Tree to Board; Shaping a Wooden Surfboard from Maine Cedar 

Thanks man! Appreciate your thoughts. Still dialing in my process, and always happy to meet up and talk boards.

thanks man!

Thanks man

Thank you jack!

Thank you!

Really appreciate it man. Thank you for watching.

Thanks mate!

thank you my man

Thanks Kenn! Hoping to get a video out in the near future of a couple new boards and an update with this one. Appreciate you taking the time to watch this!

Appreciate you Phil!

thank you!

Thank you rick, I’m really stoked to hear this. Would love to make it out to Perth sometime. Headed to NZ in the fall…

Thanks Bruce!

Thank you Nica!

Yeah man go for it! Thanks for watching.

Thank you. The music was mixed for the film by my cousin. You should check out more of his stuff! soundcloud.com/martin-jarzyna

Appreciate it!

Thank you!

Thanks man, appreciate you watching.

Thank you!

Thank you for watching Ernesto!

Yeah man it’s fun in the bigger stuff! Takes some power to get it moving.

Cheers man thank you!

Right on. Thanks for watching.

Appreciate the watch mate.

Thanks man!

Thank you man!

Thanks!

It's an absolute tank haha. Currently working on making some lighter versions...

Thank you man.

Haha thank you mate.

Thank you man! The chambers are everywhere but have some staggered sections I left for strength.

Haha, just the off cuts from the blank. Thanks for watching

😆🤙🏼

Thanks Matt!

@@torstenbrinkema if I were to head up north what’s a solid break I should check out? Would love to explore wooded coast and capture it on photo/film. Would you be interested in having an extra hand film you/collaborate on a film?

I would say weight is the main difference. Because this is a chambered board with relatively heavy wood (compared to balsa and paulownia), it weighs a lot more than your traditional foamy. Once you get it going it flys. Currently working on lighter builds with cedar!

Haha thank you man, appreciate you taking the time to watch. Cheers.

Thanks chad!

Will have to make a trip west soon!

Thanks for watching! The board is around 15 lbs, and was a lot more before I chambered. I finished a wooden simmons not too long ago, which clocked in around 5lbs. It's worth it to get really close to the exterior to save weight-- something I learned from this first wooden board. Currently getting ready to slab a fallen cedar of my own and shape a few more. Worth it if you're willing to put in the hours (months). Cheers

Thanks so much Erlo. Appreciate it. I chose to be a bit ambiguous about parts of the process to respect the shapers that passed down knowledge to me. Can’t give away all the secrets…

@@torstenbrinkema I hear you. Again, great effort.

Thank you! I separated them to chamber out the board to make it lighter.

Gracias! Cedar

With this board, I left more than I should have-- I only left around an 1/8" on my new wooden simmons and it's actually pretty light. I would say it is a lot of work, but these boards will outlive me with little repair. I'm still experimenting with design and weight!

Haha, thank you. Fjallraven. Beast of a pant.

Thank you.

Thanks for watching mate

Thank you! I used Cedar

Cedar!

Bout 15lbs! Definitely a tank haha

Thanks man. More films on the way.

Speaking of college, I think we can all agree you're a D1 hater😂

Nope - D1 Grad - 1966 ..... just a bad film hater .... thanks for asking.@@blackychan8570

Yeah, my workshop back at Colby College. I was spoiled. I understand where you're coming from, and I agree fully. But this is a film, not a how to video. I seek to inspire in people a love for the environment around them. I share all of my progressions and failures with anyone who I come in contact with, and continue to search for the most sustainable craft. I appreciate your perspective, and taking the time to watch!

We’ll get there one day…

Both tracks by my cousin Martin Jarzyna! Check out his other work soundcloud.com/martin-jarzyna he's makes amazing stuff

Fair enough, haha. I tried to emphasize the gravity of the natural world over humans and my own voice, but it's always hard to tell a story about my own journey with out sounding like a bit of a dick.

