‘Miguelaragao’ ,
Barry Snyder,
‘P-Co’ [hi , Ross !]
? CassS ?
Has ANYONE of you , or anyone else out there , currently got any AGAVE boards , or fins , to post up photos of here , please ?
cheers !
ben chipper , south vicco
… b e a u t i f u l !
thanks , GUYS !
keep them coming , please !
How did you do the agave fin inlay , big Bazza ?
[ and …is that also a REAL spider , inlayed into the foam , too ? …shades of the late M.P. , and his [? 7?] cockroaches / " purple people eater " board , eh , mate ?! haaa !]
cheers !
ben
Hey Ben/Fins, Still lurking, although I haven’t contributed much lately. The ‘new’ Swaylocks won’t let me post photos for some reason… Anyway, as you’re aware (from Facebook), I’ve just managed to score enough agave for about half a board and am scouring the more arid parts of the Adelaide Hills for another patch to get the rest of what I’ll need for a full blank. Really looking forward to giving it a try. I’ve cut 6’ lengths and plan to make a wide bodied 5’7" ish board once I have the requisite supply of agave stalks. I do have a question for all you agave builders out there though - At what stage of deadness/dryness does the stalk have to be, to be usable in an agave build? The patch I found was quite large and had stalks in all stages of the lifecycle, from just emerging from the mass of spiky leaves, to dead, dessicated and about to fall over. The largest ones were in this latter state, and while they were the best size, I’m not sure whether they’re past their use-by date, or if I can use them as well as the more recently deceased stems. Barry, Miguel, anyone else with some experience in these matters - What’s the good oil on agave? Is old and dried right out still ok, or should I be going for the finished flowering, but not yet completely skeletonised? If I can use the older stalks, I’m going to go right back and collect a few more that I left the first time. I had to jump a fence with a saw and gloves and duck behind the plants every time a car went past, because it’s on private land. But what’s a little illegal trespass between neighbours…?
So here’s a question - I see a lot of boards with Agave stringers and I’m wondering “Why?”. From what I’ve heard about agave it shapes/feels just like foam because it’s such a soft wood, therefore I assumed it had similar density and strength properties as well. Is is sheerly asthetic or does the agave actually add strength the way a traditional wood stringer would?
My interest in Agave is actually in making an entire board out of it, most likely with a koa or ironwood stringer (want to use local species for it). Still trying to figure out where I can harvest some. There’s chokeloads of different species here on Maui and they’re all invasive and up for grabs, but not all of them grow the large stalks so it’s hard to find useable ones
why agave stringer? looks good; easy way to widen a blank if you have one that’s not quite wide enough for a shape you want, and its a lot easier than collecting enough agave to make a whole board!
Right, well I get that part, but back to my original question… does it actully add strength to the board the way a wood stringer would, or are it’s properties basically making it the same as gluing a pretty piece of foam into your already foam blank? I’m just curious because it already has a density and tinsile strength similar to foam from what i understand
Bump!
Would really appreciate an answer to my question on when an agave stalk is ready for use in a surfboard, if anyone out there feels like sharing.
It’s my understanding that once the stalks are large enough to get some 4x4 planks out of them they’re good to use - you def want them to be dry before you start using them, however that’s about the extent of my knowledge as I’ve never really tried this myself… I’ll hopefully be headed up to the valley sometime this week to collect a few stalks. I’m really hoping to get enough to make a fully-agave mini simmons (I may throw a hardwood stringer in there just for a little extra strength).
Here’s some better info in the “working with agave thread”
get them green, once the flowers have opened and died.
this ensures you get to it before the heart rots out and the wood becomes useless.
the guy you may have spoken to at the show ages his whole in his garage.
to get it ready for the bandsaw, he clamps the log on some sawhorses so it won’t roll side to side and then clamps two boards on either side to act as a guide for a reciprocating saw…in the embedded pic, the red line is the cut.
Hey Barry - found this great little gem on Youtube whilst looking for some more agave videos.
The couple clips you posted look like the board is cumbersome but I feel like that’s mostly the wave you’re on. Have you found that the agave boards are heavier than typical boards or have poor flex? Or have you taken it out in some solid surf and found it rides like a dream?
Hey here’s a quick and pretty important question for those of you with experience with this… does the Agave stink while it’s drying? I want to put my stalks somewhere sheltered from the elements when I go harvest later this week, but I’m not sure if they’re going to stink up the whole place if I put them in the back room or the stairwell or something.
agave is nasty to work with in other ways, but not smelly or stinky.
mine didn’t smell.
but …
it was full of ANTS …hundreds of them , when it was cut open ?! y i k e s !!.
The ants [ when dead ] I used in a fin panel … recycling is the name of [my] game. 
I’m sure Ross [‘P-Co’ , here] probably still has HIS many agave stalks. Hope you still plan to make a surfboard out of them , one day , Ross ?
Cass, if you have any small , fin-sized slivers of agave ? … I would LOVE to have a few [more goes at making some more fcs tabbed agave inlay fins]
cheers
ben
Leave the stalks vertical.
They dry quicker that way.
They are a succulent, comprised mostly of water.
I don’t cut until the next season.
They are very heavy when wet.
Yes they do have a peculiar odor.
Don’t get the wet juice inside them on your skin. Its poison.
That’s why they call it To-Kill-Ya. HAHA!
Yes they are slightly heavier than foam, Less bouyant too.
No, it is not as strong as a Basswood stringer.
The piece in this video is lighter than the stringer I removed.
I am willing to help anyone interested in learning about agave from harvest to shaping to glassing. My expirience is limited to four years of working solely with agave and several of its species.
PM me specific questions like when to cut it and how to work it, what tools, whatever. I am here to help.
Peace.
