Solid Wood Surf Board

At the Polar Bear Event I got to ride Topaz Surfer's wooden surfboard. He made this out of solid red wood!! It is heavy but man was it a blast to ride. I was able to walk up to the nose, walk to the back, it was classic. All the other guys who rode the board all loved it like me and we were like little kids in a candy store with big smiles every time. I have been badgering Topaz Surfer to figure out a way to produce these boards for others..... it is truly a fun board to ride. I think 3 of us could ride it at the same time because it is so solid!! Would you be interested in a board like this? Here are some pics from the event

Looks sweet!

this surf board looks great. The pictures are so great and cool.



yours sincerely

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joyce, a furniture designer from http://www.melodyhome.com/

Looks awesome.
Just gave me an idea for a wintertime project. I was considering getting one of the foam blank kits and cutting it down some, but a solid wood board might be interesting to try and tackle. I have seen hollow wood boards, and have looked for info on solid ones, but came up empty. This inspires me!

Got to ride it there too. At 30 plus pounds I sure wouldn't want to 'credit card' with it though! Like everybody else who rode it, it got me thinking about a winter project. That thing was a gas!

We make a wood surfboards that look similar. Ours are mostly cedar with mahogany stringers. We have the weight down to 6 lbs, and we just finished setting up for production.

http://www.wakewoodsurf.com

I couldn't agree more about the fun factor. Wood has such a different feel than foam and just seems to make people smile.

So was the one at the polar bear challenge solid wood, or was it a wood skeleton frame with wood over it like the wakewoodsurf boards?
I would think that at 30lbs it would be a single solid piece of wood that was shaped vs the 6lb weight.
I'd be interested to see reviews from people that have surfed both kinds.

Hey guys Topaz here, thanks for the interest in my board. It is a solid Redwood board and it actually weighs 22.5lbs I made it to be a old school single fin cruiser. Its alot of fun to ride. It will be interesting to hear what others have to say. I know everyone that has ridden it loves it .


Topaz

Just to clarify the Wake Wood boards are not skin over frame construction. They are comprised of 23 separate strips of wood laminated together. We core some of the center strips to reduce the weight.

We made a few thicker, heavier boards as well. I think they came in at around 12 lbs. They were super fun to ride, almost couldn't do anything wrong. You could walk all over the board. Traditionally a heavy board is typically considered faster (at least for ocean surfing). The extra weight also seems to bust thru chop better so you get a nice smooth cruiser ride. Not going to win a comp on a board like this but chilling with a beer and just enjoying the ride it can't be beat.

Woody's are easy to make. Wanted a big stable board to surf with my daughter and teach beginners. Mine is poplar strips with a couple 1/4" oak strips for color. Planned down to about 5/8" i think.

Looks awesome and like something I could possibly do at home. Can you post some more info or how to instructions on how you made yours? Is there any certain reason you chose Poplar wood? I have heard of people making them out of Cedar or Redwood as well.
What did you do for the fin(s) mounting?

Cedar/redwood/pine/balsa would all be lighter. I teach high school wood shop and we have thousands of feet of yellow poplar here for about $1 a sq ft. Board is probably 25 lbs, heavy moving around the boat compared to other foam boards but not noticeable on the water. We have been making stand up paddleboards and surfboards for a few years now. Not very hard, you just need the right tools, I have a wood shop and finishing room at my disposal My woody is about 1/2" thick actually and i just drilled holes through it and used ronix surf fins. Way easier than routing in fin boxes in a foam board. LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of research!!! I spent hours reading about surfboard shapes/rail profiles/tail shapes/fin size/fin shape/fin placement/fin angle before i decided on the shape of the woody and it rides exactly how i wanted it to. I also put a ton of bend in the nose to keep beginners from burying the nose. The foam top is gator grip for wakejunky. Give me a call and I can explain it better, it would take me hours to type everything here.
Here is the write up from the foam board.
http://www.wakeworld.com/forum/showthread.php?t=793716

That's amazing. I am definitely getting the bug to start making one now, just adding it to the list of endless wintertime projects. I have done some research on shapes, rockers, etc. but haven't really dug into it as much.
Currently, the main board I ride is a Ronix Caption. It is kind of a unique design from what I have seen, with it's rounded nose and fish style tail. I'd want to build something that was more mirrored than that though, something that if you pulled a 180 on, it would be the same board going forwards and backwards, inlcuding fins and placement.
I'll be sure to be in contact with you when I actually get to making one.