it was on a sticky tropical day mr fox exclaimed what they really needed was a skimboard. kaonashi agreed. they began to scavenge. they skipped the long part; fortuitously and unbelievably there was already a piece of warped marine ply in the attic, just the right size.
if one doesn’t have a piece of warped marine ply, you get a piece, put it away in the attic, go and find it in the attic, feign surprise, put it in a barrel of water for two days. then place it lengthways, evenly across a thick bamboo (for example), and put some heavy objects (paint tins or so) on either side of the ply, until the bend stays. perhaps another day
but really, mr fox and kaonashi already had a piece, blessed as the two creatures were, so what do they know?
to be sure, the amount of bend you want is not much. the ‘LJ#1’ board was about 85cm long, and the difference in elevation between the front and back was only around 3cm. as an aside, this narrator knows all figures and processes are being recalled from years old memories, when the duo were younger, their hairs were long, and they gave time easily, and had inclinations to do these things. actually, they still live like that… anyway, the skimboard was actually lost to a convicted murderer in the end (yes, really), but, that’s for another time.
we can’t say with confidence that’s how that (quite important) part goes, with the bending, because they got lucky in the attic… but uncle mark told kaonashi that’s how it goes, and uncle mark generally hasn’t been wrong yet.
what they can tell you with confidence, regarding building skimboards, is the rest of the process.
they drew with a pen, a shape of the proposed skimboard on the wood. then mr fox took the wood to a local building site with a very meagre amount of currency. he came back with a cut skimboard, and the gentle workmen had also chamfered the edge, at no extra charge; the men were also interested in skimboards.
up to now, foxi and nashi found a piece of wood and paid some men to cut it. their input into the endeavour so far has been —
a) having an attic
b) having someone leave some nice, perfectly bent, marine ply there
c) finding some men around the corner happy to cut that wood for the price of a meal in a developing nation
so what do they really have to teach you? in fact what does anyone have to teach anyone? well, sometimes… it’s not about what one can teach another. oft the desire to learn in an individual is enough to draw knowledge from all kinds of unexpected sources, including vagabonds such as mr fox and kaonashi. or, maybe, the point is, the skimboard will teach you these things. working on the skimboard. that is where the lesson may lay.
with a cutout of a skimboard you may think you’re basically done; no. over the next two months they slowly, intentionally and respectfully sanded and waxed the board, and took a disproportionate amount of pleasure from the task. they lovingly crafted with smiles as they moved on it.
they were using regular floor wax for wood, and a mix of sanding paper grades from 800 at first, down to 100 for refinements. wax first, let it dry (half day), sand the rest of the day.
sanding both sides, focussing on the bottom, sharpening the bevel at the front of the board, for aqua- and aerodynamic reasons. pay attention when sharpening/shaping/sanding towards the tenth-twentieth time, because as the board gets very sharp, one may get to the point of making splinters from the individual ply, due to sanding at such an angle. kaonashi remedied this effect by immediately by letting out a small, ladypart based curse, and stopping immediately. don’t get too concorde on it.
the animal friends paid more attention to the waxing of the bottom, as this is where it has to be smooth. nervously dripping small amounts of test water elicited wry smiles from the creators as they were reminded of the backs of ducks in the bright green pond when they were young.
the top needs grip, so a rougher sanding, accompanied by regular application of surf wax (not floor wax) will grip the feet when one jumps aboard.
alas storylovers, what was learnt over those two months? perhaps you can’t rush some things, and this is one of those things. maybe you shouldn’t rush anything at all. they didn’t rush to play with the toy, and the rewards were fantastic.
it stayed out of the water until even after kaonashi spray painted a gorgeous surf design on the top (which meant a few more days of wax/sanding). it stayed out until the underside was shiny like a bowling ball. and the most surprising part of all this? it worked. like a charm. like a peach. and many days of blissful enjoyment were had, until the wanton local constables confiscated it from the house of a killer.
