A balance board is a great thing to have in your surf-related arsenal of things. They can help improve your balance and build some of your stabilizer muscles – both of which will translate to improvements in your surfing. Making your own balance board is very simple, and can usually be completed with scrap wood…
Category: Shaping & DIY
Interested in shaping your own surfboards, making your own fins, or upcycling old surf junk. You’ve found the right place.
Working With Recycled EPS Foam Blanks from Marko Foam
I picked up a couple of recycled EPS surfboard foam blanks from Marko Foam as a birthday gift to myself. Up until this project, I hadn’t really shaped a board from a fresh blank. I’ve reshaped old boards, built hollow wooden boards, built some hand planes out of palm tree branches, and plenty of surf…
How to Tie a Leash Rope
The leash rope is the part of your leash that connects your leash’s rail saver to the boards leash cup, loop, or hole. A leash rope should be inspected and replaced from time to time. Because if your leash rope breaks, you might as well not be wearing a leash at all. This is the…
The Minimalist’s Budget Surfboard Shaping Set Up
If you’re just getting into surfboard shaping or fin making, you don’t need to go crazy on your tools and work space. Here’s my philosophy – if you can learn the mechanics and basics of something with the minimum equipment, you’re going to excel faster and better utilize the tools when you do decide to…
Reshaping Old & Broken Surfboards
Throughout my life I’ve had a habit of hanging onto “junk” at different times. I’d see something broken or trashed, get an idea in my head for a way to fix it, but then more often than not, the project would collect dust for a while. These “junk” projects have included everything from skateboards, bicycles,…
How to Make Your Own Upcycled Go-Pro Stick Mount
I picked up an action camera in hopes of expanding Wave Arcade’s content offerings to include more video and surf shots. I also needed something in a pinch to film the upcycled dead palm handplane I made for the Vissla Surfrider Creator’s Contest.Admittedly, I cheaped-out and opted for an off-brand action cam. For about $50…
Bio-Epoxy Resin Showdown: Resin Research Bio vs. Entropy Super Sap
When I started Wave Arcade, I knew that bio-based epoxy resin was going to be a key component to making my fins and boards. Bio-based epoxy resins are derived from plants and result in an epoxy that’s safer to make, safer to use, and that carries a much lower carbon footprint than polyester resins or…
Working with Hemp Cloth for Surfboards & Fins
Creating handcrafted surf fins is a challenge. There are a variety of different ways to do it – each with their own strengths and weaknesses in terms of process difficulty, total hours, and the performance and appearance of the final product. Wave Arcade surfboard fins have gone through a lot of different iterations. And honestly,…
Building a Hollow Wood Surfboard
The Hollow Redwood Mini-Simmons Surfboard Building a hollow wood surfboard can be a good first step into exploring alternative surfboard materials and manufacturing processes for yourself. Making a hollow wood board yourself also gives you a better understanding and appreciation for some of the really, really nice wood boards you can find online, on Instagram,…
How to Make Your Own Wetsuit Koozies
You may or may not have seen Wave Arcade’s own upcycled wetsuit koozies. If not, check them out, they’re groovy. And they keep beers real frosty. They’re also one of the first ideas that sparked the Wave Arcade project. And the best part yet – they’re a super simple way to upcycle your old surf…