kako

kako
kako

Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Typhoon 5 and "skinning" the new board

We were hit with a nice stretch of swell thanks to Typhoon #5, a very bizarre moving typhoon that moved up towards northern Japan, pushed up the swell here in Hokkaido, then turned around and headed back south. It is now spinning away down south, building strength, and threatening Okinawa and Kyushu. In its sojourn up north, Typhoon 5 produced some really fine waves in southern Hokkaido, particularly here at my local spot in Noboribetsu. Here are a few pics from the glorious week…so nice to get some juicy waves again!



 Between sessions I found the time to finish shaping my blank and start “skinning” the board. The blank will be covered with 3mm balsa veneer, applied one 80x600mm sheet at a time. As this was the only size of balsa I could source at that thickness, it is what I am forced to work with for this project. Each piece of balsa is laid up with Titebond 2 glue and clamped and/or weighted down with bricks. This is a picture of the first sheet after application…it went on a bit crooked (I think it slid a bit when being glued up). But it seems to have adhered well, so all in all I am happy with it. I hope to get the bottom done this week, and will update again at that point.