First Ride and Sacred Craft

I finally had a chance to ride my newly completed Grain Waterlog. We took a trip down to San Diego to visit with family and friends last week. Our first day down there, the surf was completely blown out and there wasn't a surfer in the water anywhere. The second day, my daughter, Malia, and I went down to La Jolla Shores and caught some nice small waves. We both had fun and I'm so glad I was able to share the experience with Malia.

So how did it ride? The board is heavier than any of my other boards. I think I added too much reinforcement throughout the board, which added the extra weight. I doubt the board needed all that reinforcement in retrospect. Once I put the board in the water, the nose felt particularly heavy. It took me a few minutes to find the fulcrum point on the board. It takes a bit more effort to paddle the board, but it gains incredible momentum. I placed the fin all the way back in the box and the tip of the fin extended to just beyond the end of the board. This made for a stiffer and slower turning, but really stabilized the board. Overall, I loved the ride and feel of the board. The Shores were pretty crowded on this day and Malia and I only caught a few waves.

I went out the next day with my cousin, Frank, and brother-in-law, Jason at 15th Street in Del Mar. Malia came with us, but there was a little swell in the water and she decided to stay on the beach. Frank, Jason and I caught a handful of chest-to-head high waves. I felt more comfortable on the board this day but still need some time to get really familiar with it.

Later in the day, Frank and I went to the Sacred Craft Expo at the Del Mar Fair Grounds. Very cool experience. I saw so many legends, shapers, and cool boards. One of the highlights was meeting Mike from Grain. We stopped by his booth, introduced ourselves and chatted for a bit. Mike is a gracious person and passionate about Grain. Just to name drop for a minute, I also met Mike Hynson and got his autograph. I saw Wingnut, Mickey Munoz, Gene Cooper, Matt Calvani, Sam George, John Cherry (with the Simmons Spoon replica and his agave board), Ryan Lovelace, and John Wesley. The latter two are young, talented shapers.

I saw a pretty cool board that someone brought for appraisal. It was a Dave Sweet board from the late 1950s. According to Sam George, who was appraising the board, it was a particularly historically significant board, because it was one of the first foam boards manufactured. Sam determined this based on the fact that the board didn't have a stringer, which was something that was introduced a little later. The guy that brought the board in said he received it as trade for some work he did for a guy. Sam estimated that this particular board might be worth as much as $10,000 - $15,000 at auction.

One other unique board I saw at the SC was made out of recycled aluminum cans. The board had a rudimentary wood frame (rails, nose block and tail block) and aluminum cans laid lengthwise within the frame. The person then fiber glassed the structure. The cans made natural channels on the deck and bottom of the board. There was worn wax on the deck, so it looked like it had been surfed. It was probably the most creative and original crafts I saw at the entire show.

Stop the Clock...I'm Finally Finished

After 886 days, I finally finished my Grain Waterlog kit. In that time, we had a child (Charlie), I found a new position, and we moved closer to the ocean.

Some observations and lessons learned....

* If I can build a Grain kit (albeit slowly), anyone can.
* If there was a way to make a mistake, I found it. Several small, less obvious mistakes and a few that were more obvious.
* You may never have enough clamps; seriously, I now own 60 3" clamps, 40 2" clamps, 6 bar clamps, 8 feet of PVC clamps, and several others. Does anyone need clamps?
* The manual is surprisingly helpful and clearly explains the process as well as potential pitfalls - kudos to the author(s).
* Mike LaVecchia at Grain is awesome - he answered numerous questions via email and bailed me out of a couple tight spots with his helpful advice. He always had time for my questions and responded really quickly.
* Take it easy when removing wood from your board, whether that be with a spoke shave, hand plane or sanding - once it's gone, you can't replace it. I ended up adding a nose block because I took off too much wood where the deck met the rails near the nose.
* Glassing the board was easier than I thought; sanding it was not. I eventually broke down and bought a sander/polisher. Of all the steps in the process, I was most anxious about glassing the board. Again, great directions in the manual, and once it was done, you could really see what the board was going to look like.   
* Be as neat as possible as you build your board, it will save you time and aggravation in the end.
* When it's all said and done, you'll spend way more than the cost a new board (maybe even two), but the satisfaction of making your own can't be measured in money.
* Be careful, these things are addictive. Half way through the Waterlog, I bought a Sapling kit. 
* There are quite a few other Grain build blogs out there and they're all helpful and inspiring.
* One unexpected benefit of the project was that many of my neighbors, whom I did not previously know, stopped by my garage as I was building the board to check it out. I got to know them all much better thanks to the project.

I included a few pictures of the finished board and my family. Each of them helped in their own way and I'm thankful for their contributions, support and patience.

The deck



The bottom

The bottom again

The deck again

Malia helped with the polishing



Charlie





Charlie sitting on the board

Vanessa with Charlie

Vanessa showing Charlie how to walk to the nose

Malia still polishing

There are only two things left to do: wax it and ride it. 

