Our Winter Surfboard Making Workshop

Despite the rather brisk winter temps (yes even for Brisbane ) our workshop was humming with energy and enthusiasm as our students diligently worked their way through the making and shaping of their amazing wooden surfboards.

Local legend Michael and Hobart expat Ed (and a massive kudos to Ed for making the trip up to Sunny Qld for this event) bonded over glueing , sanding and shaping their boards.

It was a productive yet fun four days where once again we were able to share our passion and knowledge of woodcraft and surfing.

These boards are in the polishing booth now , where Stuart will work his magic and resin coat these magnificent creations of stoke

OUR APRIL WOODEN SURFBOARD WORKSHOP

What a wonderful 4 days …

Our budding woodworkers had an amazing time learning and developing new skills, making new friends and creating their very own wooden surfboard.

Prior to class our students chose the specifications of their board ie height and design - single fin, thruster pattern for the deck etc etc

There are many and varied considertations when it comes to making your own Surfboard.

A lot of these decisions are based on surfing experience, surf fitness and location of the surf hence each board is unique to the rider , thats what we love so much.

There is no cookie cutter board - the surfboard is made specifically for the rider (lucky them !!)

The end result on Sunday afternoon was a stunning array of hand crafted boards, made lovingly with the surfer’s own two hands

a testament to their love of the surf…

Our first Winter Surfboard Making workshop for 2023

What better day to start our Surfboard Making workshop than the first day of winter.

Beautiful crisp sunny days provided the perfect backdrop for 4 days of fun and learning with our amazing board students.

Our eager crew were keen to learn the fundamentals of woodworking - delving into the mechanations of how a wooden surfboard is assembled, how to complete the perfect glue up , the importance of shaping your board just so - that it becomes the board you want to in the water and realising that the better you sand your board the better the finish will adhere to it - and everyone wants a shiny glossy board . And what better way to showcase those glorious timber grains than with a premium resin finish.

So after 4 fabulous days in the workshop, our students achieved what they set out to do - to make a beautiful hollow wooden surfboard.

So now, the glassing process begins and those wonderful wooden surfcrafts will take on a beautiful new dimension …

It is our absolute joy to share our love and knowledge of all things woodworking - and well surfing , thats the icing on the cake

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No April Fools here, only amazing Wooden Surfboard Students

With Summer not wanting to say goodbye, our April students were greeted by warm sunny days during the course of their wonderful 4 days.

Coming from the coast and Emerald, our Queendand students bonded quickly over glue ups, sanding and the joy and mindfulness that comes with shaping your own board

Conversations over surfing the best points, and the thrill of chasing the perfect wave gave everyone an extra buzz knowing that riding their own board was not very far away

Time and patience was evident, cutting the skins will make for a perfectly finished boards.

Whats the saying, mark twice cut once ??

The integral glueing and vac pressing component …not to be taken lightly

The all important shaping - a time honured practice that defines the performance of the board (no pressure hey !)

Perfecto

The beautiful finished product

Once again , our wooden surfboard students have shown such high calibre of workmanship and enthusiasm over the last 4 days.

Its been a joy to share the woodwork love and so now its time to glass and bring out the best ih these boards

#lovewhatwedo

Making Absolutely Beautiful Wooden Surfboards

We have been combining our love of Woodworking and surboards for over 10 years now 🎉🎉

During this time we have honed our skills, refined our techniques to offer our students the best possible workshop, so that in our 4 Days they come away with that wonderful sense of satisfaction knowing they have created something wonderful with their own hands …

A little trip down memory lane to enjoy some past student work

We've come a long way baby ..

Our winter workshop is the perfect time to create your own stoke, so for detailed information on our August 26 - 29 Workshop, send us an email and we will forward you our 2021 Surf Pack

Taking our Surfboards online

Its been a wild year, no doubt about that and through the last few months, many people have voiced their frustration at not being able to attend our Surfboard Making Workshops for one reason or another.

We heard, we listened and after many hours working away in the workshop we proudly introduce our new baby

Wooden Surfboards Australia.

The place for our new surfboard making DIY kits.

Our kits are just like our boards ( and our furniture ) made to our exceptionally high standard of craftmanship.

Now you can make one our beautiful boards in your own workshop.

