7'6" Simm-21 for Geoff Bergen....Back From the Glasser

This 7'6" is for my friend, Geoff Bergen of Conneticut. Geoff came out to So Cal a couple of months ago to check out the shop and order his custom Simm-21.  I love meeting new friends and I love shaping a board for a certain individual who has related their personal desires for the board that they will be riding.

Michale Miller just nailed it with a beautiful California-gold tint glass job!

www.mmillersurfboards.com  

Fin Woods: Primavera and Parota with walnut and maple veneers for the pin lines.

Simm-21 # 50!

When I designed and shaped the first Simm-21 (21st century Simmons) for myself in January of 2009 and then rode it, I realized that I had put together a magic combination.  As a few others began to notice it I started receiving an order here and there for the model, all resulting in rave reviews after friends and customers rode theirs.  Amazingly, and by word-of-mouth promotion alone, I have just built the blank for #50......With numbers 51 thru 54 sitting in the shop waiting to be shaped. 

I wanted to do something special to recognize board #50 in my Simm-21 series.  Simm-21 # 50 is a 7'-2".

It has (8) blue-weight foam sections between ultra-light balsa rails, all separated by (9) 1/12" Cedar stringers.

I will no doubt be kicking myself while I am shaping this multi-sectioned, different density blank that I glued up, but I think it will be pretty cool when it's done.

Ready to Shape! 

Two Mid-Lenght Simm's, 8'2" & 7'6"

This 8'2" Simm-21 with a 4", chambered balsa stringer is for Dan Wenger of L.A.

This big wood, ultra-light and chambered, produced a board that is very nearly the same weight as one from a blue blank with a 1/4" stock stringer!

Dan's fin set 

This 7'-6" Simm is for my friend Geoff Bergen in Conneticut.

Geoff's fin set. 

Pavel Fish Fins

This set I just finished for Rich is going on a caramel colored fish.  I'm sure the finished board will look amazing.   But then, it's hard to go wrong when nature has already done most of the artwork.

Wood: Primavera

Wood Bling

This tri-fin set will go on an Al Merrick gun for Larry Fuller, but not just any gun.  This gun is shaped from solid Sequoia Redwood.  Larry procured the wood and Al is the shaper.  The wood for the board is from a 4000 year old Sequoia redwood that feel in the late 50's or early 60's.  The permit to mill and remove the lumber from the fallen tree was issued in 1962.  It was the last permit of its kind to be issued in the redwood forest.  When this tree was alive and standing it was taller than both the general Sherman and the President trees which are currently the tallest trees in the redwood forest.

Template: C.I. Gun  

Woods:  Redwood burl, Quilted maple with pinlines of Flame koa and redwood burl veneers.

The set below is for another Al Marrick / Larry Fuller Sequoia Redwood gun.  This Particular board was shipped to Washington D.C. to be auctioned off at a special event benefiting the Wounded Warriors Foundation.

Woods: Redwood burl, quilted maple, Flame koa veneer.

Two Simm-21 fin sets.

The first set is for an 8'2" Simm for Dan Wenger from L.A.  The board will have a 4" balsa stringer, opaque resin panels in a light bronze tone outside of the stringer, separated by 1/8" black resin pinlines.

This second set is for a 7'6" Simm for Geoff Bergen in Bristol Connecticut.

The board will have a 1/4" cedar stringer and a full tint in California gold.

New Life for a Classic '62 Gordie

A couple of years ago my brother Frank brought this early 60's Gordie to my house.  He had found it at a garage sale and purchased it for .......ten dollars.  Frank left it with me and asked if I would do some ding repair whenever I had the chance.  I immediately admired the board for the memories it evoked of my early surfing career and for its classic style, including the wide balsa and redwood T-band stringer, the curved outboard stringers and the custom fin that so identified the elements of surfboard design that were emerging during the first few years of the 60's.   The second board of my young surfing career in 1963 was a Gordie, a 3-stringer with sky blue resin panels on the outside rails and the same template fin, with a different glue-up pattern, as on this board.  I wanted it!

Fortunately, Frank was not similarly attached to the board as I.  I traded Frank a Simm-21 as I recall for the Gordie and it became mine.  This board was very straight and solid with no delam issues and the stringers and logo were in superb condition.  It was a great candidate for a like-new restoration.

So that is what I did, including Gordies original fin.   Check it out.