OZ Snowboards - A Behind the Scenes Look

A few days ago Adam, mastermind and owner of OZ Snowboards shared a behind the scenes look to what I personally am calling one of the industries truly unique snowboard companies. The build quality and structural components of OZ boards are one of kind.  A few build points to highlight are:

1)  A solid non-jointed wood core:  Most snowboard manufacturers utilize finger jointed wood cores to cut costs, these finger joints act as weak spots in the boards core.  The amount of finger joints in a single board often vary from board to board.  OZ uses a solid wood core with no finger joints.  Another place manufactures cut costs is in the boards tip and tail.  Plastic is often used at the boards tip and tail rather then the wood core extending through the boards tip and tail.

2) Aerospace grade carbon fiber:  Most snowboard manufacturers use some form of fiberglass above and below the boards wood core.   All OZ Snowboards are made with tri-axial aerospace grade carbon fiber. This is the material used to build jets.  Carbon fiber is 5 times as strong and 1/3rd the weight of fiberglass and provides improved stability and control in a snowboard.

For more detailed info about the unique makeup of OZ boards visit the "Why Buy an OZ?"section of OZ Snowboards website.  

Lets just say my next board will be an OZ.  I've never been so impressed with the build quality of a snowboard.  And the weight, so light thanks to the carbon fiber.

Exposure: 1/125, Aperture: f/2.8, Focal Length: 12 mm, ISO Speed: 250

Notice the finger joint on the left edge of the wood core.  This wood core is about to become one of thirty TommyKnocker Brewery Demo boards OZ made this year for some of the breweries events.  The demo boards that Oz makes are typically made using finger jointed wood cores and the tri-axial fiberglass vs the more expensive carbon fiber and solid non-jointed wood cores  

Exposure: 1/167, Aperture: f/1.8, Focal Length: 45 mm, ISO Speed: 1000

CNC router milling out a future splitboard

Exposure:1/59, Aperture: f/2.8, Focal Length: 32 mm, ISO Speed: 640

Bandsaw awaiting its replacement blade prior to trimming the freshly pressed TommyKnocker demo board seen in the background

Exposure:1/77, Aperture: f/2.8, Focal Length: 16 mm, ISO Speed: 1000

Highly modified snowboard press - responsible for the unique camber / rocker profiles of OZ snowboards

Exposure: 1/167, Aperture: f/2, Focal Length: 45 mm, ISO Speed: 500

Rob cleaning up the edges on a freshly made TommyKnocker demo board

Exposure:1/100, Aperture: f/1.8, Focal Length: 45 mm, ISO Speed: 250

Adam placing the sidewall on a TommyKnocker demo board

Exposure:1/167, Aperture: f/1.8, Focal Length: 45 mm, ISO Speed: 1000

Adam aligning a raw wood core on the CNC router 

Exposure:1/59, Aperture: f/8, Focal Length: 29 mm, ISO Speed: 1600

Rob preparing to spread epoxy on the base of a TommyKnocker demo board seen in the background 

Exposure:1/167, Aperture: f/2.8, Focal Length: 25 mm, ISO Speed: 1600

Alex tuning a freshly CNC milled sidewall

Exposure:1/77, Aperture: f/2.8, Focal Length: 35 mm, ISO Speed: 1250

Rob cutting excess material from a freshly pressed TommyKnocker demo board

Exposure:1/100, Aperture: f/1.8, Focal Length: 45 mm, ISO Speed: 400

Rob oxidizing a sidewall prior to attachment 

Stay tuned for more production photos as well as finished product photos