He's laid his hands on some of the most important boards in Australian surf history, however you've probably never heard of Levi Jones. The reason for that is simple: Levi works in one of the surf industries more obscure roles. He's a surfboard restorer.

Levi Jones' job is to bring to life classic old craft to life and he's very, very good at what he does. Swellnet recently spoke to the man who keeps boards young.

                                         
Swellnet: Where do you work?
Levi Jones: I work at Wizstix surfboards on the Central Coast.

When did you become a board restorer?
I've been at Wizstix for over 15 years now. Probably been doing restos for  the last ten years or so. I've always loved restoring things though, in my spare time I restore cars and mini-bikes from the 70's.

Is it full time work?
I guess you could call it full time, I'm there most weekdays. I kinda just cruise along. I also do all the ding repairs and sprays on the new boards so there's always something to keep me busy.

What skill set do you need to be a board restorer?
You really need to be competent in all aspects of board building. Colour matching is very important, I've honed my colour matching from years of touching up dings and sprays but restorations can involve shaping, glassing, spray work, pin lines, gloss and polish, so you need to be able to do everything.

For the last few years I've adopted a technique of layering paint with a light dusting of silver at the end to replicate the look of foam. There's also the use of tints and pigments for the period correct style repairs.

A recent restoration: Gunther Rohn-shaped T&C quad from the early 80s.

What's the best board you've worked on?
That's a hard one. Can't say there's been a best board. There's been so many crackers over the years and I love 'em all. Several MP's in various conditions from near mint requiring only minimal work to snapped, brown, scarred and beaten. Plenty of MR's over the years too. Only recently I restored an MR shaped personal comp board from the early 80s. It was toast: snapped with all the bottom glass gone and the foam turning to dust. That one was a challenge.

Some other highlights have been Lopez and Reno-shaped Bolts, Cheyne and Pam's personal early 80s McCoy comp boards. Just too many to mention. I really feel lucky to to be handling so many rare boards.

Col Smith channel bottom found on a garbage pile and restored by Levi (left), and Terry Fitzgerald Hot Buttered with Martyn Worthington spray (right).

Board restorers effectively bring back surfboards from the dead, do you get any that are too far gone or can they all be saved? 
I don't think I've come across a surfboard that I couldn't save. Weight added during the resto is the biggest issue with far gone boards, but even if their original function is lost they can still be made into items of beauty to hang on the wall.

Do you buy into the whole restoration vs original debate?
I tend to stay out of that one. There's valid points for both sides. It's clear that rare or historically significant boards should be preserved in as much of there original state as possible. It just depends on rarity, condition, and the owners wishes. If a board is far gone and of little appeal, I see no problem with a full restoration.

In a recent interview on Swellnet Martyn Worthington paid you a very high compliment. How did that relationship start?
I was restoring an old TF Hot Buttered I picked up. It was pretty rough, the bottom being pretty far gone. I decided to contact Martyn and see if he'd be interested in adding a mural to the board. His work is amazing and complements these boards to a T. Kinda just went from there...

It seems the collecting gig is slowly growing. Is your workload increasing?
I have a steady flow of boards coming in from a few high end collectors, but yeah, we get a lot of guys bringing in old boards to get water tight. I'm always amazed at how many old boards are still surfacing.