Wood & Plains Co

TELL US ABOUT WOOD & PLAINS CO

Wood & Plains Co. is a hobby I started about 10 years ago, making hand planes out of paulownia. I have always enjoyed bodysurfing & timber work, so it seemed like a natural progression to combine the two and be able to enjoy riding waves on something I created.

When I was living in Perth, (where good waves are hard to come by), there was a groyne set up that always had perfect little tubes, but the flags were always up. Hand planing was the perfect cheat pass to allow me the speed of surfing without a board.

Over time I was shaping more and more for friends and friends of friends and my fascination with board design extended into surfboards.

WHAT WAS THE FIRST BOARD THAT YOU EVER SHAPED? DO YOU HAVE ANY PHOTOS?

A mate of mine Ben had a spare seconds blank from Burford’s and encouraged me to shape one. I made a 5’4” x 21.75” x 3” mini Simmons inspired quad, short, flat, wide with a rounded square tail. It was actually pretty fun. I dubbed it the ‘Wombat’ for obvious reasons.

WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON NOW? DO YOU HAVE A DREAM PROJECT IN MIND?

I’ve been working on a few new models, a glider model and two new mid-length models. I just shaped a 10’7” triple stringer glider so keen to try that out. The mid-lengths I’ve been working on are a Steve Lis inspired long fish with twin keels and a rounded pin tail twin fin with upright MR style twins and two quad trailers. I love twinnies.

WHAT ARE YOU RIDING NOW AND HOW IS IT WORKING FOR YOU?

I tend to ride twin fins most of the time. Quads are fun when I’m looking for more performance. We’re blessed with perfect point waves so a good traditional log is an essential part of the quiver when it’a small. I’ve just started playing around with mid-lengths a bit as well. Most of my shapes are inspired by 1970’s templates with modern performance elements in rails, rockers, and bottom contours… I'm pretty perfectionistic so I’ll often re-shape a model 3 or 4 times before I’m happy with it.

WE GET IT, YOU LOVE THE SEA, WHAT’S YOUR IDEAL ADVENTURE ON LAND?

Hiking, mountains, waterfalls, forests and camping. Anything in nature.

WHO TAUGHT YOU HOW TO SHAPE & WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

I’m self taught. I love trying new designs and testing them out myself, and I also do a lot of research to back up any concepts that I’m really drawn to. There is always room for tweaking and improvement in shaping and I really enjoy the endless possibilities. It’s never boring!

The rest has been a process of refining concepts & lots of practice to make them surf better. I have done so many boards for friends and friends of friends, and I think this has really pushed me to practice precision. When you know you’re creating something for a friend, you take extra care. I think this has really helped my shaping and it’s also been a great way to try my boards and think about the next one.

DO YOU HAVE ANY WORDS OF WISDOM FOR ANYONE STARTING OUT IN YOUR FIELD?

I’m still pretty green as a shaper, as I’ve only been shaping surfboards for five years. You really need to understand the principles of board design, because there are so many elements that need to be applied coherently. If you make a change, you need to know what effect that is going to have. It’s also important to surf well enough to feel & recognise the effect of the changes you're making.

I think you have to take some risks. But start small, as board design is a sensitive process and the slightest tweak can make a huge change to the feel of your board.

Be prepared to make some mistakes so you can learn from them, and ultimately have fun!