Austin goes through phases where he pushes the envelopes in each area of a surfboard build.  His current area of focus is working on is in the different stringer arrangements.   A few months ago it was custom fins and fin art.  This was one of the wood and resin fins that he and Joe created.  Austin sells the singular fins like this for $250 a piece but if he puts in on a board it would only be around $125.   If you sold something like this as Art he could get 10 times that figure.  From now on we do not sell surfboards we sell Art!

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Custom Fins

Sometimes we get asked to make a custom watercraft that requires a little special engineering and often a special glue up.  We are of the mind that no task is to hard for us.  Sometimes it just takes a little thought.  It’s not like we are building the wing to the space shuttle or is it?  Actually we have had NASA people call us and ask our opinion about the bonding strength of certain resin.  We have also had engineers at Ford call and ask about foam densities for one of their new designs.  If you can dream it, and pay for it, we can build it!  I would love to show you the “water craft” that we built out of this glue up but unfortunately the client is in negotiations with a large manufacturer to have their design patent purchased, so we were sworn to secrecy.

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Rocket Science

    Some boards just seem to catch my attention.  Such is the case with the custom 11 ft 4 in Soul Glide.  Red is always an eye catcher but I like all the little touches Austin put into this board.  I love the spade theme that is carried from the nose cap to the ends of the pinline.  A custom fin and tailblock finish off the special touches that make this board something special.

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New Tricked Out Ride

Austin surprised me with a new balsa board for my father’s day present. It is absolutely beautiful. I had seen him working on it for the past couple of months and never questioned who it was for but I was shocked to find out that he had been working on it the whole time for my father’s day present. Now the question is do I surf it or do I hang it up. Anyone that knows Austin knows that he will suggest that it gets surfed at least twice. Once with me riding it and once when he gives it a go.

Post from: Cross Step: A Surf Blog by Austin Surfboards

My Father’s Day Present

You know when you break out the hammer and chisel you are taking a big step back from current technologies but often a step back means a leap forward. When most people are going to the shaping machines to make their boards Austin takes a step back and does it in the old school way of a hammer and a chisel. Disreguard the forsner bit marks in the chambers and the planer marks you see on the deck. Actually this is one of a few Paulownia boards Austin is making for the shop. Most often the chambering is done with a long router bit or forsner bits but these two sections are 7 inches across so they are too deep for the bit to reach so out comes the hammer and chisel. Austin says that doing boards like this give him a real appreciation of original Olo and Alaia builders.

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Austin Going Old Old School

Austin describe it as one of his ugliest shapes but he could not deny the fact that the shape worked.  I think the fact that Austin is a die hard single fin fan made him look as the Pistola with a skewed view due to its 2 +1 fin setup.  The Pistola, named after one of his grandfather’s guns, had always been my go to stick.  The Pistola has actually evolved into one of our performance boards.  Two of our team riders now have Pistolas in their quivers to compliment the Soul Glides in their quivers.  The last few Pistolas have been made with 4 oz cloth, sanded finish, and came in around 14 pounds.  Not bad for boards that were in the 9′6″ range.

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My Favorite Model Makes a Comeback

Austin continues to stretch the limits by combining different materials for the desired effect.  His newest creation, 6 months in development, is his Eco friendly fish.  The fish combines an earth friendly foam with farm grown balsa.  The fins were hand shaped from the same balsa using an Austin developed fin template.  All of these fish will be custom order only and built specifically for the individual.

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New From the Factory

Our recent newsletter stated that we were bored with the stock boards we were producing and looked forward to some customers stretching the limits by ordering one off customs for their quivers. These are the boards we live for. Most companies hate customs because it throws off their profit margins by not being able to mass produce them but we live for customs. It’s where we have fun and it allows us to stretch our creative muscles. Leave it up to our Austin brothers across the big pond to step up to the plate. Klaus and Jan from Germany ordered a quad of custom Soul Glides to hit the North Sea. As usual their custom designs are spot on. The picture above show their sketches for 3 of the 4 boards ordered. The cool part is you can see their notes in German about what they want their new boards to represent. The last board not represented in the picture will be a custom all black Soul Glide with custom white pin lines that will mimic a fine pin striped suit. I will post the final board pictures when they are completed.

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Ask and You Shall Receive

Austin polished her up last week.  Even though it is not nice to mention a ladies size I don’t think she will mind.  She measures a cool 26 lbs and is 10′2 x 24 x 3 1/2.  I love Mexican lowriders so that was my inspiration to guide her build.  She has old school scallops on the bottom and sweet pinlines by Igor (see an earlier post).  You know I had to have the Virgin Mary on the “dash” to guide me through unsettled waters.  Let me know what you think.

Post from: Cross Step: A Surf Blog by Austin Surfboards

My New Ride is Finally Finished