Optimus Prime

I've wanted to make a larger, "real life", surfboard for a while now, and was perusing Pinterest when I came across a "folding" surfboard chair. That was all it took to inspire me, and I came up with this design. 

It's different than the one I saw online, and from other "bog" chairs, as they are known, since this one slides back together to resemble an actual surfboard. I chose cedar and fir so that I would get the contrasting tones, and because hardwoods would have made the board too heavy, and expensive! $35 in wood and a few bucks more in spar varnish.

The big kahuna

One of the requests I received was for a long (3 to 4 feet) serving tray. Hmmm... I don't have any dark hardwood strips that long to make the contrasting stripes on a board, nor the maple for the main board. But I did have a pine board that had some unique knotty feature to it, so at 42 inches, it has become the new longest of the longboards.

Beer caddy

We were off to a 50th birthday celebration recently, and I knew that the birthday boy was a British beer fan. So with a pine board that I had tucked in the rafters of the garage, I put together a caddy with some of England's finest.

More longboards

After the first batch of boards was posted on Facebook, the requests started coming in. So I grabbed some more of the hardwood and created two more longboards - Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker (distinguished by their respective dark and light sides).

Also pictured at the bottom, is my new Brazilian black walnut cutting board, with oak stripes - there was some slightly thicker pieces salvaged from the box corners, but not long enough for surfboards.

RC Board Works is born!

I've always loved the shape of surfboards... I don't know why. I suck at surfing. I should have guessed that I wouldn't like it - swimming mixed with languishing in potential shark territory - not things I'm good at. But for some reason, surfboards have always been in the back of my mind as something I'd like to do. With my new supply of hardwoods, I decided it was time to make some!

The first crop came from the loose pieces of wood that had already come off the box, and the sizes/shapes of the scraps dictated the boards you see here. The longest, at 26" is a keeper, and the rest have found their way to lucky new owners.

The curly maple has wonderful detail that really comes out once oiled and waxed... my own concoction of mineral oil and paraffin wax, melted and hand smoothed into the surface. Ready for surfin' up some tasty appetizers!

Exotic hardwoods

So a few days after the dinner party, I get a text from the aforementioned friend, asking if I would like an old box that he had built for his wife's scotch. It had been in the basement during a flood, and was falling apart, but the wood was still salvageable.

The box pictured above has three different species of wood - Peruvian walnut, Brazilian redwood and Brazilian black walnut. Also, he gave me the remnants of a curly maple table that had also fallen victim during the flood.

So now I had a very nice pile of scrap exotic hardwood... what could this be used for?

Another iPod dock

While staying at a friend's fishing cabin in the interior, we were using a Sirius boombox that was giving us trouble with the electronics. So rather than throw it away, I thought I could recycle some of the components into a new unit. Many months later, after all of the eBay components arrived, the new boombox was completed.

Unfortunately, due to the $15 amp that I ordered from eBay, the quality of the audio isn't what I expected - proves that you get what you pay for. It looks cool however, and it got noticed one evening by a dinner guest. "You're into woodworking?". Hmmm.