I decided to make longboards as birthday gifts for some of my other nephews. I had made a regular skateboard prior (click here for details), but I decided to try longboards this time and I'll probably make one for myself down the road since I'm a bit of a child myself.
Wood type: 7 plys of 1/16" Maple
Finish: Polyurethane (Stain and Paint is optional)
Hardware: Skateboard trucks, wheels, bearings and grip tape.
Finish: Polyurethane (Stain and Paint is optional)
Hardware: Skateboard trucks, wheels, bearings and grip tape.
For my first longboard, I decided to go for a hybrid type of design. A more traditional pointed nose with no curve but I wanted to do a tail for stopping and possibly tricks.
I had to adjust my foam mold since it had no tail, so I shaved a a piece of foam for the tail. Note: I did remove the piece you see below with the green tape for the wheel wells. Rear wheel wells were not needed with this design.
Most forums suggest to used between 7-9 plys of 1/16 (1.5mm) of maple. I live in Canada, so maple is quite common in my area but a lot of people suggest birch as an alternative. I went with 7 plys since it was for kids.
I did a trial run to refresh myself with the vacuum bag which I purchased online.
After it was pressed for 24 hrs, I traced my design using a template and drilled the truck holes. I then cut the template with a jig saw and started the sanding process.
I'm not much of an artist, but decided to apply a stain (grey - blue). I like the look of real wood, but I knew the nephews would prefer some colour so I used some painting tape and added some lines and a logos.
One of the veneers I used was a died blue which I purchased online. I did some online research because I wanted to do it myself but it was difficult to find any DIYers that had success.
Project Complete!