Contact   Imprint   Advertising   Guidelines

paulownia wood

Here you can exchange your experience and datas about your home build boards
airic
Rare Poster
Posts: 11
Joined: Mon Oct 30, 2017 12:52 pm
Gear: surf tomo evo
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 2 times

paulownia wood

Postby airic » Sat Jan 27, 2018 2:59 pm

Someone know if I can get paulownia wood sheet 4 or 6mm thick ship in Canada.
I search the net but no results.

User avatar
Greenturtle
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 978
Joined: Fri May 12, 2017 6:51 pm
Local Beach: Presque Isle, Erie PA
Favorite Beaches: Bahamian Cays
Gear: Edge 19, Flite 17, 14.5, 12, 10, 8, Cloud 13.4, 10.4, 8, 6.2, 3.7
Tons of boards for water, land, and snow
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 240 times
Been thanked: 276 times

Re: paulownia wood

Postby Greenturtle » Sat Jan 27, 2018 3:45 pm

I don’t know where you can order paulownia, but really the only reason it is commonly used is because it is grown all over china (where the boards get made), and is super cheap there.

Canada is full of trees. Use local wood.

User avatar
Peert
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 513
Joined: Thu Jun 20, 2013 10:38 am
Local Beach: Kijkduin, IJmuiden, Schellinkhout, Wijk aan Zee, Marina, Mirns.
Style: Freeride
Gear: Best Roca 4m, Naish Boxer 6 and 9m, GA Pure 8m Naish Trip 10m, Gong strutless 11m Modded Waroo 14m.
Mako 135x38 Mako 140x40 & Mako King 165x45, Crazyfly Bulldozer, T40 Moses Vorace Hydrofoil + Gong Wings
Brand Affiliation: None
Location: Amsterdam
Has thanked: 13 times
Been thanked: 23 times

Re: paulownia wood

Postby Peert » Sat Jan 27, 2018 4:06 pm

Greenturtle wrote:
Sat Jan 27, 2018 3:45 pm
I don’t know where you can order paulownia, but really the only reason it is commonly used is because it is grown all over china (where the boards get made), and is super cheap there.

Canada is full of trees. Use local wood.
Nothing to do with strength to weight ratio?

User avatar
Greenturtle
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 978
Joined: Fri May 12, 2017 6:51 pm
Local Beach: Presque Isle, Erie PA
Favorite Beaches: Bahamian Cays
Gear: Edge 19, Flite 17, 14.5, 12, 10, 8, Cloud 13.4, 10.4, 8, 6.2, 3.7
Tons of boards for water, land, and snow
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 240 times
Been thanked: 276 times

Re: paulownia wood

Postby Greenturtle » Sat Jan 27, 2018 4:43 pm

It does indeed have a very high strength to weight ratio, maybe the best, but this is highly subjective to the actual piece being tested.
It is light, somewhere in between balsa and spruce.

The thing is, you see boards with the clear graphics and there are usually knots in the wood. So the strength is compromised (hugely) by those knots etc. If the board manufacturers really cared they would use only clear straight grained pieces in thier blanks.(money)
Which as a home builder, you can do.

If you cannot get paulownia, I would suggest your locally available spruce, and select it for straight grain and knot free. This would give you a better blank than paulownia that is wavy grained or knoty.
Attachments
C511A56C-156D-4D2B-BE9D-5921BB1334CB.png
9372AD5A-9D7B-420D-A797-F05E48EF5EF3.png
3FCF090A-C918-4806-8391-9FB8B10B2F64.png

User avatar
Greenturtle
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 978
Joined: Fri May 12, 2017 6:51 pm
Local Beach: Presque Isle, Erie PA
Favorite Beaches: Bahamian Cays
Gear: Edge 19, Flite 17, 14.5, 12, 10, 8, Cloud 13.4, 10.4, 8, 6.2, 3.7
Tons of boards for water, land, and snow
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 240 times
Been thanked: 276 times

Re: paulownia wood

Postby Greenturtle » Sat Jan 27, 2018 5:09 pm

Northern white cedar or western red cedar would also be fine locally available choices and land somewhere in between paulownia and spruce in strength to weight ratio. Stronger than paulownia, very minimally heavier.

