Custom Longboard

I grew up in California. Skateboarding is in my blood. Though since I’ve moved to Seattle, I haven’t skated in forever. My goal is to go to Santa Cruz for my vacation this summer, so I need to be prepared. Perfect time to build a longboard.

My deck will be made with 1/4 inch birch plywood as the core, amore ebony veneer for the top, and ziricote veneer for the bottom. First, I took the plywood and ripped it down to three pieces that were 8 inches by 4 feet. I then laminated them together. While they were clamped, I propped the ends up, to give it a curve. I’m a heavy dude, so when I step on it, it’s going to bend downward. Therefore, I’m putting a curve like a frown. Then when I stand on it, it should level off.

Once that was dry, I glued on the veneer, using basically the same process. Just glue, and a ton of clamps.

The next step is to draw out the shape. I took some paper, did a rough design of half of it. Marked that on the deck, then flipped the paper and drew the other side. That way it would be a mirror image. Next, I cut it out with a jigsaw.

After that was done, I used a table sander to fix the rough cut, and give it a smooth shape.

I wanted to round over the edges, but with the curve of the deck, using my table router required a bit of creativity.

I then used my random orbital sander to clean everything up. I started with 80 grit, then down to 320 grit.

I decided to use danish oil, because I’ve never used it before. The process is similar to a stain, where you just put it on a paper towel and rub it in. Wait a few minutes, then rub off the excess. I’m quite pleased. It really made the grain pop.

I put 3 layers of clear coat on it, to protect it. This is the ziricote.

Now the deck was sexy as fuck. So it was time to move onto the griptape. This was a tedious process. I built a rough design in Inkscape, and then printed it out, and glued it to the back of the griptape. Since I was gluing it to the back, I had to mirror my logo.

I cut that out first, and placed it in the center. I did this because I knew I was going to have thick strips of griptape above the trucks, but tiny hexagons between them and on the ends. So I started in the middle and worked my way out, so everything would line up.

Next was the long part. I had to cut out each hexagon individually.

In the end, I’d say it turned out pretty well.  I can’t wait to give it a test ride.