TBTB, To Busy To Blog!

At Last..................a new post! It is a long one, but I have been Too Busy to Blog all summer.

In the shop, away from the computer, with the exception of responding to client's e-mails.

Here's what I've been up to, starting with............SACRED CRAFT, Del Mar, 2009.

Sacred Craft exhibition was even better than last year! The atmosphere in general was much more upbeat. The cloud of financial doom and gloom seems to be fading.........Thank God!
Christopher Tomlin, single-fin finatic / shaper and JC.

NEW: INLAID LOGOS!

Artist Ric Allison of  Maker, with whom Terry Martin and I collaborated on the 2 art boards in this post, designed and produced new logos for me...........done in exotic woods inlay.

ART BOARDS COLLABORATION

L-R, Terry Martin, Ric Allison, John Cherry. 9-0 chambered balsa Simmons, 9-6 Balsa longboard with exotic wood marquetry. Ready to be glassed.

Art boards : 30-35 lb. weight range. TOTALLY RIDEABLE!

Finz.

Wooden Jellies.

FRANCESCO DI TOMMASO

Francesco "Grasshopper" Di Tommaso from Bari Italy, Surfing buddy, brother from another mother, riding his favorite california board, a 9-2, 2+1, Cherry surfboards performance longboard at Egor's. August '09.

NEW BALSA

I FINALLY scored a load of superb balsa this summer from Tropical Exotic Hardwoods of Latin America, located in Carlsbad. The sticks with the gold-painted ends are feather light, the likes of which I thought I would never see again. The rest is just..........more superb, light wood.

ALAIA

I shaped my 1st alaia. It is out of Parota (central Mexico). The wood is beautiful, very light and has very nice rigid-flex properties.

SIMM-21's

Frank Cherry's 7-0

Keith Campbell's (Georgia) 6-6

1962 HOBIE REPRODUCTION

Francesco and I shaped a reproduction of my 1962 Hobie shop model for Francesco.

10'10" SWALLOWTAIL QUAD

This one was for Bobby "Diamond" Donnelly. The "anit-sweeper" machine.

HAND PLANE BLANKS

Why not??

KOA "D" TEMPLATE

For my good friend and fellow fin craftsman, Danny Partch, Big Island, HI.

All Koa, dark heart wood and gray sapwood. Purpleheart pinlines. Danny will foil and glass this one.

8.75 X 8.75 BOX FIN

For Kevin Ho, Oahu, HI. 8.75 Tyler Surfboards "Zeke" template (with permission).

Peruvian Walnut, African Mahogany, California Redwood, Maple pinlines.

Laid up my hand, hand fit to the standard center box.

MIN-SIMMS SIMMONS D/F KEELS

UWL Surfboards in France is making a lot of these boards. This is the 4th batch of exotic wood keels for my friend, Renaud Cardinal of UWL.

CHERRY-PAVEL TEMPLATE, D/F KEELS
For my surf finatic, good friend, Holly Yang. Flame maple over cedar over Peruvian walnut.

These are going on one of Steve Masts's short-board creations.

That's all for now. i'm back down to the shop!

Aloha,

JC

Shaping 101

FD and JC in the shop with a 9-9B green-weight US Blank, custom glued with a 1.5" balsa stringer. we lowered the nose and tail rocker to make it ready for an early 60's classic longboard reproduction. It will get a classic volan glass job and a custom glass-on "D" fin.
Francesco and I will shape this one. More "Shaping 101" experience for FD.

FD at Hobie, giving Terry Martin some advice on the finer points of shaping.....Italian style.

10'10" Glider for Bobby "Diamond" Donnelly

This 10'10" glider was shaped out of an 11'3" D, U.S. Blanks with natural rocker.

it has a very subtle single-into-double concave bottom contour.

The quad set is single-foil x 4, out of birds-eye zebrawood.

It will be volan glassed, double 6oz deck, single 6oz glassed bottom by Moonlight Glassing.

I'm sure that everybody on the reef........except Bobby.........will view it as pretty sinister.

Aloha Bobby, JC

Italian Invasion @ Egor's

Francesco DiTommaso, from Bari Italy is a dear friend (and one of my best clients).
2 days off of the plane and not wasting any time, on the nose, sampling some California waves.

He is riding a Cherry Surfboards, 9'2", 2+1 performance longboard, his usual favorite pick out of my quiver to ride when he is here............until the surf gets good and he steps on the most recent balsa board that I have made for him.

Scroll down a few posts for a looks a the new chambered balsa 10-0 that Terry Martin and I made for him.

SIMM-21's (21st century Simmons)

After 31 years of shaping, I have created my first "model" series........The SIMM-21.
check it out! The shape translates well from 8'0" on down. Here is an 8-0, a 7-2 and a 6-3. Owners are Frank Cherry from I.B., Warren Canada form Jacksonville and Morgan Smith, Windansea local. I have gotten back glowing reports from Frank and Morgan. I think Warren is still waiting for surf (it is Florida). These boards are superb in everything from minimal size and poor conditions to overhead, lined-up point breaks. They catch waves extremely well. They have superb hull speed, carrying the speed through the flats and long cut-backs. And they are delightfully maneuverable. All boards are 100% hand-shaped.

Morgans board; Fins are koa, lace sycamore and maple. the twins are single-foil. The trailer fin is a small, double-foil, Simmons-template. It adds great stability and tail drive.

Diamond tail

Subtle single-into-double concave bottom.

Transitional rail line; hard up-rail at the nose to hard down-rail through the tail.

The subtle step deck is reminiscent of the original Simmons boards. it fits well into the wave face and lightens up the nose.

The Winged Simm-21 logo, each done by hand, signifies each model.

Warren chose a shell inlay to back the standard Cherry Surfboards logo.

The standard Simm-21 model is glassed with double 6oz on the deck and single 6oz on the bottom. They are very sturdy while remaining fairly light. 1/4" cedar stringer, solid tint on both sides, custom glass-on fins, glossed and polished finish and a glass leash tab are included.

Price: $895-$925

Turn-around time: 6 weeks (max)

Wood Under Glass

Dr Bob's 10-0 at Moonlight, just laminated, double 6oz both sides.

It always blows my mind when I witness the transformation that happens as soon as some glass and resin are added to the mix. This one lit up and came to life beyond my best expectations. Fin: African mahogany with flame maple pinlines.