wood/wo͝od/
The wood that was used in mine was baltic birch, not birch! Birch has less layers per inch, making it much less sturdy, and way more flexible/brittle. 1/2 inch birch will only hold a maximum of 125 Lbs. 1 inch birch is very heavy wood to make a longboard out of. I assume you are NOT wanting to lug around a 10 pound board everywhere you go. This is why 1/2 to 3/4 inch BALTIC BIRCH is the best, it probably won't be found at your run-of-the-mill Menards or Home Depot, so you may have to go to a lumberyard. It typically comes in 5 foot by 5 foot sheets, so it could be shared with a buddy, or make a few boards! This high quality wood will be priced from $30 to $50.
Maple is another possibility, I have never used maple but it is relatively easy to obtain. If you have made a board out of maple let me know how it turned out. Bamboo is also an option, I have never used this either, but many people say it is great stuff; the only problem with bamboo is that it is nearly impossible to find, and it carries a hefty price tag. When you are searching for wood, try to make sure it has minimal blemishes. Grade A-A is the best, but it is often especially expensive.
There are two ways that the board could be made. The first is to just buy the wood and not glue layers together, this method may or may not be cheaper, but is for sure quicker. The second way is to buy separate 1/8 inch layers and glue them all together. The second way is more sturdy in most cases and is much more customizable. Going with option number one is much less complicated. I will tell you why.
Option number 1; buy 3/4 inch baltic birch wood and go straight to designing the outside curves, but making a drop-down board or concave board is impossible.
Option number 2; buy anywhere from 4-5 1/8 inch layers of baltic birch. For glue Tiebond 1, 2, or 3 is best (DO NOT use gorilla glue). For this method a press will be needed. Typically a concave board is great because it gives extra grip, also drop-down boards are great because it is closer to the ground and therefore extra speed is gained.
(a board that drops down from the height of the trucks), or a drop through board, or any other board shape that you could imagine. There is several options available. 1. Go to a longboarding/skateboarding shop and see if they have any presses. 2. Make a press yourself by using bolts to tighten your board down, which is the easiest option if you are going to make another board similar to it for a friend or just make another for yourself. This blog will not cover making presses, but I am certain that it is all over the internet. Also asking your friends if they have a press and just using theirs is a cost effective way of pressing a board. The only other option is to lay down a piece of wood under the board and drive a car on it (This could turn out lopsided, or really pressed in some areas, and not in others. Now for gluing the board. First cut out the desired shape of the longboard the length and width are totally up to you. Always remember to cut WITH the grain of the wood, this strengthens the board a LOT, cut out a ROUGH ESTIMATE (give it a few inches to spare on each side/curve). Before starting to cut, a template must first be made. Go look at other people's boards and trace theirs on the paper, or just draw what you see from photos on the web (make sure to draw it to scale). Then fold the paper in half and cut it out. All that has to be done is draw half on the wood, flip it and draw the other half. This makes it symmetrical! once you have it all drawn on your board, MAKE SURE THAT THE TEMPLATE IS NOT BIGGER THAN THE PRESS! Assuming you do NOT want your edges falling apart as you cruise through the city. After the template is drawn on the wood, it is ready to be glued. Set a large towel or blanket under the area that you are gluing. Use a roller to spread the glue evenly across the board. Remember too much is much better than too little; I am assuming you DO NOT want layers of your longboard flying off at 65 miles per hour. Also keep in mind the speed that glue dries. After the bottom one is glued, stick it to the next one up and so on. Keep in mind to keep the template on the outside so you can see what you are cutting when you cut. Put the glued pieces of wood into the press. Leave it in the press for 24 or more hours. If the press was designed to make it concave, the board should be concave. REMEMBER how it was only a ROUGH ESTIMATE with a few inches to spare? Now is the time to cut it out exactly.
Shell out that scroll or jigsaw and cut away! Now sand the edges down till they are nice and smooth. To sand it go from rough sandpaper to smoother sandpaper, or use an electric sander to get the job done.
If you want to make you board stronger, and you followed option 2, putting a sheet of fiberglass in between the layers will strengthen your board quite a bit. Keep in mind fiberglass is VERY bad for lungs if it is inhaled, so when cutting and sanding the fiberglass, use gloves and long-sleeve shirt as well as a surgical mask to keep clear from the fiberglass dust. Regardless if you went with option one or two, you should put fiberglass on the outside layer, which will be the next step. Just remember, the sky is the limit.
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Maple is another possibility, I have never used maple but it is relatively easy to obtain. If you have made a board out of maple let me know how it turned out. Bamboo is also an option, I have never used this either, but many people say it is great stuff; the only problem with bamboo is that it is nearly impossible to find, and it carries a hefty price tag. When you are searching for wood, try to make sure it has minimal blemishes. Grade A-A is the best, but it is often especially expensive.
