Sunday, February 8, 2009

The Leucadia Project Is Getting A Grain

The 5'10 Waka Fish Grain Board is being built on the Murphy Ranch in Julian, CA.  On the property Dennis Murphy has a barn with donkeys, a horse, chickens, a wood shop and shaping room. One of the most amazing shaping situations I have ever seen.  Today was 38 degrees and pouring rain. An amazing place for an all wood board to be built.

Tail view with balsa blocks in place to support a quad fin set up.

A close look at the innerds.


Over head view of the tail.

Chris and Dennis going over the board.

Dennis explains his decision to use balsa wood blocks to support the fins. The blocks look heavy but are extremely light.



Dan Lewis getting warm. Dan is no blood relation to me that I know of but a brother indeed. He has been doing a lot of the work on the board and is a fine craftsman in his own right.  A true cowboy, bull rider and woodworker Dan is Dennis' right hand man and for good reason. He is a kick to be around and is extremely talented. 


Dennis is a man that is for the most part serious about his work.  He tells it like it is and for good reason. He has been hand shaping foam, balsa and redwood boards for over 30 years.  Here is a shot of him that I love. It shows the kick he gets out of this and the passion he has for shaping.

Today was an amazing day. I have been literally waiting for 4 years to finally see the makings of what will be the most amazing board I will most likely ever own. It was a day that I got to hang out and be a part of a master shaper's world and get to see the board of my dreams start to take shape.

This post is the first of many to come about my Grain board. I will be following it as it gets built and shaped at the Murphy Ranch. When the board is finished we will ride it and shoot the sessions we have.

Although this is my first post, this journey has been going on for a long time. It started out back in 2005 after watching the Tom Wagener section in Sprout. From that sequence I knew that I wanted to ride an all wood fish.  It was my destiny. 

About a year or so after setting my goal my friend introduced me to the Grain Surfboards website and my search for an all wood fish began to take shape.  I looked at the site every week for a year. I talked about the boards with friends and kept telling everyone who would listen about them. But I never pulled the trigger to buy one. 

Then in 2007, I received a Waka, 5'10" Grain kit for Christmas!  I was so stoked. I was now so close to having my own wood fish.  All I had to do was build it.  After reading the manual several times I came to terms with the fact that I really didn't want to build the board myself as I didn't want to mess it up.  I'm a big believer in sticking to what I do best and wood working and shaping is not one of them.

Over the course of the next year I searched for someone to help me build the board. I showed the kit to friends and looked for someone to help me.  Then after the the Secured Craft show in 2008 I got a call from Chris Miller telling me that Dennis Murphy, a long time friend of his and all time favorite shaper, was interested in meeting with me to talk about how to help me get the board built. 

Dennis, who had seen the Grain boards at the show, had heard from Chris that I had a kit and was intrigued.  He himself builds wood boards from scratch but liked the idea of the Grain boards and wanted to get a crack at one. Chris set up the meeting.  

After meeting with Dennis and dropping the kit off I was elated.  I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would get the board built by a legend.

Now that the board is in his hands I feel relieved and excited that soon I will be riding my Murphy shaped Grain board.

Click here more photos of the building process.


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