Replica 10'6" Modern Longboard with Custom Floral Inlay

I am currently on my second #haveplanerwilltravel shaping tour in California and wanted to share today’s work with you. I’m replicating a 10’6” Modern Longboard for one of my dad’s customers. The original board (shaped probably 15 years ago by my dad) has a beautiful floral inlay on the nose. We ran out of the fabric pattern years ago so I designed and drew a new, original palm motif (printed at BoardLams) which will be inlaid into the nose on the deck. The tail is finished with a recycled redwood tailblock. The glassing will be done by The Waterman’s Guild and I’m looking forward to the result, which I’ll post here soon.
-Brock

Replicating a custom Bruce Jones Modern Longboard

I had a chance this past summer, while shaping at The Waterman’s Guild, to recreate a 9’2” x 22 1/2” x 3 1/8” Bruce Jones Modern Longboard that Carlos had purchased from my father years ago. It was a fun project to shape and the glass job by Ryan Martz and his team at the Waterman’s Guild is some of the finest work I’ve seen. 

As with any board, the process began with selecting the right blank and rocker. In this case, our stock rocker for the @usblanks 9-4B was nearly identical. This first step makes my job so much easier. The US Blanks 9-4B thickness profile (my next consideration) is set up perfectly for this type of board: a user-friendly longboard that you can rely on for a variety of conditions. To be more specific, it is thickened in the right places to anticipate features like concave and tail vee without running out foam.

The process of handshaping a replica of something my dad had made a decade or more earlier was more than just interesting. There was a connection to him as I examined and replicated his design. It’s definitely a process I want to be a part of in the future.

That said, shoot me an email or a message through social-media if you, like Carlos, have an old Bruce Jones Surfboard that you would prefer to preserve. The chances are high that we will find an appropriate blank to replicate your board #mybrucejones #haveplanerwilltravel


Foiling and Connecting

Honing in an old Rhino Balsa that we had been sitting on for 15 yrs or so. Working with this blank has been a rewarding experience. The shaping room smells better, it feels good knowing that the shavings and dust falling on the ground will go to good use (compost) and it demands more accurate use of your tools - largely the same tools one would use on a foam blanks. Tools designed, in most cases, for wood in the first place. Most gratifying of all, is that it takes me back to my first wood surfboard lesson in 2010. My dad was working on another Rhino Balsa, of identical construction, and asked me to feel the rails, handed me his sanding block (which he often regarded as his most important tool) and bid me to make changes where I saw fit.

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