Inlay ideas?

[Surfdad]

I'm going to be building a new board for James. His current construction of choice is a carbon fiber under and bamboo veneer and fiberglass over. BUT, it's rather blah to look at. So I am thinking about adding a darker Walnut veneer inlay. Probably just a V'ish shape or maybe an inverted V'ish shape up at the nose. Maybe like 4 or 5 inches wide that would have the bamboo veneer above it (towards the nose) and below it (going towards the tail).

If I get super creative, maybe a checkerboard pattern of squares alternating 'boo and 'nut

Any better ideas that don't take master craftsman skills?

Here are the colors of the veneer that are on their way.

[carcrz]

a few ideas from Google - "Wood block design"






Not difficult at all, right? LOL

[Joeprunc]

I've got bamboo inlay on my stand up paddle board (the first one). I get countless compliments on how nice it looks with the bamboo. The Tahoe Woody versions look much nicer, here is their latest model (the green one). They seem to provide a more classic look, maybe not what you are looking for in a high performance board.


I thought their old woody version was even better looking.

Untitled by Clear Water Outdoor, on Flickr

Untitled by Clear Water Outdoor, on Flickr

[Wakeman22]

Checkerboard would be cool. But so would your Vish. How about diagonal stripes?

[Surfdad]

I love that 3rd picture carcrz, but man...I could never do that. I wish I had that sort of skill, because I think folks could make some amazing looking boards.

I love that Tahoe SUP with the vertical stripes, I don't think I can do that either, but that's a good look. I'm a little concerned with a seam under James foot. I don't really know how to work with the veneers and my fear is that the seam would split.

I think I'm going to have to keep this first effort simple and something that I can keep up towards the nose on the bottom.

Here is a picture of the bottom of James board, in flight. It's pretty uinform (yawn) to me

[NICKYPOO]

I'm thinking a faded, elongated, light radius V (think half of the Bear logo). You could fade it by sanding it down to nothing. Doing that does take some time, care and patience though.

Here, quick sketch.

[NICKYPOO]

Actually, reverse that and fade it out at the fins.

[Surfdad]

That would be a good look! Not sure I am up to the curves just yet! I'm intrigued by the fading process. Wouldn't it just stop at some point? I'm trying to invision the gradient.

[Greg Mallek]

I've got bamboo inlay on my stand up paddle board (the first one). I get countless compliments on how nice it looks with the bamboo. The Tahoe Woody versions look much nicer, here is their latest model (the green one). They seem to provide a more classic look, maybe not what you are looking for in a high performance board.


I thought their old woody version was even better looking.

Untitled by Clear Water Outdoor, on Flickr

Untitled by Clear Water Outdoor, on Flickr

Hey, did you get that Zephyr from Ron?

[NICKYPOO]

That would be a good look! Not sure I am up to the curves just yet! I'm intrigued by the fading process. Wouldn't it just stop at some point? I'm trying to invision the gradient.

Ya, it would. To pull it off, its more leaving little bits behind from cross directional sanding in increasingly smaller amounts. It's a bitch. Probably more of a bitch than you're rely gonna wanna deal with.

Those Tahoe SUPs are made within a couple miles of my house. Their shop is around the corner from my kid's swim school. Last time I was in there, I asked for a job. Talk about a chill operation.

[Surfdad]

LOL yeah, I had a vision of starting to sand and scream at you! Curse that Nickypoo! I like that Tahoe SUP, the alternating stripes look like edge banding in two different veneers. That stuff comes already straight and would probably not be all that hard to do and is a really good look.

[Surfdad]

I went simple and even THIS was a challenge for me. The dark is walnut and the light is bamboo. I wish I had the talent, because I think this could create some interesting looking boards.

[Wickedcummins]

O this is cool

http://www.carbonfibergear.com/c2-co...ber-surfboard/

[Timmy!]

I went simple and even THIS was a challenge for me. The dark is walnut and the light is bamboo. I wish I had the talent, because I think this could create some interesting looking boards.

That's cool. You could pinstripe it with a bright color and do something with Nick's idea.

[NICKYPOO]

Kinda looks like a thumb that got smashed with a hammer.

While not one of the pics posted by Wicked has any sort of inlay, the skateboard brings up an interesting strategy. Dye. The green on there is just a dye. You can see the grain continue right through the alternating colors. It's one piece of wood with sectioned off areas of dye. One hell of a lot easier the trying to do a true inlay.

Dye is not a traditional wipe on stain. The results are far more dramatic with the dye. The depth of the finish is awesome. I've done some really cool finishes with it. I've sprayed it and wiped it on and its really easy to work with. Check this site out. http://awfi.org/wood-dye-stain-technologies

I really think this is what you're looking for.