PS: And it grows in italy!

One of my favorite surf Bro's at home in Bari Itay with agave he harversted there, after being infected by the Agave bug here in SC during the summer.

Step 1; Getting it Rough-Milled

Milling Jig.

After cutting the agave to length, I clamp it into a simple jig and follow the top of the jig with a chain saw to cut level both sides. The deck and bottom sides are against the jig. A new, sharp chain makes a HUGE difference.

After the agave is milled to this state, I band saw off the bark on the deck and bottom sides. I then run the blank sections through a thickness planer to obtain smooth, even-width sections for glue-up.

Out of 13 trunks, only one had to be wasted because of pithy wood. The stack next to the balsa contains mostly 4" + wide sections, ranging from 7'-9'. The stack next to the wall averages 3" wide and 7' long. The entire batch yielded, firm, light, colorful wood. STOKED!

This agave was collected over the past year from several sources and locations around San Diego County. It grows on public and private property. It is not hard to find (not always so easy to harvest) if you know where to look and if you have sources that locate it for you or turn you on to it. Special thanks to Surfer Brett Wellington and Jerry McCann for some of the best stuff this year.

More to come on this project.

Got Agave??

Last year's 6'3" fish. This years Monster Agave.

These Agave stalks range from 9' to 11'. The bases range from 10" to 14".

It appears to be all very good, stable wood. It can yield a much bigger board than the 6'-3" fish, with plenty left over. I'm waiting to see exactly what I have to work with after I have milled it all before I make a final decision on the board it will become. I will keep you posted.

Terry Martin's 8'2" Experimental S.U.P. Board

Terry Martin's new SUP. 8'2" x 30" x 4-7/8". L-R; Chuck Bassett, Terry Martin, Mickey Munoz, John Cherry.

We installed a LokBox quad set-up plus a center fin box in order to ride the board with different fin configurations.

The Board has a "Simmons"esque template, an S deck and an 18" tailblock. It still maintains a beautiful curved rail line.

I designed a new set of fin templates for Terry's board. I then made base molds so my fins could be used in the LokBox bases. Lead s/f fins are canted 5 degrees. Trailing d/f fins are canted 2-1/2 degrees. Woods; Purpleheart and Brazilian walnut.

Chuck and Mickey wasted no time getting the board to Dogpatch for a test drive. Terry will have plenty of test pilots besides Chuck and Mickey for his new design to help work out the bugs on the next one, including Tyler Warren, Chuck Patterson, Sparky (owner of Rainbow Sandals) and a few other South Orange County SUP experts.

I had a BLAST working on the fins for this one with Terry.

My next project with Terry, after we receive some feedback, will most likely be an agave SUP along the same design lines. Thanks for iincluding me T.

Catch Me In Slide Magazine

With the help of Slide Magazine's Alan Ashworth, I will be reaching out a bit further with this 1/2 page ad, starting with this quarter's upcomming edition. Alan made it all the way from New Zealand to be at Sacred Craft Del Mar. Alan has been a great guy to do business with.

And I LOVE the magazine!

LokBox Quads for T. Martin's 8'2" SUP

These new JC templates are for a Terry Martin 8'2" x 30" x 4-1/2", P.U. foam stand-up-paddle surfboard. Terry's SUP shape is based on the original Simmons boards. The experimental board is fitted with a LokBox quad system........and a center fin box to allow for riding various quad setups or as a single flex fin. The SUP will be finished tomorrow (12/1). I will post some board photos when she's ready.

Woods: Brazilian walnut and Purpleheart.

J. Phillips Balsa Longboard ~ J.Cherry Custom Box Fin

Owner Chris Young from Huntington Beach sent me a photo of his new fin, installed in his Jim "The Genius" Phillips' custom longboard. I am always stoked when one of my fins gets to adorn one of Jim's creations. CHINGOW!!! what a pair these two made. Thanks Chris!