If anyone building a Grain kit has questions about my project, I would be happy to answer them.

Laminate and Hot Coat

Progress continues at a glacial pace. Today, I managed to glass and hot coat the top of the board. No doubt, this was the one step in the construction process that I was a little anxious about doing. The process of glassing and applying the hot coat seems as though there is very little room for error and plenty of opportunity to create more work or worse. I used some denatured alcohol to clean the deck of the board. Then I made a blue tape skirt around the bottom of the board. Next, I laid and cut the fiberglass to fit the deck with an inch or two of excess glass hanging below the rails. I bought a 3M respirator because the authors of the manual scared me into it with their ominous health warning. I'm sure it was money well spent and no doubt I'll be using it whenever I sand again. Anyway, I carefully read the directions (twice), mixed the epoxy as instructed and then began pouring and squeegeeing epoxy around the deck. It seemed far too easy, which makes me think I may have done something incorrectly or neglected a critical step. I waited a few hours and then applied the hot coat, which is essentially the same thing as the previous step. The board looks pretty glossy and the grain is quite pronounced (as are the many errors I made along the way).

PS In the image of the blue tape skirt, you can see that I have another board in the works. I ordered a Sapling kit and last week I adhered the keel and frames to the bottom planks. The bottom of this board has some contours, so I modified the slats on the rocker table to add pressure where the contours are located.

Noseblock Adhered and Shaped

Well, I emailed Mike at Grain, regarding my situation with the nose of the board, and he provided me with some excellent advice. He suggested that a noseblock would be best in this situation because it would add strength and imporve the aesthetics. I took Mike's advice and cut the nose off the board. As I was cutting the tip of the nose off, I felt as though I might be making a mistake, due to my limited woodworking abilities.

I glued up some redwood and poplar (I didn't have enough walnut and cedar to match the tail block exactly) on to the nose. I wasn't sure that I could make the two pieces of nose block match and get the correct angle when gluing them to the board, so I left a little triangular area open. I glued in a pine scrap to complete the nose block. It ain't pretty, but it's rock solid and solves the initial problem.

Rhinoplasty...?

I was fine sanding the board in preparation for glassing and I noticed that part of the nose is dangerously thin. It's so thin in fact, that I can see the Titebond and part of the starter strip. I'm at a crossroads here, trying to decide whether I should just leave it as is and just glass it or remove the thinned area and replace it with a nose block. The tape in the images is the outline of where I would cut the nose to add a nose block. I'm leaning toward leaving the thinned area and glassing it, but I'm concerned that it will affect the structural integrity and possibly be prone to leaking. I've emailed Mike at Grain seeking advice and will wait until I hear back from him before proceeding.

Tail Block, Rail Shaping and Sanding

Once again, it's been a while since I last posted an update. Since the last post, I completed the shaping stands, attached the tail block, shaped the rails and began sanding in preparation for glassing.

Attaching the tail block required a few attempts. First, I made a clean, straight cut across the tail section. Then I made a small, three layer tail block, consisting of walnut and cedar. Initially I tried to use some of the many clamps I have accumulated with this project. None seemed to work very well. I decided to try using blue tape instead of clamps and it worked great, much better than I initially thought. After 24 hours under tape, I was able to shape the tail block and there was never any indication that the tail block was not absolutely adhered to the board.

Shaping the rails seemed easier than I thought, which may indicate that I did it incorrectly. I used a block plane and sanding block. I moved slowly and tried not to take off too much wood during the process. The only place where I had trouble was the nose, where I sanded too much and exposed a small amount of Titebond III.

In retrospect, I should have worked more gingerly while I was adhering the bead and cove strips for the rails. There are some small gaps and areas where Titebond is exposed. I hesitate to sand off all the Titebond because the rails already seem thin. I also fear that it would change the symmetry (what little there is) of the rails.

I sanded the deck and bottom as well as the rails with 80 grit sandpaper. I just started sanding with 150 grit to remove the small scratch marks left by the 80 grit. There are a few areas where there deeper impressions in the wood from the block plane pulling the wood that I fear the sanding won't remedy.

I see quite a few small (and not so small) imperfections in my work, but I suppose that's part of the learning process. In the background of some of the images, a Sapling can be seen on the rocker table.

Shaping Stands

With the deck glued on, I started building my shaping stands. This is a fun little side project. A word of caution about the Grain manual and the directions provided for them, there is scant little information other than the obvious - you will need wood, make sure the stands are stable and sturdy, and pad them. I guess the construction of these helpful little devices doesn't need a lot of explanation and it leaves room for creativity. I made the stands this afternoon and now I need to cement them in five gallon buckets and add the padding.

I had to order a spoke shave the other day. Why would I have to order one? There are two Home Depots, one Ace Hardware, and three specialty tool shops in town and none of them had a spoke shave. Most of them didn't even know what a spoke shave was. I'm waiting on that tool and then I can begin shaping the rails.