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baltic birch ply too stiff??

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paul s
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baltic birch ply too stiff??

Postby paul s » Wed Jun 28, 2006 5:32 pm

A while back I made a couple of ply boards using some kind of merante or okume exterior ply they worked very well but one broke and the other has got very flexible. So now i got hold of some 12mm baltic birch - nice quality, very flat, very stiff. I made a 143 x 43 following the info in posts i didn't bother with putting any rocker in it. So i tried riding it, pops up on a plane with almost no power and at low speeds seems okay, pick up a bit of speed though and the nose end catches in the small chop and i go over the front. I persisted for a while and same thing kept happening. The baltic birch is super flat and stiff, is it too stiff? Would flip tips help? Or do bb ply lightwind boards need a bit of rocker? I could glue up two pieces of 6mm with say 5 or 10mm of rocker - anyone working with bb ply what do you think?

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Postby bay surfer » Thu Jun 29, 2006 1:38 am

Thats is a big board almost a Door, you could put a tad of rocker in it by taking four cinder blodks, set the board up on two of the blocks with the tips of the board on the blocks, and set the remaining blocks on top in the middle, let it sit for a week and there should be some rocker.
I make my small boards by glueing two thin plys, Whats nice about that you form the board to the shape you what, rocker, concave no problem, add some glass in the middle you have a unbreakable board.

paul s
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Postby paul s » Thu Jun 29, 2006 4:35 pm

I was hoping that my weight when i'm on it would create enough rocker as it has on my other ply boards. Seems like the BB is so much stiffer this isn't happening. I'll set this board out with some weight in the centre and in the mean time i 'll laminate another one up with some rocker, any suggestions as to how much for a light wind, glide, door type board??

thanks - paul


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