Have a Great Day

Shameless Self Promotion

I know, I know.  This has absolutely nothing to do with Handplanes.  And it's really not cool to post pictures of yourself surfing on the internets.  But, hey, I'm not cool anyway.  It has more to do with age.  The way I see it, at 42, I've pretty much hit my plateau when it comes to surfing.  Don't get me wrong, I still love to surf and hope to be one of those 70 year old guys that still paddles out everyday.  The age of me progressing much more is most likely not gonna happen.  With that being said, I can still sometimes try to do a little surfing above the lip.  I was riding the 5'4" Rusty Fish Quatro that Bird loaned me.  I rarely pull anything like this, but, sometimes you just gotta try.  And no, I didn't pull it, but, did come down on top of my board, then lost it when doing some white water rafting..  Thanks to Tom English at Aloha Wealth Management for the shots.  Aloha Wealth Management

From Down Below

Here is a section in Brokedown Melody (one of my favorite surf films in the last decade) of bodysurfing from below.  Most of the waves being ridden under the trough, and not in the face, a phenomenon that is rarely caught on video.  This is one of the more artsy/beautiful clips I have ever seen.

Does MS need a Handplane

Probably NOT.  Mike Stewart bodysurfing Teahupoo.

Hopefully better than a Frisbee

The summer, or lack thereof, has winded down and I am finally at a point where I can start experimenting and doing some custom shapes and stuff for people. I've known Ryan for about 13 years. Haven't seen him much since I moved out of PB to North County. He saw a couple handplanes I made for a few of my friends down thier, and wanted to get something a little more custom than one of the standard Models. He has been using a Frisbee as his handplaning aid, something that I hadn't heard of. He has actually went through a few different models. So, he wanted me to shorten up the Brownfish Model to 14", add a couple wings, and add the spine. Also wanted it yellow with some red pinlines. He actually sent me a PDF file with a board he designed on CAD for me to try and duplicate. I think it came out pretty good overall.

The Pelican is up for Grabs

I've made an executive decision. I keep every piece of art my wife does. I always tell her how great her work is, but, she never believes me. Apparently, "I have to say that." So it means nothing. I remember one day in the early years of dating we did an all-dayer at San'O. There was this rather large guy, with a well earned beer gut, sitting in an aluminum beach chair, drinking a beer and eating a sandwich. She drew the most amazing sketch of that scene. I still wish to this day, that I had that piece of work. It would be framed and sitting over the fireplace. Getting back to the Pelican. Everyone always asks me if stencils were used. It's funny cause that never even crossed my mind. But, no, all of her work is well thought out, almost too well, then hand drawn. Sometimes she throws away some of the most amazing stuff, cause she isn't happy with it. I guess thats the perfectionism in it. So, if you are interested in purchasing "The Pelican," it is available in the BROWNFISH ON-LINE STORE  It is a one of a kind piece, and won't ever be duplicated on a handplane.

Ready for Testing

Finished up the new prototype/experiment on Friday. Overall the changes from the standard Brownfish Model are: Shortened up 2" (so now 14" long), deep single concave into a spine, added extra groove from the nose that will hopefully lead water into the spine, decided to try one without the pad to see how it functions differently. Gonna give her a try within the next few hours. We'll see how she goes.

This is How it's Done

Raisin the Grain

The new Paulownia/Redwood Handplane is shaped out, now just waitin for the grain to raise so I can start the finishing process. It's kinda like watchin the grass grow, but, you know, different. Should get a couple coats on her before sunset.

Roughed Out

Gotta go do some stuff with Rebecca. You know, Costco, Trader Joe's, Bed Bath and Beyond. The Handplane is roughed out. Bottom contour is a deep groove (hard to see in photo) that leads directly into a long spine. All inside a deep single concave from the nose. Here's a few photo's. More after lunch.

Into the Hobbit Hole

Outline cut out. I took my normal Brownfish model and shortened it from 16" to 14". Have some changes coming in the bottom contours. It's an experiment. Hopefully will be able to give it a go tomarrow, provided the winds cooperate. Stay tuned for more progress as the day rolls on.

A Real Ugly Piece of Wood

I was gluing up some Redwood and Paulownia Blanks yesterday for some custom orders and decided that it was time to do some experimentin.  I had a bunch of pretty much unusable cutoffs.  Both Paulownia and Redwood.  Big knots, shot pieces, poor coloring, etc.  So I decided to just glue em all together and in random order.  The only thing I made sure of was the there was always redwood on each side of the paulownia and vice versa.  I am going to do something a little different with the shape as well.  Something that I've been wanting to try for a while now.  I will post progress as she goes.  Here is a pic of the ugly blank:

Burnin Wood

I recently broke down and bought an electric powered wood brander for my handplanes. Expensive little buggers. I've wanted one since I started making handplanes, but, could never rationalize the purchase, or was too busy to get the artwork done. Plus, there is definately a difference of opinion of what people like. Some really like the hand signed version, where others really like the finished look of the brand. There is a pretty major shop that will be announced soon, that is going to be stocking Brownfish Handplanes. They were for the branded look, and it put me over the top. Not sure which is better, maybe do both. What do you Think?

Here are some practice runs, these are pretty raw, and I didn't clean them up, I'm sure they will only get better with time:

Versus the signed look:

Handplane Delivery

Both Surfy Surfy Surfshop in Leucadia and SouthCoast Windansea Surf Shop in Pacific Beach both got a new grip of handplanes yesterday. If you've got the time and are in the area, go have a look, and say hi to JP and Bird.

Action

Photo Goodness

Too much time posting pics of planes and words of stoke. This blog needs some footage. Some eye candy. If you ever have any good pics of yourself or others handplaning or bodysurfing, I'd love to post em. Just e-mail me. Hopefully I will be soon getting more time in the water, shooting pics of others with my Gopro mounted handplane. Need some surf for that, and, also the weather and tides to cooperate. This first picture is just amazing to me. Everything just right. Photo is of Tim Burnham by Pezman at Wedge. Second and third are of Jason Hall, also at Wedge. I know the 3rd was taken by Alex Verharst, and I think the second was taken by Bucket Bob. Enjoy.

A Couple Newby's

Rebecca and I had our first day off together in a while. All our kids in school or pre-school. The surf really didn't cooperate, but, thats OK. We now have every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to surf together. Something we rarely got to do since our first was born 8 years ago. It is how we met, and I have so many incredible memory's of the days we used to surf together.  I am really looking forward to this new part of our lives. Since the surf didn't co-operate, I had a little time to shoot some pictures of some handplanes that I recently finished. The two smaller ones are available for purchase in the Brownfish On-Line Store