Using aku shaper5/20/2023 ![]() They are lightweight and made from environmentally friendly and sustainable materials. They are specifically designed to be shaped using the same tools as shaping a foam surfboard blank. The core of the wood blank is 100% paulownia (this is the wood most Alaia shapers use, it is light and easy to work with). My first vision of Mark was him dragging a wheeled board bag through Central Park so he could show me his sick wood sleds.Ĭrooked Blanks are hollow wood surfboard blanks ready to be shaped. He drove down from his enclave in the great northeast to meet me in NYC. It was the classic non-surf interview meet-up. We caught up with Crooked Blanks owner Mark Cruickshank while in NYC. We live in interesting times where people are challenging the way surfers think, ride and shape.Ĭrooked Blanks is using a hammer, sustainable wood, a saw, and some technical knowledge to make sure that you have an alternative to foam blanks. ![]() It seems that if you want a surfboard you'll have to be an accomplice to the foam's gnarliness. However, the tragical eco trail behind each foam blank is devastating ugly. TDI is even a probable carcinogen.īy the time the blank arrives to the shaper, the polyurethane is mostly an inert material and luckily most of the chemicals used to manufacture the blank are nonexistent in the shaper's workshop. Long-term exposure can lead to lung aliments, asthma-like reactions characterized by wheezing, dyspnea, and bronchial constriction. It is extremely toxic to humans and short-term exposure effects the respiratory, gastrointestinal, and central nervous systems. TDI is the real monster in this chemical cocktail. In the case of PU, two chemicals are used, polyols and toluene diisocyanate (TDI). Unfortunately, to make these blanks the manufacturer has to use a conglomeration of nasty toxic chemicals. What's good for your wallet may not be good for the environment-that's a good lesson to remember. Many blank manufacturers have moved over the border where environmental standards are more, well, lenient. PU is the industry standard because it is less expensive, easy to work with and board builders can glass with either polyester or epoxy resin.Ĭlark Foam ran the market on surfboard blanks up to 2005 with their popular molds and mysterious formula for its non-environmental polyurethane blanks-which was part of the reason it was closed. Most blanks are made from either polystyrene (eps) or its cheaper and more popular cousin polyurethane (PU). A surfboard blank is the unforgotten element underneath the wax, paint, and glass. Some surfers have never seen a blank and yet it is the very essence of why and how surfboards exist. A blank is a magical sculpture, it is an art piece that can be ridden in the living green-blue playground we so cherish. ![]() It is the very thing that inspires shapers to create-it is a shapers' muse. If you were an artist, the blank would be your canvas. If a blank where a human it would be the heart, as it is the core of a surfboard. A blank is perhaps the most important part of a surfboard and yet it is the least talked about component in surfing.
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