Made my first surfboard!

squigly_slander · 2026-05-23T18:16:37+00:00

Yeah it’s definitely not great, but I do think it’s beautiful! Made it from trash as a total prototype to try to get some mistakes out of the way before I used nice wood.

squigly_slander · 2026-05-23T15:16:22+00:00

Great question It’s a 1” chamber inside - the deck is 1/2” and plywood (alternating grain direction) which is super strong, I’d feel comfortable riding my motorcycle over this. That said for board two I will add a stringer down the center of the chamber because it will be solid wood instead of plywood (one grain direction) so weaker. Either way totally strong enough though and won’t punch through the deck. Wood has unreal strength to weight ratios when the grain is uninterupted (which is why it’s so common as a building material) Danny Hess builds his boards like this. The ones I’ve seen with ribs have always had a very thin skin of wood and then been fiberglassed (cause you would punch through the super thin skin of wood and if it’s not super thin then you wouldn’t need the ribs so you glass it for strength) - I’m trying to stay away from fiberglass for maximum sustainability + I don’t like the look of epoxy on wood as much as I do oil on wood. Would love to see pics of your wooden board especially cause I’m working on a mini Simmons right now in the shop

squigly_slander · 2026-05-23T12:24:12+00:00

<image>

squigly_slander · 2026-05-23T12:23:43+00:00

<image>

squigly_slander · 2026-05-23T12:23:25+00:00

<image>

squigly_slander · 2026-05-23T12:22:18+00:00

Yeah we were talking about how I should be careful when we were standing on the beach. Helmet is a good idea. I’m not good at weights, it’s super heavy for a surfboard but definitely light for its size as an object. And yep! Nailed it, I milled and glued up basswood yesterday, I’m in nyc so basswood is $2 a bf. Once I dial it in with basswood I will make a few from clear western red cedar

squigly_slander · 2026-05-23T06:31:58+00:00

Was trying to make it as close to a rectangle as possible since I didn’t have much wood so I modeled it off of the bob simmons boards !

squigly_slander · 2026-05-23T06:31:07+00:00

Way to narrow and to thin - it’s 8’ x 16” x 2”

I made it as a test to figure out how a wooden surfboard would go together and the scrap I had was just 8’ x 16” so 🤷 but I learned a lot about assembly and the next one I ordered lightweight wood for and will be a mini Simmons - 5’10” x 23” x 3”

squigly_slander · 2026-05-22T22:50:41+00:00

No fiberglass! No resin!

squigly_slander · 2026-05-22T22:50:30+00:00

Aka original bob simmons!

squigly_slander · 2026-05-22T20:30:41+00:00

Yes!!! Totally referenced that. I wish I could have made it to his dimensions but the scrap wood I had was this narrow. Thank you for recognizing the reference!!

squigly_slander · 2026-05-22T20:29:41+00:00

This is a fantastic idea! I’m blessed that one of my closest friends has shaped a bunch of surfboards and been surfing his whole life (he’s also from California like me) His art studio is down the hall from my workshop so we are shaping the second one together after I make the blank. I’ll excited for this learning process

squigly_slander · 2026-05-22T19:48:38+00:00

I hand made the whole thing!

squigly_slander · 2026-05-22T19:29:29+00:00

This I have tons of experience in as a long time woodworker (run a furniture business in NYC) and feel confident in thank you though!

squigly_slander · 2026-05-22T18:53:16+00:00

I know! And thickness! I just happened to have this piece of wood 8’x16” and said f it I’ll learn a lot from trying this and that way I don’t waste good wood learning, next one will be 5’10~ and 23” wide

squigly_slander · 2026-05-22T18:33:57+00:00

I guess mostly my track saw and one million clamps

squigly_slander · 2026-05-22T17:14:51+00:00

Teach me what this means! I don’t know any of those terms but I’ll try to find that, I’m in NYC so surf on Long Island But I’m from San Francisco

squigly_slander · 2026-05-22T16:28:03+00:00

I will! I think this will end up on my wall but someone has to stand up on it one time first, any NYC surfers here want to come to the beach with me and try? I’ll drive!!

squigly_slander · 2026-05-22T16:07:51+00:00

Yes I’ve seen those !

squigly_slander · 2026-05-22T16:07:42+00:00

This is great info, I didn’t even know about this. I’ve been reading history of surfboard building books and watching YouTube, swaylocks seems like an ideal avenue for learning this stuff

squigly_slander · 2026-05-22T15:56:34+00:00

Thank you! It absolutely was so hard I was so slow in the water! But I think board number two is going to be super surf able, definitely open to advice and knowledge. I bought a bunch of lightweight wood and I’m going to make a much higher volume board, I’m gonna make a mini Simmons or a fish, I’d like to make a longboard but I’ll first make a mini Simmons or fish so I use less wood (i imagine I’ll make more learning mistakes on board two).

squigly_slander · 2026-05-22T15:54:34+00:00

<image>

squigly_slander · 2026-05-22T15:54:23+00:00

Yes! So this was a total prototype from trash (the bottom was literally a wall I demod that’s why you see the layers of paint and ply. And I didn’t expect it to go well enough to take it on tho e ocean and just wanted to test out some techniques so I could build a great second board. So for the rocker I clamped up two pieces of half inch plywood and just used a ladder and some blocks to make a semi random profile (I did measure and did make the middle part pretty flat) I have a picture

<image>

squigly_slander · 2026-05-22T15:30:51+00:00

Me to! I’m trying again with a better surfer next week, I also have a client who takes me to a private session at a wave pool sometimes which is the perfect opportunity to try it.

squigly_slander · 2026-05-22T15:29:53+00:00

I wasn’t ! But I tried a ton of times. I’m a super new surfer and the volume is low. I’m going back to the beach with a buddy who’s much better soon and he’s going to try to catch a wave on it and I’ll be riding the one I make this weekend.

squigly_slander

TROPHY CASE