The kits come with everything you need to make your own Bywater Surfboard.

The range is exactly what you choose from in our classroom situation except you get to make the board at home or in your workshop in your own time and at your own pace.

We bring it all to you, including Stuart’s wonderful video tuition to guide you along if you so wish.

We are very proud of our new endeavour , we have taken the time to carefully curate all the necessary componenents and elements to give you the smoothest DIY experience ever.

We happily ship all over Australia and use 100 % plantation Paulownia and Australian timbers.

If you have any questions at all please dont hesitate to drop us a line so we can answer any queries asap

See you in class :)

"I'm Still learning ..."

So said Michelangelo at age 87 and rightly so.

The quest for learning and for challenging oneself we believe should never wane.

That is why we take so much proud in our Woodworking classes.

Whether it is our traditional woodworking classes, learning the art of Surfboard Making or creating a hall table our classes are geared for the absolute beginner and aimed at fuelling the inner woodworker

We dont know who gets more satisfaction out of our classes ; the student who has just created an amazing surfboard, or our team on seeing and feeling the great satisfaction of our students.

That feeling when you’ve just made your very own surfboard !

Keeping our classes small ensures there is lots of time and space for personalised tuition. Being in a relaxed yet professional environment serves as a great base for our students to learn.

A lot of our students have no woodworking experience or have even stepped inside a woodworking workshop , so being able to gently guide and encourage learning in a productive and fun way is paramount to us.

If you think 2020 is the year you want to do something beautiful and creative for yourself, step away from the screens and immerse yourself in something new and challenging we urge you to peruse our Calendar of Learning Page and see what may interest you.

Of course you have questions and we are just an email away to answer any of your queries.

See you in class

Making your own Wooden Surfboard

Along with various timber combinations and deck patterns we offer in our Wooden Timber Surfboard Classes, we offer the application of personalised decals or motifs to really make your timber surfboard an object of sentimental beauty.

For a myriad of reasons our students wish to add something extra to their board

A wonderul reminder of a treasured fur baby

A personal touch to a student surfboard

Want your nickname immoratised on your favourite board ?

Why not

Love your style Baylz

Love the colour green and are obsessed with manta ray

We can accommodate you

Stand out from the crowd !

Want to ramp up the zen on your timber board

We will only encourage you

Feel the zen

Love a good Hawaiian 50’s vibe (we are a fan !! )

By adding some funky fabric you can create a mood that is just you

You are only limited by your imagination , we will help you anyway we can to achieve your dream board.

So start designing your board now.

Our Wooden Surfboard and SUP Classes a bucket list must do

Get in contact with us to make this a reality !

Glassing the timber surfboards

Its the icing on the cake, the cherry on top. Whatever you like to call it, the glassing of our timber surfboards is the finishing touch to something wonderful, the final embellishment if you will.

Stuart is in the midst of glassing these rather spectacular boards …

A process he thoroughly enjoys and takes great pride in.

shiny shiny shiny

beauty and depth in the grain

Show pony … precision making and glassing

Designing Wooden Surfboards

There is nothing like first hand experience, and through many a surf, some good sessions some not so good times we have refined and evolved our Wooden Surfboards.

We have curated our boards to encompass the various surf conditions and to accommodate the individual characteristics of the surfboard rider.

The Dawn is a classic all rounder. (so named after the Legendary Dawn Fraser )

The Dawn will simply handle everything that is thrown at it; from the almost non existent wave to the holy grail of a clean six footer.

A good paddling board makes for easy wave catching, great sharp turning and fast trimming

The Dawn is the ultimate package.

Made from Paulownia and Cambia Ash The Dawn is the ultimate package

The Gould (aptly named after the one and only Shane Gould is a cleaned up older board that takes its origins from the 1970’s.

With a single fin its a point and shoot board that behaves like a dream.

Its a low entry rocker with a flat bottom and chimed rails.

The Gould has a fuller nose outline compared to other boards compared to modern boards, but dont let its retro vibe fool you, this board can take all sorts of conditions and is suited to all types of surfers.

But dont take our word, come down to our Woodworking Gallery and see first hand how these boards are designed and made with the utmost care.

Of course you can alway take yourself on a creative journey and make one of these beautiful boards yourself . Here’s how you can do it .

