Grain Surfboards - The Steamer day 1

Original photo by Clayton Plummer

This past weekend I spent Friday through Monday working with eight other surfers and the guys from Grain Surfboards building one of their Steamer Kits in the back parking lot of Patagonia Cardiff.

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I was excited about the class, but man it was FUN!!

We started Friday morning, day 1, with our bottom decks glued to the internal frame.  The task for day 1 was to glue up all the tiny individual wood pieces that made the rails.  Using multiple spring clamps, titebond marine wood glue, and a cool hot-glue technique they recently developed we worked in pairs on each others boards to get all the pieces glued and set for day 2.

Original photos by Clayton Plummer

Some of the pieces required the wood to be steamed in order to make the curve of the nose or tail.  This was achieved by placing the piece of wood under a towel, soaking the towel in water, and then placing a common household iron on the wet towel.  This steamed the wood which made it very pliable.  More spring clamps were used to keep the wood bent in place as we worked and as it dried.

Before I signed up for this class, I played with the idea of buying one of Grain's kits and doing this whole process myself.  I'm handy and mechanically inclined.  I build and work on my own bicycles.  However, day 1 of this class was a HUGE eye opener.  I am so very glad that I paid for the class, because wow.  Using the spokeshave and block plane correctly would have been a very long process.  Just getting my tools sharpened would have been a long process.  Not to mention all the auxiliary tools, stands, clamps, and such that I would have had to purchase.  I would have equaled the price of the class to just have enough supporting equipment. All that on top of making mistakes that I wouldn't have been able to fix myself and ruining the board completely.

Clayton