Im a woodworker and my opinions are definitely biased towards locally sourced.
Im sure paulownia is available somewhere and you could buy thicker and get it planed/drum sanded down at a mill/ local workshop.

User avatar
downunder
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 2811
Joined: Mon Jul 01, 2013 7:16 am
Gear: building my own
Brand Affiliation: None
Location: Perth, Australia
Has thanked: 153 times
Been thanked: 160 times

Re: paulownia wood

Postby downunder » Sun Jan 28, 2018 2:48 pm

Nah,

what u need are Paulownia strips. Not a produced plank.

A plank costs heaps, strips are cheap as chips. Than make a plank to suit your needs. No mill/drums etc

Just a lot of elbow grease :) have a look at my builds, its all there.

Btw, if not mistaking, cedar is a soft wood, paulownia is a hard wood...bamboo is grass, not wood, and Im using both.

User avatar
Greenturtle
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 978
Joined: Fri May 12, 2017 6:51 pm
Local Beach: Presque Isle, Erie PA
Favorite Beaches: Bahamian Cays
Gear: Edge 19, Flite 17, 14.5, 12, 10, 8, Cloud 13.4, 10.4, 8, 6.2, 3.7
Tons of boards for water, land, and snow
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 240 times
Been thanked: 276 times

Re: paulownia wood

Postby Greenturtle » Sun Jan 28, 2018 3:45 pm

Yes, cedar, spruce, any tree with needles, is termed “soft wood”
Any tree with leaves (paulownia), “hard wood”

However these terms do not represent actual softness or hardness.

Spruce and cedar are both harder than paulownia for example.

Agree strips are the way to go not only from price but strength and consistent flex standpoint.

User avatar
Greenturtle
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 978
Joined: Fri May 12, 2017 6:51 pm
Local Beach: Presque Isle, Erie PA
Favorite Beaches: Bahamian Cays
Gear: Edge 19, Flite 17, 14.5, 12, 10, 8, Cloud 13.4, 10.4, 8, 6.2, 3.7
Tons of boards for water, land, and snow
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 240 times
Been thanked: 276 times

Re: paulownia wood

Postby Greenturtle » Sun Jan 28, 2018 4:36 pm

Heres stats for paulownia vs cedar

Weight:
paulownia - 18 lbs/ft3
white cedar - 22 lbs/ft3

Hardness (janka test):
paulownia- 300 lbf
white cedar -320 lbf

Rupture:
paulownia - 5480 lbf/in2
white cedar- 6500 lbf/in2

Elastic modulus:
paulownia - 635000 lbf/in2
white cedar - 800000 lbf/in2

Crushing strength:
paulownia- 3010 lbf/in2
white cedar- 3960 lbf/in2

Shrinkage:
paulownia- radial 2.4%, tangential 3.9%
white cedar- radial 2.2% tangential 4.9%

My point is they are very, very similar in working properties.
I know paulownia is the conventional choice but I just want to point out that North America grows wood too.

If you want more strength and spring in the core (and you can use less glass), go for spruce :)

User avatar
rynhardt
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 977
Joined: Wed Sep 11, 2013 3:51 pm
Local Beach: Langebaan
Favorite Beaches: Langebaan
Style: Freeride
Gear: Cloud C2 17
Hoff Twinwave
Brand Affiliation: None
Location: Johannesburg, South Africa
Has thanked: 24 times
Been thanked: 29 times

Re: paulownia wood

Postby rynhardt » Sun Jan 28, 2018 9:08 pm

With wood, strength overall increases with density.
As with any natural material, density and strength will vary from one sample to the next, for the same wood.

A less dense spruce should be pretty much the same as a more dense paulownia.
And since you are using wood, light weight is probably not your first criteria.
So locally sourced spruce sounds like the ticket, especially if you can get some less dense samples.

wood1
Rare Poster
Posts: 43
Joined: Fri May 09, 2003 6:44 pm
Brand Affiliation: None
Location: haifa
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 2 times

Re: paulownia wood

Postby wood1 » Mon Jan 29, 2018 7:52 am

If you look at Slingshot boards they are made in the usa from what look like spruce
and they don't bother even choosing clear stuff ,there are knots visible in the wood core,
So no problem with local wood,


Return to “Gear Builders”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 48 guests