We love the curious types so dont hesitate to contact us with a question on our Bywater Design Surfboards

Our Dawn. Loving the 70’s is a good thing

August Surfboard Making Class ... thats a wrap

Beautiful Winter Sunshiney days provided the perfect backdrop for our August Surfboard Making Class…

An eye for detail

The perfect framework is an essential component

That perfect winterafternoon sunset, casting a wonderful glow

Shaping culminates all the hard work that is done before.

New class member, or new mascot ???

As we begin the latter part of the year, we have only 2 more classes for 2019!

Our September class begins on 26 - 29 and our

final class for the year in November 14 - 17.

If you want to do something amazing for yourself and enjoy the journey of crafting something with your own two hands, please email us and we can make this happen for you!!

A little about our Beautiful Surfboards ...

We design our surfboards with a vision of what us as surfers would like in a board. Its not just the visual , although we do think that our surfboards are ridiculously good looking, its about the performance and how they ride in the water.

The Gould

The Gould is a cleaned up older board with a defnite 70’s vibe.

It single fin with a fuller nose outline and a tight pin tail. A low entry rocker with a flat bottom and and chimed rails.

The end result is a beautiful surfboard for all types of surfers in all types of waves .

The Dawn Surfboard

The Dawn is the total package.

A classic all rounder with a concave throughh the nose , flat through the centre and rolled V in the tail.

Its a sweet reliable daily ride, the perfect workhorse

Will handle all conditions from the dribble wave to the ultimate 6 foot clean wave (and dont we wish for more of those .

With the addition of wonderful timbers such as paulownia, cambia ash and cedar and no foam we are proud of the way our boards ride in the water .

Of course, we could go on for pages of all the finer details of our boards, but if you would like more info about our range we would love to hear from you , so send us an email and we will answer any questions you have !

Brisbanes Only Hollow Wooden Surfboard Classes for 2015 - At Bywater Design

HOLLOW SURFBOARD CLASSES FOR 2015 Semester One

THE ONLY WOODEN SURFBOARD CLASSES IN BRISBANE

2 day shaping class

This 2 day shaping class is where all the assembly work is done for you.

You come in and shape your board to your individual requirements, rail shaping and fin placement, and it is ready for glassing after the two days.

Of course Bywater Design offers you the choice of timber, deck patterns, and various board sizes from our catalogue so you are still getting the timber board of your dreams; just the messy assembly work is done for you.

Or the classic

Tuesday night surfboard making class

For those that like to take their time we are offering the 8 week course of 3 hours a night each week to build your board from our components supplied,

Of course Bywater design offers you the choice of timber, deck patterns, and various board sizes from our catalogue so you are still getting the timber board of your dreams, and you get to do all the assembly work, the board is then ready to be glassed.

2 DAY SHAPING CLASS

FEBRUARY; 14 AND 15   (SATURDAY AND SUNDAY)

MAY; 16 AND 17 (SATURDAY AND SUNDAY)

CLASSIC WOODEN SURFBOARD MAKING CLASS

MARCH 3 – TUESDAY NIGHTS FOR 8 WEEKS

MAY 26^TH – TUESDAY NIGHTS FOR 8 WEEKS

As your surfboard is custom made prices will vary but the cost will start from $1100 and vary according to timber, and size choices

For more information; including surf pack, timber catalogue choices and detailed pricing please email us on;

surf@bywaterdesign.com.au

Places are strictly limited so best to act now and reserve your

POSITION IN BRISBANE’S ONLY HOLLOW WOODEN SURFBOARD CLASSES.

Wooden Surfboard Fins from Japan

It was a great delight to see in Australia and in Brisbane Nobuhito Ohkawa (aka Nobbby)  who made a special visit to my workshop.

Nobby makes beautiful wooden surfboards and surfboard fins in Chiba City, just outside of Tokyo .

We have become friends over the last few years, sharing experiences, and  I was lucky enough to see his workshop whilst I was in Japan last year, and I was happy to return the hospitality this week when Nobby made  a visit to our Northgate workshop whilst he was in Brisbane .

Nobby personally delivered my custom made fins which are made from walnut , rock maple and purple heart.

I cannot wait to attach these on to one of my boards and test it out in the water