Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Bay Day

Another long day at the mill, got some sweet boards finishing up. Here's a little egg for Surf Garage.
 Welzie has been working his ass off getting boards done. Here's a batch of Crows with fresh gloss coats sitting on the racks
 Something about black on black just looks awesome...
 Somehow we managed to talk our friend Dustin into being a test-pilot-crash-dummy on this 10'3" we made for the Bay. 15-18' today, props to him for getting out there. :) -Carl

Monday, January 30, 2012

New fins are coming

We just got our new screen burned for a big batch of fins that we've got coming! We took a look at the half finished batch today and they are looking sweeeet, can't wait to show off what we've got cooking. :)
Here's a picture of our team all-star Waylon in a clean little "cheater" five at Steamer Lane. Welz always heckles Waylon for those 5's- probably because Way can post them as easily as standing up. We've seen him pop-up into a five on numerous occasions. I personally think that the way he is dragging his hand to bleed off speed through a racy section shows an awesome amount of skill. Either way, the water looks amazing in this photo- yo can hardly tell it's freezing ass cold nor-cal and not Hawaii. :) -Carl

Sunday, January 29, 2012

All work, no play

Today was all work and no play. Except for a quick run to Waimea to watch Welz get pounded in the shorebreak for a while. Should have brought the camera for that. Back to the shop this evening and here we are. Nice Hotcoat...
 Two for two...
 Sam's little mosquito is looking excellent...
 Shaped blanks, today's work- not as neato as the pretty colors in the glassing room, but a good sign of more to come...
 Shot of the Quad futures going in on Sam's board.

 Apparently Cody the printer is also a master rubik's cube solver. At least that's what he tells us.That puzzle looks totally solved. :) -Carl

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Just your average normal day at the Mill

Fail by the shipping company today- Send a 7' long van to pick up a 10' long box. Note the wire that we had to give to the pickup guy- he had no rope, no bungee cords... no tape... no nothing. If he looks baffled, that's because he was. At least he had a good sense of humor about it. 
 Interesting way of filling the can holder part of the fridge if I do say so myself. Not sure who was responsible for this one... 
 Perhaps it was Cody, our resident screen printing expert.
 Or maybe it was the same culprit that was involved in whatever happened to these fins.
 If it was him, I'm not saying anything, because the boards keep getting cooler and cooler... The camera just doesn't do this board justice. The colors are a lot brighter!
 Right about now is when you glance over to your quiver and wonder why you didn't get a mini for Christmas. Time to go argue with Santa. :) -Carl

Friday, January 27, 2012

Bad Boys

There's something about the cops showing up at a surfboard factory that makes your heart beat a bit faster than normal. There's a certain amount of sketchiness that is required at all times to keep the whole operation legit. So when the cops show up for any reason, it gets a bit nerve racking. Lucky it was just a mild problem in regards to a stolen car this time- but it still made everyone in the shop nervous.
Something about this freestyle tape job, camera to tripod warranted documentation in itself...
 The all  black door to the Two Crows Glassing room. Children not allowed 
 A board that's almost done for Steve. 
 I'm not quite sure who's been drinking up all the Coors around the shop, but it surely can't be me. :) 
 Is the wall camouflaging the board or is the board camouflaged? New quad mini for Daniel Jones
 A board for Annie, almost done. <(") Carl

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Boards, Burgers, Beers, Blanks, Barrels

"You're going to Wahiawa? Now?... Wait. Drive behind us"
It's always better to have a buffer car behind any unregistered vehicle. Steve is headed to go glass some  more boards right there next to the spot where we go get blanks.
" Carl, looks like it's time to go get blanks."
We arrive ticket free to meet up with Andy, the blank guy.
"Oh no, its the Crows"
Its been a while since we have seen him, looks like he got bored and rearranged the shop. We make fun of each other for a bit then go blank shopping.
After a couple failed attempts at blank rack bobsledding, we leave with a stack of blanks.
Back at the mill we install Carl's vacum system into his shaping room. When you do 15-20 hand shaped boards in five days the foam adds up.
Problem solved.
Carl's room is dialed in, he is ready to shape.
Perfect.
Im pretty much caught up, so there isnt much real important stuff for me to do.
"Wanna go body surf Pipe? It looks good" a text from a friend reads.
By Carl. See you later...
After a hour or so of some fun barrels I end up back at the shop. A handfull of people there drinking beers and eating food.
After everyone leaves we realize we got to do a video interview for an upcoming art show.
Time to smash some beers and get loose enough to not look too awkward for the camera, yah right.
Always awkward.
All in a days work.
-n


If your not on FaceBook dont start. Were giving up a hat shirt and stickers for every 25 "likes" we get on Facebook. One lucky commenter gets a crow pack sent to their door.



