Holi-daze

Been bumming around the past few days, enjoying the Holidays with family and friends.  Gonna be getting back into the swing in a few days, once everything calms down a bit.  New hand plane template out, and prototype coming soon.  Hopefully a few will hit local shops for summer fun down the road.

Stay tuned.

Enjoy the Stoke.

Buccaneer Shirts are here!

So we have some rad new shirts.  Would have had them earlier, but money was a bit tight.  So, better late than never.  Unfortunately, they won't ship before Christmas, but they're awesome for a post-Christmas blues pick-me-up.  As always, they're printed on certified organic apparel with water based ink.  Eco Friendly!

Oh, what's that? Lemmy? From Motorhead? Why, as a matter of fact, that IS his likeness on this shirt!  That's funny you should ask.  The artwork is done by the super-talented Jason Koza.  The guy is a genius.

You can find them on our Etsy.

Stay tuned.

Stay thirsty.

Enjoy the Stoke.

Shindigs

So, skipped a few days of posting, but I've been (semi) busy.  Got a new Gifts section on the Etsy, where you can find Balsa Pig Ornaments and Surfboard Fin incense burners! Just some rad little stocking stuffers or small gifts for any occasion!

Finished filling out Christmas cards for our Etsy customers.  Going to be mailed out tomorrow.  Hoepfully you're getting one in the mail.

Stay tuned.

Enjoy the Stoke.

Christmas Happenings

Here's a really, really crappy image of some gnarly little balsa pig ornaments I've been working on.  I shaped one last year freehand, and I loved it so much, I wanted to make more.  They're perfect for any Christmas tree or rearview mirror.  Look for them posted on the Etsy soon.  They can be to you by Christmas, for sure.

Hand painted with nail polish, because of the readily available colours and awesome sheen. 

Also, took another drive down Ocean Parkway tonight and visited Gilgo Beach for the first time since Sandy.  I was actually surprised at home good the beach looked (albeit it was pitch black) after the amount of water and force that rolled through.  Most of the taller dunes were still intact, and although a lot of the smaller ones are gone, the beach is no worse off than it has been in recent years.  There's a lot to be done still, but Gilgo will live to see another day. 

Stay tuned for more.

Enjoy the Stoke.

Rebuilding After Sandy

I attended a Surfrider Foundation meeting tonight at the Long Beach high school, regarding the aftermaths of Hurricane Sandy, and the strategies that were proposed to be implemented in the rebuilding process.  Most of the topics covered were concerning Long Beach, and the plan to build a retractable storm barrier., as opposed to the Army Corps of Engineers to just dump more sand on the beach.  Surfrider and Long Beach Surf Association were concerned with it changing the unique break that's there, and the fact that it won't do anything to prevent future storm surges. 

It was humbling to see the community (not just composed of surfers, either) speak up and voice their opinions to protect and preserve their hometown. 

The reason I came to the meeting was to hear about the plans for Ocean Parkway, one of the most beautiful strips of road I think exists. Plans are still unclear, but there is talk of construction of a wall that will run the entire length of the parkway.  I was assigned to do more research of how it will effect the environment and beach access.

It was pretty cool to actually be part of the meeting, and to be part of a large organization, especially when it's in my own backyard.

Nothing like following up a day of procrastination with a day of super productivity.  An order for 4 Bottom Feeder Ply Hand planes came in last Saturday, and I finally got around to cutting and shaping them today.  It the first planes that I've shaped in over a month or so, and honestly I was going a little crazy without a serious craft to do.  Once you starting doing something and it begins fun for you, not doing it is torture.  I'd compare it to an addiction of something illegal, but that probably wouldn't be proper. 

Earlier in the afternoon, I went and got some custom Christmas cards printed for my Etsy customers, as a token of my appreciation to them throughout the year.  Customer relations and service is something I feel a lot of companies lack, and it seems that the smaller the company, the better they are with reaching out to customers to show them how much they care.  True, larger companies have more volume, so it's harder to account for everyone, but you're still never treated as an individual, just a demographic.  I'm going to do everything I can to prevent that.

Rounded out the day with Christmas tree shopping (although that isn't Points East related...) and had some wood burning done for one of the planes.  

More to come.

Enjoy the Stoke.

Some Inspiration for a Rainy Night

Rainy days suck.  Nothing drains your energy and motivation quite like an entire day of downpours.  Add to that the cold and you you're looking at a dismal day browsing the internet and wishing you could do something productive.  

But sometimes, spending some time on the internet brings you across awesome videos like this one here.

Chris Burkard is a super-talented surf photographer who's probably behind most of the amazing surf photos you see circulating around.  In this video he reminds you to stay thirsty with whatever you do, and that the search is your reward.  

Cheesy, but true.

Enjoy the Stoke.

How It Happened

I can safely admit that I've always wanted to be my own boss, and hopefully one day I can TRULY become that.... I suppose I'm on the right track now (I don't want to jinx myself).  

Points East didn't start as some get rich quick scheme, or anything like that.  As a matter of fact, I found out about hand planes for body surfing by browsing my favorite sites: Swaylocks and Korduroy.  At the first sight of hand planes, I was skeptical.  However, I wanted to try one.  So I free-handed a template, refined it, traced it onto a really crappy piece of rotted and porous wood and went to town on it.  It was kinda of the first time I used a bench plane, as I never enjoyed them in high school.  But I quickly learned to love the tool.  Before I even got to try the first one, I made another.  The first wave I ever caught on a hand plane gave me the wildest sensation... My mouth was hanging open so much that I swallowed somewhere near 5 gallons of water, which I then coughed up when I resurfaced.

Since that day, I was hungry.  I wanted to shape and experiment as much as possible, and I scavenged everywhere for old wood.  After more shaping, I wanted to share the stoke as well as become a better wood worker.  My first stringer plane was gorgeous, but still, my most proudest work was the only double stringer plane I've done to date, seen below.

I was so proud of it, and when it finally sold, it was like watching a child leave your home forever.  Well, I think so, cause I've never had a kid.  That was the start of surf craft woodworking.  The plane is actually sitting on top of my poplar Alaia that I had shaped a few weeks before, which is the first of many.

Salutations

Welcome to our blog, which is a bit different than our Tumblr, which shares the same name.  There you can find a bunch of surfing related pictures to keep the stoke going when the waves are flat, or, like now, on the verge of winter, and you don't have enough money for a winter suit... No, this blog is going to be a little different....  A daily update of the happenings around here (here being 'the shop'), and other various tidbits that would otherwise be washed out in a sea of surfing pictures (no pun intended).

For those of you who DON'T know who we are or what we do, we are Points East Surf Craft & Apparel.  As the name implies, we make surf craft and print and dye our own apparel, keeping in mind our environmental impact and long term stokeability. You can find our current items on our Etsy shop, but stay tuned here to see the day-by-day going ons and new product information and other sweet things.  

Thanks for reading.

Enjoy the Stoke.