Introducing David Town

Last  year I had the pleasure of meeting a new friend and colleague, David Town.  David is from Bend Oregon.  The day we met, David had been surfing at San-O with another good friend of mine, Larry Cecil.

David heard that Larry was stopping by my shop after surfing.  David came with him and Larry introduced us to each other.    I immediately found David to be a bright and likeable young man and learned that he was also a talented board builder, shaper and fin maker.

After getting to know David and seeing examples of his work it became clear to me that David is one of the right minded, right hearted and exceptionally talented craftsmen in our industry.  He creates beautiful balsa boards and wooden fins, including ones modified for center box application.  

David is a generation younger than I and so is a bit younger in his career than I.  Because of  David's natural talent, the quality of his work already and his true appreciation and understanding of the art involved in our craft, I have been pleased to share with David some of the technical methods, tools and timesaving tricks of our craft that I developed over the years or that were earlier passed down to me.  Truth be said, he already possessed many of them.

The timing of our introduction is important in another way.  I am retiring from surfboard and fin making as a business.  It gives me great comfort to know that I can refer future inquiries to

David Town with a very high recomendation regarding his talent and abilities.

David Town's contact info:

Phone; 541-244-0097  email; davidtown@gmail.com  

Website;  www.warriorwoodfins.com 

instagram;  david_town

 Above:  Reverse "D" template box fin by David Town,  Bookmatched Koa,  brown tinted resin bead.
Below:  Hawaii gun template by David Town, inspired by Bill Thrailkill, another Town supporter. 
 Woods:  Koa, Holly veneer, Redwood burl.

David,  Keep Rockin' the incredible fins!   Aloha,  JC    

Shiny New, 9"2" Pelican Glider ~SOLD; www.wavesforever.com

Quad Sets Available at Mitch's North in Solana Beach

I just delivered new quad sets to Mitch's Surf Shop in Solana Beach.  Below, center are AK-4's.  L and R are (2) sets in a template that I did for Thomas Campbell and Danny Hess a couple years ago.  Both called it a "magic" fin set.

Below; AK-4's 

More Marine Ply:  Mitch's also has some great twin keel sets available.  In a few days they will also have some popular "D" templates for longboards and Nuueva noserider glass-on single fins available.

Aloha!  JC

5'10" Simm-21 for Scott Campbell

Scott Campbell, from Newport Beach, picking up his freshly glassed Simm-21. 

Glassing: www.mmillersurfboards.com 

Hammered

My good friend and Silver jewelry artist, Lynne Merchant has used a specialized hammer like the one below, designed in France, as one of her primary tools of her craft.  They are no longer available here in the US.  Lynne is also a renound teacher of silver jewelry making.  In the past she was able to provide these hammers for sale to her students.  To continue to do so, she found a machinest who was willing to recreate the hardened steel hammer heads....but she needed someone to reproduce handles for them.

She asked me if I would be able to do it.  Although I had never turned a stick of wood in my career, I did own a lathe that I purchased 10 years ago, thiking that one day it might come in handy.

I agreed to give it a try for her.  Below are photos of the results.  It shows (7) of (14) handles that I turned and assembled for Lynne.  It's a ton of fun.....And they are being bought up as fast as I can turn them out. 

Woods, L to R:  Cocobolo, Bacote, Mahogany

Handplane for K.D.

I just finished this one for my good buddy, Kevin Dotson.

It has a slightly kicked nose, rolled on the bottom, which blends into a subtle, single-concave bottom with hard downrail trailing edges. 

Woods: Old-growth redwood, curly redwood with maple pinlines. 

Have fun Kev.

8.5, Frye Template, Marine Ply Box fin

This one is for Phil Ward, Marketing Director, Oakley South Pacific.  It will be steering an 11-0 glider that Larmo recently shaped for him.

Aloha Phil!

Koa Box Fin for a Classic Tyler Longboard

For Dan Wenger's new Tyler longboard. 

Tyler template-Cherry fin 

Woods: Hawaiian koa and sapwood koa (gray tone), Peruvian walnut and flame maple pinlines.  

Below; hand-fit to the standard center box at the shop.

At home in Dan's Tyler ~ VERY cool. 

8'2" Simm-21 for Dan Wenger

I picked this one up today from Glasser, Michael Miller.  It belongs to Dan Wenger of Rancho Palos Verdes.  Even with a sturdy glass job, including opaque resin panels and a 4" chambered-balsa stringer this board still has a beautifully light weight.  Michael did a flawless glass job (as usual).

www.mmillersurfboards.com

Aloha Dan,  JC

Hawaiian Koa

Simple, elegant,  Koa for a 6'3" Simm-21 that I am shaping today.

In these photos fins are shown cheater-coated, ready to laminate.

New Simm-21 Rudders

This set is for a 6'-8" For Surya-C in Japan.  The board will have a T-band stringer and volan glass.

Woods:  American black walnut and flame maple. 

This set is for Simm-21 #50, featured in the previuos post.

The wood is redwood burl. 

both sets shown cheater-coated, ready to laminate

Simm-21 # 50 Ready for the Glasser

I wanted to do something special for Simm-21 #50.  It has (8) blue-weight foam sections, Ultra-light balsa rails and (9) 1/12" cedar stringers.  It is actually delightfully light, good wood being the key.

Many thanks to all of my friends and customers for the word-of-mouth promotion of the Simm-21 model that brought it to the five-O mark.  Now I need to start dreaming on #100.