Anyone ever make a longboard deck? Byron? Dipso?

[gassy]

I'm wingin' it on my first longboard deck for my son. So far I have 2 6mm pieces of baltic birch clamped and weighted in a makeshift jig. I'm attempting a tail and camber on it which may be too much too soon with it being my first deck. We'll see how much springback I get once the glue dries. If it even comes remotely close to working I may invest in a cheap manual vacuum mold. Any experience here?

[stomachmonkey]

Not so much on decks but when I was around 14 I had this genius idea to solve the age old dilema of getting launched off my board after getting a pebble stuck under a wheel.

I thought wouldn't it be cool if trucks had some ability similar to a shock absorber. After many failed attempts involving extra long bolts and springs it hit me that making the truck 2 piece was the way to go.

The idea was to remove the axle above the bolt hole from one then remove the axle including the bolt hole from the other and toss an extra bushing between the two.

There was a small machine shop in my neighborhood and I enlisted some ancient guy there to cut up a couple of spare trucks for me. He watched with great pleasure as I quickly installed my custom pieces, took off down the street for a test run and on the very first turn the wheels went 90 degrees to the deck and launched me twice as far as any pebble ever had.

I can still hear him laughing his ass off.

[masraum]

I've seen a couple of kids on these things in the last year or so.

I'm curious, what's the point in a really long skateboard? Don't you pretty much lose all "trick" ability. All I can imagine is wide turning radius and maybe more stability. Maybe good for speed and/or downhill stability/speed?

Someone educate me, please.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by masraum

I've seen a couple of kids on these things in the last year or so.

I'm curious, what's the point in a really long skateboard? Don't you pretty much lose all "trick" ability. All I can imagine is wide turning radius and maybe more stability. Maybe good for speed and/or downhill stability/speed?

Someone educate me, please.

Just a different style of riding.

They are fun to cruise around on.

[myamoto1]

Steve - think cruiser board vs trick board.

[tangerine911S]

I built one out of baltic birch but I didn't put any camber in it. It rode really well until it rolled under a car in the garage and got backed over.

[Racerbvd]

The last deck I made, was with the help of my father, and Henry Hester was the king of down hill speed runs, we used an old Cypress Gardens water ski, and used the nose of the ski as the tail.. They aren't that much money to buy one, but if you are good with wood, and can make a board, put me on the list for one...

[VINMAN]

Ive made two attempts. The main problem I had with both was too much flex in the board. One was solid oak. the other was laminated plank and plywood.

[nota]

steam will help bending wood but

more thin layers is much easier to bend
stronger too as you can cross the grain

that way you are building piece of ply wood to your shape
west system epoxy is about the best glue to use


I invented [locally anyway] the long board
we played a crazy game much like roller derby
with the steel wheeled boards [this was 10 years before urethane wheels]
at a local school with ultra smooth polished concrete walkways
the longer board was much more stable [making me harder to knockoff ] and faster too
later we found clay wheels and real adjustable trucks

[G50]

Originally Posted by masraum

I'm curious, what's the point in a really long skateboard? Don't you pretty much lose all "trick" ability.

Kind of like a long wheelbase car. The ride is smoother, more comfortable and more stable. It also makes the board a lot less skittish and slower reacting to steering inputs. They also generally use much larger, softer wheels, which makes it more impervious to little pebbles, cracks in the pavement, etc.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by Racerbvd

The last deck I made, was with the help of my father, and Henry Hester was the king of down hill speed runs, we used an old Cypress Gardens water ski, and used the nose of the ski as the tail.. They aren't that much money to buy one, but if you are good with wood, and can make a board, put me on the list for one...

I looked at eBay after seeing this post. Literally hundreds of choices. Then I went over to look at skim boards. Who'd have thunk, hundreds of choices.

[Dave L]

A buddy and I made skim boards one summer. We cut the shape in plywood then fiberglassed the whole thing. We rode the hell out of them and I still have mine at my parents place. I will have to get it the next time Im there.

Never made a deck but I did "shape" some. They turned out....poorly ;(

[dipso]

Nope. Not since I was a kid. A professionally made board will have the truck holes in the proper place for weight and balance. The proper flex 'pop'. The correct bounce for a longboard.
You can make one for fun, but do yourself and your kid a favor. Just buy one.

Remember, a skateboard is not a toy.