I started the "Alaia Project" @ the beginning of January. I went off to the mill inspired by the works of Tom Wegner and some video on YouTube of guys like Christian Wach riding Alaias. I began looking for home grown Jerzy wood. I thought a white cedar would be a good local wood to use keeping the wood locally harvested, glued and shaped.
Well, so much for that at this moment. I ended up with Philippino Mahogany for the first few boards, w/ full intention of bringing it full circle back to a total jersey project.
I glued up 2 blanks so far. 1 for a 7'8 Alaia & 1 for a 4' Paipo (Pipe' o) or bodyboard.
I finished off the Paipo the other day. Here is a bottom shot. Now off to work on the Alaia.
2 comments:
Jamie, stoked over your sites and work!!! I attended the Surf Expo here in Florida two weeks ago and bought a Paulownia wood blank from Tom Wegener's brother, Jon for a 7' Alaia. Shaped it in about 12 hours. Rode it prone last week. So fun. I'm a big guy at 250 lbs and had a challenging time paddling it around as the entire things was completely under the water. It may just be me but I think I'll need a bigger board somewhere in the 8-9 foot range. Let me know how your boards work when you get them in the water. My buddy took some pics of my maiden voyage on the Alaia but his computer has been acting up so I will post them to my site (longboardtheworld.com) when I get them. Stay stoked!
I too bought blanks from Jon and am so pleased with them. I just finished the board (still need to oil), check it out at www.bitness.com - I did a series stepping through the process. It also took me about 12 hours (albeit over weeks!).
Thanks for the site, would love to add to my blogroll.
Brgds,
Lawrence
Post a Comment