Thanks for your comment. I agree with you to an extent that it is a bit hypocritical to praise sustainability and use materials like resin and fiberglass. However, the markets for these materials will never cease to exist, and I think it is important promote epoxies that are more sustainable (Entropy Resins). Because I glassed it, the board's life will extend far beyond my own life-- arguably more sustainable than an oiled wooden board that dings and soaks in water.

@@torstenbrinkema Sorry, i was a bit harsh. The problem i have isn't even the epoxy. It's the fiberglass. It's almost impossible to make a board without using some type of synthetic glue and epoxy or varnish. So right now i think we should at least be striving for an easy desposal of the board. Without the fibreglass you can just burn the board and just have non-problematic ashes. Fiberglass doesn't burn though, which is why i try to avoid that stuff. I would go for kevlar and carbon fibre before i'd go to fiberglass, since at least carbon and kevlar can be burned cleanly. But i see your point. It might be better to use a small amount of non-sustainable materials, when it extends the life of the product. I don't think that fibreglass is the best way to do that though. Of course i already find it good that people like you are showing people that it's possible to make a board with wood. Then maybe someone else builds on your process and makes it more sustainable. And then again someone makes it even more sustainable, until we have completely renewable surfboards...hopefully.

Absolutely agree. Have you ever used flax fibre cloth? As far as I know, it's the most "sustainable" fiberglass alternative out there. I've seen Josh Martin using it on foam blanks, and I'm curious how it would go on wood. I hope that the industry makes a shift in the coming years from mass produced boards that are made to break to locally shaped boards with more sustainable materials. I have no doubt that alternatives to fiberglass and poly blanks will pop up in next decade-- and you can count on me to seek them out. Since this first board, I've made a couple more cedar boards from wood that was neglected or from trees that were tossed aside for their irregularities. The problem I've found when making chambered boards with knots and rotten wood is their tendency to absorb water through those irregular sections. After saturating the knots, cloth provides a perfect blanket for the epoxy to create a full seal. The last thing I want is for the board to take in water and rot from the inside. I'm making a new film and board now from Minnesota cedar to surf on Lake Superior, and will explore some new sealing methods. Cheers!

@@torstenbrinkema No, i have no experience with flax fibre, but i'm aware of it and i'd love to work with it and test it, but i didn't find an opportunity to work with it yet. "The problem I've found when making chambered boards with knots and rotten wood is their tendency to absorb water through those irregular sections." Yeah, that's problem. That's why i avoid knots. It's hard enough to make a wooden surfboard already, so i don't want defects like knots. I'm also working with hand tools only and working with knots is a nightmare! I also want my board to be a light and strong as possible, which is also why i avoid knots. They are basically material defects/weak spots. I also not a fan of chambered boards. I was at first, but as i started thinking about it more i realised that they are quite unpredictable and you're not using the strength of the wood optimally, since you have much less freedom to chose the direction of the grain. Of course if optimal weight isn't a concern then chambered boards are just fine. What do you think about bladders? I was thinking about what would happen if my board broke and it would pretty much have no more flotation if that happend. So i was thinking a lot about bladders. One bladder could break and you'd still have flotation from the other bladders. But that's probably only an issue for windsurfers, since Surfers usually stay close to the beach. A windsurfer needs flotation at all times for safety reasons. "After saturating the knots, cloth provides a perfect blanket for the epoxy to create a full seal. The last thing I want is for the board to take in water and rot from the inside." Yeah, that would bad, but could probably be counteracted by adding vents to the board. Most of the time the board in out of the water anyway. To seal a board i've also thought about maye putting the board in some kind of shrink wrap or plastic wrapper, instead of epoxy. That's also kind of intruguing to me. Then you could just change the outer layer of plastic if it had a defect. So at least the materials would be seperable. And it's not difficult to completely seal the board. Do you think that could be done? Maybe not even shrink wrap. Maybe some kind of clear sticky tape would work as well to wrap around the board. There might even be versions made of some kind of bioplastic.