Cornwall Hospice Care / Unique Fundraising recipe for 2025
Take40 Unique Original Steam Bent Belly Boards
Add40 Unique Cornish Artists
Add 1 Totally Original Belly Board Craftsman
Mix41lifetimes of Inspired, Dedicated, Manufacturing and artistic Magic .
Then Stand well back and prepare to be simplyamazed at the results.
The Boards 64 years in the making
Original Cornish Art surely deserves an Original, Pertinent and RelevantCanvas
The Canvas in this case being an authentic, steamed, curved Surf Belly Board
Manufactured using the OriginalPre1960 Brierly/Dennett Electro SteamPress
Hands (Mine!) Shaped, Bent and Finished on Sustainably sourced 9mm 7 ply Okoume
In fact Finished to exactly the same specification as our bespoke Body boards.
The Artists
Previous Artists work for Raising Funds for Cornwall Hospice Care image courtesy of Diane Griffiths
Rewind to September 202238 Incredible Artists were involved in the artistic transformation of 38Redundant Milk Churns kindly donated by Rodda Cream and other private individuals.
The resulting Auction realised an incredibly generous amount of much appreciated revenue for the Hospice.
To view all these truly Unique and Inspirational works of art they can be seen here:- Around Cornwall in 38 Churns
Well my 40 boards each uniquely Hot Iron branded are now safely distributed by the brilliant Hospice supporters.
I cannot wait to see just what a visual metamorphosis these simple Canvases will have undergone.
Ok so we love and cherish our Cornish links, but hey surfing in England started in Bridlington just up the road from our East Yorkshire workshop.
To celebrate our own local heritage we have made a limited number very special “Dead Bod” Boards.
So, what is the “Dead Bod“ all about and why is it significant for us?
Original Dead Bod
Back in the 60’s when our Steam Press was invented and Fishing was the mainstay of the Humber Ports, Kingston upon Hull vied with Great Grimsby, most fish landings in the UK came into the Humber via the Distant water deep sea Trawling fleet.
These hardy souls and the heroes of my youth, spent 3 weeks at sea in the far northern Latitudes returning home for a “Three Day millionaires’ lifestyle and then back to sea before they knew it.
So, to maximise their shore leave, the crews would always want to arrive at the quay looking pin sharp, once in the calmer waters of the Humber estuary and the ship ready to discharge they would be scrubbing themselves up,therefore their progress to the fish quay was closely monitored.
As they sailed up river and passed the Alexandra Dock there was a large warehouse with its corrugated doors adorned with a massive stylised dead bird, on its back, legs pointing skywards complete with the legend “Dead Bod” written underneath.
It became so much more than a reference point, it became in fact a visual touchstone for the crews returning from the dangers and hardships of their work.
Well OK we don’t all face the hardships of the deep sea to earn a living, but once I see that cheeky image coming out, I know work is done for now and its Surf time again and cannot help but grin.
Although It is a visual representation of a very real Maritime event as witnessed by its creator Len “Pongo” Rood, its conception is believed to be largely due to the combination of three random elements,
Lens Saturday at work Boredom
The availability of an open tin of paint.
the inspirational memory of a truly hilarious moment at sea.
A fourth element of inspiration came from the Strickland Arms Public House we are told but cannot confirm.
What Len could not have foreseen back in 1960 was that 61 years later his Artwork would in turn become a truly authentic part of the City of Kingston upon Hulls cultural heritage.
The original corrugated Iron door artwork and full story are now forming part of the amazing Hull Bankside experience. www.humberstreetgallery.co.uk
So our Green and White prototype pictured above, are a professional specification 9mm, 7ply board carrying a hand applied plain white Hi Build Logo.
Given the time and effort to produce these super strong super slippery boards numbers are always going to be limited.
By Designing and producing a few high quality body boards using our 60’s original electro-steam press allows us the privilege of giving a “Nod” to surfing’s early roots in the UK and a definite “wink” to the culture of my home Port of Kingston upon Hull and and hope you are delighted with the results.
Each comes with its own bespoke build sheet which not only functions to validate the boards identity, but is most importantly a memory aid for myself for building and posting out.
