My Alaia Project...

After reading a little about the history of surfing, I decided to attempt to build an Alaia. These were the original wooden surfboards used in Hawaii and were made out of Paulownia wood. Of course, this wood is not readily available locally, so a trip to Home Depot resulted in the following: three 8' planks of 5/4 x 6" Red Cedar, two 8' x 1" x 2" strips of Pine and one bottle of Elmer's Ultimate High Performance Glue. This Alaia is going to end up being quite a bit heavier than planned, as Cedar is about twice the weight of Paulownia. I had to rip 1/8" off each side of the Cedar planks on a table saw, as the edges of the planks were slightly rounded. I then glued one pine strip to each side of a Cedar plank and left it to dry overnight. Next I planed the pine strips so that they were flush with the Cedar plank. The remaining Cedar Planks will be glued to the outside edges, resulting in a board which will be 16 1/2" wide. I will have to get hold of a couple of large clamps before proceeding with this step. Anyway, I will document the progress in upcoming entries. Even if I screw this project up completely, I figure the surfboard will still look good hanging on a wall...