The new 6 horsepower vacum. She's a sucker all right.


Carl explained how nice a vacume is. I didnt realize it till I saw him planning with it. Crazy clean. Doesn't look like frosty the snowman after 10 min in the room.




The old Clark foam vacume kit.




The Croows Light Screen, all ready to go. Still waiting for some shirts to come in...

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Smuggling contraband


The baggage conveyor has stopped.
"Unzip your bag sir."
...I knew that there would be problems coming though security with half a planer in my bag.
"What's this..." Pulling out the plastic bag that I've stowed in my carry-on containing my planer and some bits of my vacuum system.
"It's a tool, I removed all the sharp bits so I could pack it in my bag..."
"What kind of tool?"
"A power planer..."
She's skeptical. This doesn't happen often.
"And this?" She pulls out a latex rubber hose that's halfway to being a slinky...
Hmm... "It's a hose."
She glares at me.
"It goes like this..." I start attempting to assemble the unit in the middle of the San Jose International Airport.
"Ok sir, move on..." Hastily...
She doesn't smile, obviously I must be some sort of threat that she hasn't quite figured out, but I'm glad to be on my way. I smile, reflecting on a time when I got stopped in HNL with 10 longboard fins taped together with about 30 blank white T-shirts packed in my bag. And that was it. I'm pretty sure they thought I was smuggling cocaine the way they acted that time.
Ahh... the adventures of the traveling surfboard builder.
Just 8 hours before I was attacking a yellow resin panel that went south on me with my grinder. Minor, but still a reality shocker when you're standing in line at the airport being grilled over your stripped down power tool.


All that aside, cool board for Seth Bowman just finished up last night- Pretty sweet camo freestyle.


Made it to Hawaii. 
And here we are. Sitting around in the shop in a "meeting" :) Good to be back. -Carl


Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Taking Orders In Hawaii

We're doing our first batch of boards in Hawaii for 2012. We've got a new glassing and shaping room so we're all set to crank some boards out. Spring time surf is just around the corner, so get your orders in!

Monday, January 23, 2012

Finless Foray

Left my camera at work this evening, so I thought I'd post some pictures of a finless board I built in 2006. It was designed by a friend of mine, Dale Solomonson in the mid 80's. He never built it, but posted a drawing of it on the online shaping forum Swaylocks. I took it upon myself to constructed it and wrote all about it here http://www2.swaylocks.com/node/1020900 in 2006. One of the coolest boards I ever made. :)  -Carl





Sunday, January 22, 2012

Crows, Kai and Shortie

Friends are always sending us pictures of 2 crows. So rad, we love it.
Great picture of Kaizer surfing Pleasure Point
 Here's a little shorty that just finished up for Ryan, I know we don't post a lot of pics of conventional shortboards, but we do 'em. :) <(") Carl

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Just a quicky

I came across this video of Edward Sharp @ Aloha Tower and got all nostalgic tonight. Looking forward to getting back to Hawaii, I always start playing this song... heck the whole album gets put on repeat as I start counting down the days to departure. 
Heres a better version of the song for those of you who've never heard it...


<(")Carl

Friday, January 20, 2012

Headcolds, handles and hang tens

Man I finally caught the headcold that's been going around lately. They say the average adult gets 2-3 a year, so I guess it was gunna happen sooner or later. I mentioned that it was slowing me down to Welzie today... he told me to take a tablespoon of cement to "harden up." Couldn't help but laugh at that one. Stayed out of the shaping room today, something about all that dust floating around is really unappealing when your sick. Gotta get well fast, heading over to Hawaii on monday. I did fabricate a new handle for my rebuild on my soon-to-be hawaii planer. I love metal fabrication, it comes in a close second to working on surfboards in my book. :) 
A little grinder action... not smart to do one handed while taking pictures...
 Here's all the pieces cut, bent, ground, and ready to be welded.
 Weldy weldy
 A little flat black paint makes everything rad
 Vintage Clark foam planer... I wonder if it's worth anything on ebay...
 I randomly stumbled across one of Waylon's Thick foiled fins while tinkering around in the garage... probably an inch thick. I think I was supposed to fix this thing for him or something...
 Sweet template! Reminds me of an Orca.
 Planer's starting to take shape. Maybe I should paint the body on this one...
Speaking  of Waylon, here's a great picture of his 220lb frame defying all odds at Malibu. Legend
 Here's one of Welzie. Liability <(") Carl