Handplane Madness - Recycled Stoke!

So I found myself unemployed as of the second week of January 2012. Instead of being depressed, I've taken this time of to reconnect with my passion for the ocean. While I have been a surfer for 25 years, I have always been in love with womping and body surfing. My dad used to live on the one way street leaving Windansea Beach and I spent my elementary and Junior High years womping in the summer and listening to my dads awesome stories of body surfing Boomer Beach and La Jolla in the 40's and 50's and 60's

My dad at Boomer in La Jolla - 1964

Ive been seeing some cool handplanes this past year...some better than others. I was looking at some and was turned off by the $120 price tag. They were made real pretty with cool wood but the shapes were weird and many felt too corky in the water. That got me to thinking. Instead of buying wood I wanted to use recycled wood. That's when I had my idea to recycle used skate decks, strip off the grip and reshape them for a new purpose. Skate decks are thinner and have a great neutral buoyancy. That along with the natural concave of the deck along with a slight nose rocker make for a good time.

I wanted to not only recycle the wood, but the stoke as well. These items we love and leave so quickly still have life and beautiful wood underneath the grime. I used to own a skate shop and have sold thousands of boards and never really thought to use a deck in this new way. Anyway, I went to my garage and found an old favorite deck. I started to get busy and after a day i had a sweet little swallow tail. I rummaged for a strap and used a natural oil to seal the wood and make it water proof. I mounted a GoPro camera on it and down to Cardiff I went. 

In the week that followed, I got more tubes and had more fun than I have had in a couple years. I started posting the pics and made a few more handplanes and friends started hitting me up wanting one as well. What had started as a spare time project has turned into my new hanplane company -Recycled Stoke tm Every board is different as every deck I use, has a different shape. I sand each down and find the outline that fits it outline and start shaping it. 

If you are interested in getting one, email me at recycledstoke@gmail.com

The website should be one of these days at www.recycledstoke.com

My first Handplane made from an old Black Label skate deck.

I threw a Go-Pro on the front and the results were awesome!

Pitted...so pitted.

Looks like an Ice cave

I started making a few other Handplanes and they are for sale at a few SD Shops