Bing Pipeliner East Inspired...

Thought that I’d chime in and share this current project!  So I was looking for a ‘new’ vintage longboard… something to shake up my day to day surfing, and to take out for a different perspective on things.  Having had a number of great old boards over the years, a Yater Spoon, a Hansen Superlight…  But the more I got to thinking, the more I came 'round to the opinion that a classic board, shaped by a friend, would have more meaning for me than an oldie (as much as I like them…).  Valuing what exists in terms of friendship, craftsmanship and stoke in this world of surfing that I’m into.

So, I asked Balsa if he’d agree to shape me a board.  First order in a long time, since I’ve been shaping all my own for the past ten years or so.  After he got over the surprise , and graciously agreed, we were on the lookout for a model. (The reasons I’m only shaping in wood, and not glassing at all are in the Skin
Cancer thread, but more importantly, I wanted this board to reflect a
perspective other than purely my own, I wanted it to be a shared deal) And this is the board that’s been haunting me for a while:

The Bing Pipeliner East.

Pipeliner East?  Well, here’s a peek at one for those of you who haven’t heard of the beast.  Sorry, I’m terrible with inserting photos.

http://www.usvintagesurfauction.com/auction/APViewItem.asp?ID=73

Does anyone have any information on this model?  I have only seen one, about fifteen years ago, that was nearly identical to the board on the link.  I’ve heard vague tales of a limited production run, slightly wider and flatter than the standard Pipeliner, with almond-shaped but slightly fuller rails… is this ringing bells for anyone?

Balsa will have to pop in with the photos thus far, but I wanted to say thanks for what he’s undertaking!  We started with a Just Foam 9’8" three stringer, and from there he took the initiative to go way above and beyond the call of duty.  You’ll see what I’m talking about here soon.

Throw in Camplus, who’s game to reproduce a fin close to the original, and we have the makings of a very neat project.  I’m stoked like I haven’t been about a new board in a long while, so thanks again.

OK, so I’m taking over on this. First I have to say how proud I feel being asked by Jeffrey to shape that board. I’ll try and do my best.

As Jeffrey already said, we were going to start with this kind of blank (the one in the middle):

 

 

But then I started to think: if we were going to try and make a replica, why not make it as close to the original as possible? Basically, what makes a Pipeliner (besides the sleek outline) is this particular stringers set-up with side T-bands that are quite near the rail (and not right in between center and rail). So I started looking for a blank with a fine 1/4" center stringer with the idea of adding myself both balsa/cedar T-bands. I went through whatever blanks I had in stock and finally settled for an old 10’2" Walker.(Second from left)

 

 

I had asked Jeffrey to provide the outline template and he had it numerically cut by the AtuaCores team from an EPS sheet:

 

 

Upon receiving the EPS template, I immediately transferred it onto plywood so that I could re-use it easier:

 

 

 

Then I drew the template on the blank and started marking where the T-bands should take place:

 

 

T-bands position drawn on deck side for ease of band-sawing:

 

 

Time for a band-saw session. First the blank:

 

 

Then some balsa and red cedar lumber for T-bands:

 

 

I’m afraid that’s all for today, folks! But stay tuned… if you like…

Next steps will be joint and thickness planing of both blanks and wood, then glueing.

 

 

 

Inspiring, thank you for sharing a wonderful project.

Hi Jeffrey -

Good of you to commission Guilhem to make the board.  I'm thinking the project is in capable hands.  Looking fantastic so far!

 

Being the happy owner of a wonderful longboard built by the Guilhem, I concur fully! Can’t wait to see the rest of this project!

 

 

Couldn’t work as much as I wanted today but I did find some time to get that project moving ahead.

This is what I started with after some planing:

 

Then I joint-planed both sides of the blank to get it as straight and true on both sides as possible:

 

 

 

Then, using the rocker of the blank as a guide, I drew it on all stringers-to-be and ran them through the band-saw:

 

 

In the end, this is what we have tonight:

 

 

 

To be continued…

Here’s a page from my 1968 Brochure.  Great project. Good luck with the finished product.

Bing

Bing, that is so very kind of you!!! Very, very much appreciated!

I think that Jeffrey won’t find words…

Bing, thank you for stepping in, for the encouragement, and for the scaned page.  Any further input you’d be willing to share about the boad would be greatly appreciated.

We (let’s be honest, mostly Balsa a he’s the one with the camera) will keep the progress reports coming.

I’m sure I didn’t find the right words; I usually don’t.  What I can say is how very stoked I am about this.

 

Jeffrey, did you notice how the nose of that one on Bing’s brochure looks much more “penetrating” than our “own” template? Wanna change?

Balsa, that’s funny, I was just writing you an e-mail on the topic of the slightly ‘piggier’ shape and narrower nose on the brochure model.  Comparing it with the one on the auction site (hard as there is a slight angle) it appears that the brochure outline is slightly  more pulled in.  It also seems more pulled in than the board that I remember seeing (though to be that exact after fifteen years, even on a board that marked me, is pushing it!).  Slight variations in production?  I’m game to pull it in a touch, though, in keeping as close as we can to the spirit of the model. 

For the bottom contour, I was planning on a slight belly to a rolled vee.

What kind of bottom contours are you going with on this?

 

And kudos, treads been book marked as one to watch.

We were going for a slightly rolled bottom all the way from nose to tail. If anybody can come up with some info about rocker and rails, he gets a free 12-pack (to be claimed by my shop exclusively, smiley, smiley, smiley)…

Here is the standard (West Coast and Hawaii) Pipeliner page.   Slightly rolled bottom and no “V” was the standard.  And Jeffery your’re right, The East Coast model was slightly pigish compared to the standard Pipeliner.  Eggy (small end of an egg) rails up in the nose and 50/50 through the tail.  Also the fin in your photo was the noserider or lightweight fin.  You can find the proper Pipe fin in my book.

Bing

OK, Bing, you won the 12-pack. Feel free to drop by any time you like, you’ll be more than welcome. I will have some Champagne ready for you, too.

As a constant sways lurker and occasional participant, I have to say this is a bitchen project

 

It will definately be a stoker to watch this take shape.

 

Mike

Not much done today either… Spent some time looking for PU glue and once I found it I experimented glueing some left-overs to get a feel of how much to use, working time and so on. Last time I glued stringers in a blank, I did it with white (Elmer’s type) glue or just plain PE resin, never used PU yet. So, better know where I’m going before doing mistakes… What’s more, we decided to have the glue tinted in order to get this classy colored thin line along stringers. We chose green because it matches wood color pretty good, because Jeffrey’s first board had this feature, and let’s not forget that green is the color of hope…

 

And both of us do hope for the best on this one…

 

So, here’s a shot of green tinted PU glued left-overs (which taught me that I used a bit too much of it…) It’s a bit too early to plane and sand excess glue and see how it looks like but I am rather optimistic…

 

Nice color!

Balsa, what I usually did with the PU glue (on EPS and balsa glue-ups, mostly) was to pour a thinnish band down the center of the wood to glued, and then used an old squeegie as a spreader to get a nice, thin, even film across the wood surface, adding a bit here and there if required to keep the coverage consistent.  Just to make things easy, the variations in thickness will be harder to hide with the green :slight_smile:

I think that you’ll find that when you plane it down, the result of what you did today will be downright stylish.  I repeat, above and beyond the call of duty on this one.

Mahalo nui nui

And you have the blessing and support of Bing Copeland himself.  WOW!