There are two ways that the board could be made. The first is to just buy the wood and not glue layers together, this method may or may not be cheaper, but is for sure quicker. The second way is to buy separate 1/8 inch layers and glue them all together. The second way is more sturdy in most cases and is much more customizable. Going with option number one is much less complicated. I will tell you why.
Option number 1; buy 3/4 inch baltic birch wood and go straight to designing the outside curves, but making a drop-down board or concave board is impossible.
Option number 2; buy anywhere from 4-5 1/8 inch layers of baltic birch. For glue Tiebond 1, 2, or 3 is best (DO NOT use gorilla glue). For this method a press will be needed. Typically a concave board is great because it gives extra grip, also drop-down boards are great because it is closer to the ground and therefore extra speed is gained.
(a board that drops down from the height of the trucks), or a drop through board, or any other board shape that you could imagine. There is several options available. 1. Go to a longboarding/skateboarding shop and see if they have any presses. 2. Make a press yourself by using bolts to tighten your board down, which is the easiest option if you are going to make another board similar to it for a friend or just make another for yourself. This blog will not cover making presses, but I am certain that it is all over the internet. Also asking your friends if they have a press and just using theirs is a cost effective way of pressing a board. The only other option is to lay down a piece of wood under the board and drive a car on it (This could turn out lopsided, or really pressed in some areas, and not in others. Now for gluing the board. First cut out the desired shape of the longboard the length and width are totally up to you. Always remember to cut WITH the grain of the wood, this strengthens the board a LOT, cut out a ROUGH ESTIMATE (give it a few inches to spare on each side/curve). Before starting to cut, a template must first be made. Go look at other people's boards and trace theirs on the paper, or just draw what you see from photos on the web (make sure to draw it to scale). Then fold the paper in half and cut it out. All that has to be done is draw half on the wood, flip it and draw the other half. This makes it symmetrical! once you have it all drawn on your board, MAKE SURE THAT THE TEMPLATE IS NOT BIGGER THAN THE PRESS! Assuming you do NOT want your edges falling apart as you cruise through the city. After the template is drawn on the wood, it is ready to be glued. Set a large towel or blanket under the area that you are gluing. Use a roller to spread the glue evenly across the board. Remember too much is much better than too little; I am assuming you DO NOT want layers of your longboard flying off at 65 miles per hour. Also keep in mind the speed that glue dries. After the bottom one is glued, stick it to the next one up and so on. Keep in mind to keep the template on the outside so you can see what you are cutting when you cut. Put the glued pieces of wood into the press. Leave it in the press for 24 or more hours. If the press was designed to make it concave, the board should be concave. REMEMBER how it was only a ROUGH ESTIMATE with a few inches to spare? Now is the time to cut it out exactly.Shell out that scroll or jigsaw and cut away! Now sand the edges down till they are nice and smooth. To sand it go from rough sandpaper to smoother sandpaper, or use an electric sander to get the job done.If you want to make you board stronger, and you followed option 2, putting a sheet of fiberglass in between the layers will strengthen your board quite a bit. Keep in mind fiberglass is VERY bad for lungs if it is inhaled, so when cutting and sanding the fiberglass, use gloves and long-sleeve shirt as well as a surgical mask to keep clear from the fiberglass dust. Regardless if you went with option one or two, you should put fiberglass on the outside layer, which will be the next step. Just remember, the sky is the limit.
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Hi, i want to thank you for taking the time to put this info up. I found your site via a comment in Make Magazine (issue 25, on longboards). Let me say, while I found their article interesting, the details were extremely sparse - and we all know the real work is done in the details. Thanks for the explanation about birch vs baltic birch, and not finding it in local depots, cost of materials (ball park) and tools required. Your write up here is magazine worthy - a real good job - just like making a long board is time consuming, so is properly detailing the steps, so a novice, like me, who really wants to try this - doesn't get massively frustrated.
ReplyDeleteI hope you keep on posting articles in the future - you have done a good job - please keep up the great work!
-g
Thanks, Gary! My end goal in writing this blog was to help people in the process, as I found it difficult and other websites did not have all of the information; I had to read several books additionally, and that still was not clear. I worked trial and error and eventually found what worked. Consequently, I wrote a blog a week or two later to help people just like me.
ReplyDeleteDon't tell me the sky is the limit when there are footprints on the moon! :-)
ReplyDeleteThis is my first time i visit here. I found so many interesting stuff in your blog especially its discussion. From the tons of comments on your articles, I guess I am not the only one having all the enjoyment here keep up the good work Best Longboard Wheels
ReplyDelete