Behind the scenes at the Appletree Surfboards factory
15.06.2021
How it’s made
Behind the scenes at the Appletree Surfboards Factory. We would like to take you along in the manufacturing process of a board in the Appletree factory in Portugal. Find out how your board is made!
0:16 Rough cut by our custom made CNC machine
A board is created out of a 50k foam blank which is placed in the CNC machine. Controlled via the computer, the machine starts milling the shape. At this stage, 80% of the shape has been created.
0:27 Shaping by hand
One of our shapers does the last cuts to free the board from the block. He ensures that curves and edges are perfectly sanded. This last 20% of handwork requires a lot of precision and concentration. You have to train your eyes to see inequalities. And it is not only the eyes, it’s also the hands that feel. You can see by feeling with your hands.
0:47 Glassing
This part of the process is where our strength lies. Imagine the shape in foam. We wrap the glass or carbon around the board and infuse this layer with resin. We are able to find the perfect balance to make a board super strong and very lightweight at the same time. Once the board comes out of the glassing process, the surface is rough. We sand the surface until it becomes smooth again.
1:00 Hot coating
Another layer of epoxy is put on the deck for more strength. Generally, we do the sanding from the previous step and the glassing together, side per side. This is also the step where your board art is created.
1:11 Final sanding
We refine the shape after hot coating, to get back that super smooth surface.
1:21 Quality check
The precise sanding task requires extra attention, so the board is checked by someone other than the person who sanded it. The board does not leave the building until we are sure that the shape and the quality are at their best.
1:27 The board is on it’s way!
Unfortunately, Jorrit, co-owner and technical director of Appletree, is no longer able to deliver every board personally on his bike, but we will do everything we can to get your board to you as quickly as possible.
By the way, your board will be transported in the foam from which your board was cut. This way you can see what our 50K foam looks like, without epoxy and fibers.
HAPPY RIDING!
The Appletree team
The Appletree crew is a close-knit team of passionate craftsmen of different nationalities. Want to know who made your board?