Design and Production Commitment
Every one of my boards comprises more than 35 years of a knowledge gained from exploring the limits of surfboard designs.

The knowledge that goes into each and every board has come from spending tens of thousands of hours developing, creating and testing surfboards in waves all over the world.

One of my boards is a serious investment in surfboard design and craftsmanship.

Lifetime Quality
A comment that i often get from customers is that a particular one of my boards that they owned (or still do) is remembered as the best board they ever had. Often, especially with the bigger boards, customers will keep their boards for 10, 15 and sometimes even 20 years. To me this is a great reflection of the quality and value that i aspire to, and that my boards represent.

New Glassing Technology
As part of my commitment to producing better surfboards, we are going to start introducing some improved techniques of laminating that I’ve been playing around with for the last year or so. These procedures are focused more on keeping the board in one piece in powerful waves. They involve more complex production techniques but the end result is well worth it.

The New Hi Glass Ratio Series - 3 Times the Strength!   Available from Oct 1st 2009
The hi glass ratio laminations are new laminations specially designed to greatly improve the tensile and compression strength of the board in a way that doesn’t compromise, but actually enhances, the flexibility and ‘spring’ of the board. No surfboard is impossible to break, but these boards are highly resistant to breaking with an overall tensile and compression strength that is approximately 3 times that of a standard glass job.

The standard hi glass ratio lamination perfectly matches the top and bottom of the board for tensile and compression strength. With the standard hi glass ration lamination the bottom of the board has double the glass fibre content of a standard lightweight lamination and features key reinforcing strips to give the board an overall tensile and compression strength that is approximately triple that of a standard glass job! The deluxe version features a deck lamination glass ration with 50% more glass fibre content than a standard lightweight lamination and creates a deck that is even stronger than the legendary Glassed to Last laminations.

The Hi Glass Ratio lamination is the best option for a maximum performance durability ...especially for serious waves!

Note: This does not refer to the type of compression where a board is dented. The compression strength I’m referring to here is the type of compression where the board is compressed longitudinally resulting in failure and collapse of the glass fibres. All surfboard breakages are longitudinal compression failures.

Classic Series - Glassed to Last!
The Classic Series laminations feature the legendary “Glassed to Last” glassing technique. These laminations were designed to withstand the extreme punishings that my boards often undertook while out exploring the remote regions of the South Pacific, Indo, and Australia's north west desert during the 80’s and early 90’s. These were places where a broken board could not be replaced or repaired, as it often took a great deal of time and effort to access these remote locations. It was absolutely essential to keep the boards in one piece during these trips and so the “Glassed to Last” 6oz bottom and double 6oz deck was the glass job of choice. I actually don’t recall ever snapping a “Glassed to Last” board.

Low Numbers - High Quality!
Here at Jim Banks Surfboards we build very small numbers of boards to the highest possible qualiy standards.  Because we are a limited production surfboard company we can take our time to pay careful attention to the finest details which enables us to ensure the highest possible quality.  We use only the highest quality blanks, resins and paints. Each board is immaculately hand made in Australia by master craftsman.  Our highly experienced team has over 160 years of surfboard building between us and each board represents a commitment to the highest of qualities.

The Best Swallow Tails in the Business
All swallows will now feature an extra layer of glass on the bottom and an extra two layers of glass on the inside top swallow plus a strip of rovings around the edge. This will greatly increased the durability of the tails and their resistance to splitting, dinging, chipping and cracking.

Blank Control
Over the years we’ve had pretty much one continual issue with quality…...the blanks. Our glassing is high quality and world class. It’s the blanks that have been continually letting us down. It doesn’t matter how strong we glass a board. If the foam underneath is not strong then the glass will collapse….the glass is only as strong as the foam underneath it. From now on all the boards are only going to be made from specially selected even density blanks and each cut blank is going to be monitored. This process may increase the costs of the blanks by up to 50% at times due to the freight costs of getting these blanks and a full 100% if we cut a blank and it doesn’t pass the impact test. It’s going to take a lot more trouble and time to implement but it’s going to be well worth it and an essential part of our commitment to quality control!