SHAPING AN ALAIA
CIRE has set out to shape our first Alaia: a thin, finless, round-nosed surfboard made from Acacia koa, surfed in Hawaii around the early 1900’s. The early versions of these boards ranged from 7 to 12 feet long and could weigh upwards of 100 lbs. The CIRE modernized version will be shaped from Paulownia wood and will be about 7 feet.
Put on your environmental badge for a minute, Paulownia is the perfect surfboard wood due to its minimal impact on the environment, it leaves only footprints. Paulownia trees grow like Bonds at the end of his career, growing over 20 feet in less than 3 years. The Alaia can handle some abuse and is easy to repair with sanding and some linseed oil. When it is time to retire, the Alaia disappears back into Mother Nature’s hands.
Once we shape it, how do you surf it? Since the Alaia is thin and flat, it gets down the line quickly. Since the board is finless, the long rails hold the face of the wave. The word La La best describes the act of surfing an Alaia, which means a controlled slide in the curl of the wave. Balance and rail control are how you rip on a Alaia. Here is how we shaped it:
Step 1: Grab your tools of the trade. You will need a template and a pencil, hand plane, saw, tape measure, various grits of sandpaper and some patience. If you have electric tools it will go a lot faster. We did everything by hand with the exception of an electric sander. 
Step 2: Find a good Paulownia blank. It is the best wood to use since it is lightweight, strong and naturally repels water. You will want a blank at least 7' x 20" x 1".
Step 3: Draw your outline. Lay your template on the blank and trace the outline with a pencil. If you set something on top of the template it will keep it from shifting as your draw the outline. 
Step 4: Once the outline is drawn, its time to cut out the board. Whether you are using a handsaw or electric jigsaw make sure you leave a gap between the outline and your cut. This will allow a small margin of error that you will sand down later on.
Step 5: Now you will draw in the rails bands and concave in the tail. You have the option of square rails or sharp rails. For squarer rails, you will want the rail bands 3" from the rail. Draw in guidelines along the tail so you know how much wood to remove. For this board we went with square rails which are about 1/2" thick.
Step 6: Start shaping....make the first cuts in your board using the rail bands and concave as a guide. Stop periodically to make sure the rails are even. Lay a flat object like a ruler across the concave to see if the concave is symmetrical. Once you have the rails even you will use the sandpaper to finish the details.
Step 7: Now that the board is shaped, sanded and ready for linseed oil, we are going to throw some pinstripes on this board. Drop some tape lines on the board and grab your favorite dark stain. 
Step 8: Remove the tape and get ready to seal your board with 100% raw linseed oil. 
Step 9: Even though Paulownia wood is water resistant we will still want to seal it to protect the wood. We are using 100% boiled raw linseed oil mixed with turpentine. For the first coat we will use 50% boiled raw linseed oil and 50% turpentine. Be very careful when working with raw linseed oil since it is highly flammable and can spontaneous combust if the brushes or rags are not disposed of properly. Step 10: As we apply coats 2 and 3 we will slowly reduce the amount of turpentine until we are applying only 100% boiled raw linseed oil. Let the board dry for 12 - 24 hours between coats. Once the 3rd coat is applied and dry, the Alaia is ready to surf. Grab the Alaia and go find out why the Hawaiian's fell in love with surfing. 
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