Wooden surfboards are far more labour intensive to produce than the common foam board. Up to 40 hours are required to complete the production of an Empress Surfboard. Initially timbers are carefully selected from the mill in order to gather the lightest weight planks and to achieve a uniform colour match. At the workshop the timber is meticulously dressed and planed. Board rocker is cut into each plank and the shaping process begins, along with the chambering process to reduce weight and implement the monocoque design rigidity. Finally, the board is sanded with a number of graded sandpapers and glassed with 4 ounce polyester fiberglass top & bottom.