thanks for the help

Tony

Hess handboards at $178 are a freakin' joke.
$178 buys alot more mexican carpentry than whats in those.

Go Cyrus! Cool shit!

Wow if he gets $178 for those I am in the wrong bizz.
I take loads of scrap1/4-3/8 inch 5-ply birch to the dump every week.

Those videos are insane, you make it look easy.
I built a 7'8" alaia after watching the Bending The Plank one.
After some playing around I cut it down to 6"6" and have a nice 1'+scrap.
Any hints on handplane dims?

This is what I used to use for a handplane, cheap, ding resistant, and nice after a surf too.

hey cyrus. good to have you here on sways mate. enjoy, n.

Tony,

You are right. If you could put 40 trees in the ground your return would be 100 fold in less than 10 years. The only problem is the land required for such a plot. 20-30 yards between each tree to allow root growth. I have a couple acres of old family fields that I'm growing five trees with plans to add at least 5 more next year. I love the buzz about Paulownia. Miracle trees.

Steven

www.dragontrees.com says
"Tree Spacing" - Plant no closer than 6' to a walkway or foundation. If planted next to another tree, plant no closer than 5 feet. Recommended distance between trees is 12 feet. So it does not need quite so much space.

If you want cheap trees contact them 12 trees for $120 and they even throw in another 12 for free. That is alot of board in a few years.

what kind of oil did you use, was it boiled or raw linseed oil?

i've found that boiled linseed oil forms a kind of sticky layer after about 6 times off applying with around 36 hours in between.I read tom wegener wasn't to happy about the siccatives in the boiled linseed oil. So i just bought some raw oil. But then i had this biochemistry course the other day, and it was all about enzyms/catalysts which is what the siccative is, but then in nature. If you compare the enzymes with the siccative, some siccatives seem to use the same metals i'm not sure about the whole complex around it. The thing is that if you use the right siccatives you would be doing it just like your blood takes oxygen from your lungs in a natural way. This is done when the siccative contains for example Cobalt or Nickel or a whole bunch of other metals used in eukarya (living things). My point that the varnish like layer on the wood that it gets after about a week of putting boiled oil on it is completely natural and it opens up a whole other world of woods which can be use for alaias and handplanes, and seal it nautrally. Which may not have the same wateresistant features of pauwlonia, but is easier accesible.. What do you guys think about it? and does the raw linseed oil form the same sticky layer on top of your wood?

for people looking for different wood species suitable for crafting alaia's i reccomd this book from the us forestry department:

http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fplgtr/fplgtr113/fplgtr113.pdf

it also contains some information about sealing wood, in which they show linseed isn't to succesful. which doesn't confirm with my observations.

i hope this is of any use to one of you.....

anyway i'll post some pics of the layer of sticky stuff on my alaia

Hey Cyrus,

I shape boards for Tom down near Bells beach in Australia. I've become obsessed by the alaia and other sorts of wacky wooden projects too. I've got about 20 different alaia's from 8ft down to 4 ft. I've also built a 12ft olo which I've ridden twice and it's given me a new respect for the ancient Hawaiians.

The board in the pic is my new secret lover ! It's 5ft by 13 inches by 3/8ths thick. I ride it prone with flippers over super shallow reefs and sandbanks, and it totally flies!!!! I tried to make it an honest replica of an ancient alaia, with the idea that I'd hang it on the wall. But after I tested it one clean offshore afternoon, I'm hooked. This is without a doubt my favourite board of all time! I've never been into bodyboarding, but this thing has changed me forever! It's got a gently rolled bottom and deck, and it doesn't really have a top or bottom. Both sides are pretty much identical. In the tail shot it looks like it has a concave, but thats just because it was 40degrees over here today and it's a bit warped from sitting in my van all day!  This thing is so much fun in the small summer surf we have over here in OZ.

Keep up the good work. Good to have you on Sways!

Cheers,

BJ.

OZ     1/3 Raw Linseed Oil 1/3 Gum Turpentine 1/3 Apple Cider Vinegar

p>

I brought all my friends out to help cut and sand this Alaia. The more hands on it the better. Blake Brown is helping me clean up my rails here. Should be sanding most of this afternoon.

Hey there Bob,

Yeah, it's quite flexy,  But I've grown to like it like that. It doesn't really have any usefull buoyancy, so it's more like body-surfing with a portable planing surface. My swimming strength has improved out of sight ! I tend to ride this board at shallow beachies and low tide reefs so there isn't much of a paddle. When there's more of a paddle involved I ride the 6 footer below, It's still only 3/8ths thick, but its 15' wide and has a parabolic rail.

This thing is super fast and holds in the steepest of waves. It also works well as a stand up alaia but I tend to ride this one prone. The low volume makes it great for sitting deep on the inside on bigger days because it's so easy to duckdive. This makes it easy to pick off waves that other surfers let through while they're jockeying for the bigger sets. Being 6 foot it also paddles well when combined with a pair of flippers.

Cheers

BJ.

A couple of recent wood projects.

3'2 Paipo (displayed proudly by Manoa)

12 foot solid paulownia Olo (3 plys, 8 sheets)

8 foot authentic ancient style Alaia (same roll top and bottom, no concave)

She got some good rides on it :)

I don´t really quite understand why these boards are not covered with varnish...

there are so many varieties of good varnish...

or as you do, why don´t you submerge them in hot oil, that will impregnate the wood forever..

The board looks great! How did it surf? What type of bottom did he use?

Hey Guys,

That board rode great, I've found wider fish-shaped handplanes work great in small surf (don't know the exact dims and I've since given it away), the wide planning area allows you to trim out on small waves really well. I've since shaped a bunch and that fish template still is my favorite for waves under 4 feet. For bigger stuff I made a handgun that works in juicier reef waves.

Here's clip of my buddy and I surfing the handgun on a good sized day

http://vimeo.com/5602960