Saturday, December 4, 2010

Yes...the Website!





Pretty amped up on this new website we just went live with (Working on getting a link back to it from this blog). I think it lets people know what we're up to in a pretty concise, yet mellow way. Still a couple of items to deal with, and some of the content (including board specs) is still absent, but we're nearly done with it. Tell us what you think about it (and us) if you want to. That would be rad.
Anyways, this website's been a long time coming, so I have to take a hot second to give out some thanks to some serious bros, who have seriously hooked us up. Gaetano, the website looks beautiful, thank you for being one of the most insightful designers, as well as one of the best people ever. Thanks. Shem, thanks in advance for towing me out of your horrible, snowy driveway every other weekend this winter. And for giving me thousands of dollars of sick digital snowboarding photographs for free...Kegler, everyone, EVERYONE thinks that your logo is the best thing about the company. Scott, thanks for naming the company, and for being a good snowboarder to take pictures of. Aaron, thanks for letting me use your photos, even though we only really met once. You're a pretty nice guy, I think. Shoot, now that I've started, there's actually a lot of people I need to thank...Ken, Vin, Mike, Nick, my wife Zoe, Matt Conrad, my dad...J. Huffman, Dave-man...Dan and crew at Dorset Custom Furniture...You know what, I'm going to stop right there. Let me know if'n I left you out, and I'll give you an individualized shout out, how does that sound?
I love this website. I feel like its my own little digital child, birthed through computer processors and observed though monitors for any shortcomings/abnormalities that must be dealt with. It's not quite done, so we can't expect it to be perfect, but I've got a good feeling that it's got a strong future. I hope everyone enjoys it, and then buys something.
And again, thanks fellas. Nice work.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Saturday, November 20, 2010

How's your Victorian snowboard factory?


The nice thing about having your shop in a 150 year old, semi-abandoned fixer upper is that it’s free. No rent. And that’s basically the end of the list. It’s a beautiful building, but last spring it was still filled with ancient peeling plaster, broken glass and some insane powdery insulation that got everywhere. It smelled bad, looked bad, and felt worse.
It had just one electrical outlet that worked, and we had our chest freezer plugged into it, with about 50lbs of local beef. One day in July I apparently needed to have two things other than the freezer plugged in for some de-construction work. Probably the sawzall and circular saw. So I unplugged the icebox for what turned out to be two weeks. I discovered this error when I was asked by my wife to fetch a steak from the freezer in my future shop, as it was cookout night. After two weeks of steamy July weather, opening the chest freezer lid was like opening the portal into a new dimension of nasal/moral assault. That’s when the wiring of the shop began in earnest.
Jump forward a couple months...Now it’s November and the shop could be a bit tighter. We did get the furnace running last week, so we won’t be freezing out there. I’m only working in two rooms, so that’s all I’m heating. I don’t think it’ll take much to keep it warm, the walls are tightly insulated now. Plenty of power, plenty of light, plenty of heat; stereo, radio, six string. Giant snowboard press. Everything is right there. Unfortunately, it’s also disorganized, because i’m always running everywhere trying to tie up loose ends before the wood for the snowboards arrives, and THAT is the point I’ve been trying to get to.
Yesterday I talked to the mill that I’ve ordered wood from, checking on it’s status. Angie, the woman I talked to, said she just got the order in today, and they might be able to cut it before the Thanksgiving holiday. Might. This is a fair sized order of maple and poplar veneers, and I ordered it about a month ago. And it might be another two, maybe three weeks until I receive it. Good news: the wood is costing me about one fourth of what I’ve been spending until now, and it’s FSC certified. Bad news: I’m not going to touch it for possibly a month from now. This is basically unacceptable, but what am I going to do? I should have found this place sooner, and I’ll know better in the future.
In the meantime, here is the point: I now have a couple of bonus weeks to get my shop dialed in, which is going to be a key element in making a bunch of wooden snowboards. The wood not getting here is tough, but nothing is worse than working in a confused shop. Now there’s time to think about buttoning up and weatherizing. But to tell the truth, I’d gladly work in a sea of smoldering cigarette butts if it meant I could be building a snowboard right now.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Venture....There!


A really nice, short article that recently appeared on Venture There's website.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

thanks, son



Thanks for prettying up the place

Thursday, September 9, 2010

2nd best toeside turn EVER


In the spirit of qualified claiming, Jesse said that this was his second favorite toeside turn ever.
Considering it was his second run on a PowderJet, we're claiming that his third through twelfth favorites ought to be served up before longish.