biofoam shred

Film-maker Jeff Den Broeder is producing a film about the Post-Clark state of foam and has been traveling and interviewing people in the foam business, shapers, and surfers (oh no!).

Here's a board I shaped for the film. Alex Kopps added his touch of radness to it, and has been surfing it for the past few weeks (shredding.)






5'10" wingless flextail quad fish
20.25" x 2-3/8"

Biofoam Barry McGee coming soon...(?)

Biofoam Quad Fish

I finally got to see my soybean shred sleds last weekend and they came out looking really good. Though plant-based surfboard blanks have a bit of catching up to do with conventional polyurethane blanks, I feel pretty good about supporting technology which uses domestically-grown organic soy. Oil resources are a finite commodity, and we're eventually going to have to look towards alternatives to oil in order to make surfboards. Imagine what will happen to price of oil and the price of polyurethane polymers when we begin to run out. The guys at Homeblown U.S. will have a pretty good head start on the competition...

5'9" x 20.25" x 2-3/8"
Clear sanded finish
Bamboo AK4 fins by 101 Fin Company







The new Wetsand Surf Shop opens on Monday, October 23rd, and they have four quad fish ranging from 5'7" to 6'1". They're located on 446 East Main Street, Ventura, CA 93001.

Check out more photos on the Mandala website.

Oh, and off-white is the new black~~~~~

BioFoam Quad Fish

I got my hands on a few BioFoam fish blanks this week, and they're turning out to be pretty nice to shape. Here's a few for Chuck and Candace Menzel's new Wetsand Surf Shop...

BioFoam Bat-tails

I shaped a board today out of BioFoam, a blank made by HomeBlown USA. 50% of the blank is made from plant resins, which results in 36% less global warming emissions and a 61% reduction in non-renewable energy use.

Pros: The blanks are very shaper friendly and I didn't feel itchy being covered in it. Occasionally I get foam dust in my eyes, but this stuff didn't burn or irritate my eyes like most foam dust does. It almost feels "clean."

Cons: The blanks are pretty soft, and I'm not sure how durable the blank is going to be with 6oz+4oz deck/4 oz bottom. We'll see. Even though the foam is soft, it seems to tear easily using a planer. I had to shape it with my Hitachi since the armature on my Skil 100 is at the shop getting re-wound. I'm not sure how the blank will shape with a slower RPM planer like the Skil.

The stock rocker for the 64F fish blank worked out ok shaping a 5'11" bat-tail, but I'll be sure to order my own rocker for the next one. Hopefully BioFoam will work out the kinks with their formula. I'd really like to see the industry move towards a more sustainable and eco-friendly alternative to the petroleum-based resins that make up most of the blanks out there today.

EDIT >>> I just learned from the folks at BioFoam that if you let the blank sit for 24 hours it hardens up again. I just checked my shaped blank and it cured up to the same hardness as my blue US Banks. I recommend giving these blanks a go. Let's support an industry that's moving towards sustainability and awareness. (Now for a plant-derived polyester resin...)

Here's some photos of a bat-tail quad I shaped for Michael S., my liason for BioFoam:

5'11" x 20.5" x 2-3/8"