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Hess Surfboards
- Thread starter johnson7
- Start date
Danny mills his own veneers in the Wood Shop. He let me choose the wood. Can't remember the stock options -- walnut, pine,I wouldn't surf that one leashless at Lunada.
Does Danny mill his own veneers? Do you get to choose wha wood species you want?
What is the length and weight? Looks like the perfect board for head high Swamis, yeah?
Walking o the beach with that under your arm would be like having a perfect 10 fashion model on your arm.
paulownia.
He scored the redwood planks you see leaning against the wall in the background from an old water tower. Cured old-growth. He has a finite supply that is going fast. He told me it is magic wood. Incredibly strong and light. I will get the board today and report on it's weight. Board is an 8'6 quad designed for big OBSF.
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I see some guys with his boards at OBSF and scratch my head wondering, "Is that guy out there getting waves on that thing?". Particularly when it's 6 feet and guys are on 8'6" guns.
But I also know there are some guys out there on his boards that are totally dialed in.
Redwood from old water tanks or even better redwood flights from old rectangular clarifiers are gold. The wood from the old flights are knotless 4"x8"x20'. We used to retrofit these clarifiers with FRP flights and resell the old wood flights for more $$$ than than the entire retrofit would cost the owner. Finally they wised up and decided to "dispose" of them themselves.
Head-high Swamis and 6-foot OB -- I'm ready for you!
Mid-July. You should be getting an email "soon" (in shaper's time). What did you order Yew?
Update: Grabbed the board this afternoon. Too bad I couldn't surf because it was looking nice out there this afternoon. Would have been a good day to test. Not too big but solid enough on the outer bars to really feel her out.
Deck is flat and the rails are low apex but full. Full foil through the nose with a refined tail. Danny said 6' of nose rocker and "generous" tail rocker. Overall, it feels like way more board than my 8'3 Rusty Blackbird, which has a bladey foil. A lot of foam packed in. It will undoubtedly be a paddle beast. Also incredibly light for this much volume. I didn't weigh it, but was surprised when I picked her up.
Funny, I almost ordered a 9'3 from Rusty after feeling undergunned on a couple of occasions last year. Emails were exchanged, files drawn. Last minute I decided to try something less traditional. This is definitely it. You can tell that if Danny extended the nose and tail to traditional gun widths, this would have been a 9'3. I wouldn't pick this up off the rack and decide it was the board for me. It's attributes are counterintuitive for me, even though I've been surfing a lot of alternative craft. But I put full trust in Danny, who's been building boards for and surfing OB and Mavs many years. I have a feeling this thing will go insane and push my surfing to a new level. Stocked!
Deck is flat and the rails are low apex but full. Full foil through the nose with a refined tail. Danny said 6' of nose rocker and "generous" tail rocker. Overall, it feels like way more board than my 8'3 Rusty Blackbird, which has a bladey foil. A lot of foam packed in. It will undoubtedly be a paddle beast. Also incredibly light for this much volume. I didn't weigh it, but was surprised when I picked her up.
Funny, I almost ordered a 9'3 from Rusty after feeling undergunned on a couple of occasions last year. Emails were exchanged, files drawn. Last minute I decided to try something less traditional. This is definitely it. You can tell that if Danny extended the nose and tail to traditional gun widths, this would have been a 9'3. I wouldn't pick this up off the rack and decide it was the board for me. It's attributes are counterintuitive for me, even though I've been surfing a lot of alternative craft. But I put full trust in Danny, who's been building boards for and surfing OB and Mavs many years. I have a feeling this thing will go insane and push my surfing to a new level. Stocked!
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Wonder how he does it? Band saw and drum sander? That'd be a lot of waste. Industrial veneer is produced with giant "knives." It's the kind of machine that, if you have it, that's your business. See 2:55 in the video link. I can't imagine him having one in his shop.
ps when I first started making timber boards (right after Bert Burger's seminal vacuum bagging thread) Danny was still on Swaylocks asking questions and learning. At the time he was using bender ply. I'm glad to see he's done well. His craftsmanship is really top notch.
i was thinking the same when i read he was cutting his own veneers on site. its highly inefficient to be producing venneers using shop tools. basically you are going to wind up with a bigger pile of dust than usable material when youre done.
that and moisture content is critical. you cant really rely on air drying in the city getting materials down to workable percentages. at some point you are going to need a kiln.
i suspect he is sourcing veneers commercially and using on site sticks for tail blocks, glass ons and details.
I have no woodworking experience, so no idea. I just know he has the redwood planks in the shop and somehow they end up surfboards. Assuming he does it there. https://woodshopsf.com/
prolly not
how thick are his "veneers"
typical decorative veneers run about .6mm thick
thick veneers top out around 2.5mm.
which is why the industry typically peels veneers.
quarter sawing ripping and planning is not something you want to be doing to make super thin stock. not only is it impractical, but planing and/or drum sanding thickness down in the couple mm range is fucked up as most shop tools arent designed for it.
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Here's the description of his tech from the site: I’M ALWAYS SEARCHING FOR WAYS TO MAKE STRONGER, HIGH PERFORMANCE, INTERESTING SURFBOARDS. THAT SEARCH HAS LED ME TO CREATING THIS HYBRID TECHNOLOGY. I WAS TRYING TO FIND THAT NEUTRAL, CONSISTENT FLEX POLY SURFBOARDS HAVE IN A STRONGER EPOXY TYPE CONSTRUCTION. USING A COMBINATION OF RECYCLED EPS AND VACUUM FORMED 1/8TH INCH THICK WOOD DECK THAT FUNCTIONS AS THE STRINGER, THESE BOARDS PROVE EVEN, CONSISTENT, LIVELY FLEX. THEY ARE DURABLE, WITH A VERY PRESSURE DING RESISTANT DECK. GLASSED WITH ENTROPY BIO-EPOXY.
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Band saw. 1/8" is THICK. I wonder how he forms the compound curves in the nose??? Even with 1/42" thick veneers I use softener and have had them crack.
That's a professional secret, buddy! I did take the board out on her maiden voyage today. Outer bar was well overhead, with a 17 second period offering enough juice for a decent test. Who do I run into but Chase, Danny's shop assistant. We sat outside, trading set waves and chatting. I asked him about the wood decks. He said they do everything themselves in the shop with industrial grade gear.
Oh yeah, board goes good
Couple more glamour shots.
Oh yeah, board goes good
Couple more glamour shots.Attachments
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Sick - hopefully it comes before I go to kauai (Mid Jan), but thats probably wishful thinking. I got a 6'6 Banjo step-up at what I think was around 38-40L. I think I'm going to size up my normal boards as well as I sink them quite a bit now lol
BEAUTIFUL. Time to post up quiver shots. Have some nice Hess guns and step ups here. Love his work and the boards don't disappoint.