Specification: –
Timber 9mm x 7ply Okoume marine grade sustainably sourced plywood from Fyne boat kits, Lloyds registered quality and sustainable supply chain www.fyneboatkits.co.uk
Preparation and final professional surface finishes -P101Clear, White and Green from Teal and Mackrill www.teamac.co.uk
Professional build guidance Dave Butler professional Boat Builder www.butlerboats.biz
Well, I’ve had this piece of Great Western Memorabilia on my wall for ever.
The bathers all appeared to be having so much fun….and not a wet suit in sight, that I thought why not have a Surf Classic™ version of a traditional timber plank board?
Build Brief
Reclaimed or sustainable hardwoods to be used
Must be the Lightest and strongest in class, finished weight only 1.72 kg
Must be formed on the Ken’s original 1961 Briereley Steam Press
Great in the surf and also a beautiful piece of surf Wall Art for the other 50 weeks of the year.
Manufacturing
The initial board and its jig modifications have taken a little over 4 months to design and construct working at home outside my normal production schedule, and given me some fair challenges along the way ultimately great joy seeing it through to fruition.
This is its story
Modifying my venerable 60+ year old original North Cornish Electro-Steam Press to accommodate the bending of 30 pieces of varying strength hardwoods required us creating a larger timber infeed and re-designing and manufacturing an additional steam generator to provide the increased volume of steam now required.
In case you’re wondering the base Aluminium former used for the curve here is part of a Front-Line millitary aircraft fuel drop tank circa 1957and was re tasked in 1960 by the press’s original maker Top Bloke and gifted Cornish engineer Ken Brierley.
A defunct cold former served well for gluing the bead & cove strip planks
Timber snail cams gave lateral pressure and the strong backs hold the planks true whilst the glue cured.
After cleaning and sanding it smooth instead of the usual “Surf Classic™” Logo burnt in with our copper branding iron this special has a trademarked inlay.
Challenges along the way
As with all things experimental particularly when juggling those three critical elements of weight, strength and beauty, there is usually a shortcoming.
In this case, it was its torsional strength allowing the board to bend beyond normal limits along its axis.
Challenge
The limited shear strength of the central 12mm Red Cedar plank was a possible weakness for axial strength with it possibly breaking along the grain under stress.
Solution
4oz Fibreglass was used to strengthen the board surfaces, this may have compromised its overall weight but as its initial weight was less than a kilo (942g) it still finished out at only 1.72Kg which is still less than conventional plywood boards of the same size.
The Future
We will be scaling up and manufacturing these boards in 2022 we think they will be a great addition to our range.
Designed and made our own Cauls (4 way clamp)
We will be sourcing and milling over 50% of our timbers for strip plank boards from reclaimed hardwood.
The Cedar and Mahogany on the prototype came courtesy of a school laboratory demolition and American Poplar strips are essentially offcuts from a professional Boat Builder.
Bespoke Cauls in use for the first time
Build Information
Timber 12mm Paulownia with Bead &Cove, 12 mm Red Cedar with B&C, 12mm American Poplar (Tulip Wood) with green and cream graining B&C
Sustainable timber and Fibre Glassing materials -sourced from Phil at Fyne Boat Kits www.fyneboatkits.co.uk
Preparation and final professional surface finishes -P101Clear from Teal and Mackrill www.teamac.co.uk
Glassing guidance from Dave Butler professional Boat Builder www.butlerboats.biz
Silver Paddleboards web site was a mine of information for designing the clamps.
Paul Fishers book “Strip Plank Boat Construction” ISBN :978-1-898909-18-7 has provided all the information we could have wished for and whetted our appetite for designing a proto hollow board that will provide additional buoyancy and open up life beyond the breakers (watch this space)
Thank you for taking time to view this article, please use the contact page for any queries or information you may require.
Back in the 60’s when our Steam Press was invented and Fishing was the mainstay of the Humber Ports, Kingston upon Hull vied with Great Grimsby, most fish landings in the UK came into the Humber via the Distant water deep sea Trawling fleet.
