Kind of a fun jig....

John Pollman

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Location
Rochester Hills, MI
Hi all!

My son is twelve years old and an avid skateboarder. He's been skating for about three years. He absolutely loves it! He also likes to "fingerboard". These are basically miniature skateboards that are roughly 1" wide by 4" long. They "ride" them with their fingers instead of their feet. It seems strange to me but he and his friends have a ball doing this. I've made him a bunch of ramps, rails, half pipes, etc. A while ago he graduated from store bought plastic boards to laminated wooden boards. He bought a couple and really liked them better than the plastic. He asked me if I could make him some wooden ones. Well it took some trial and error but I figured it out. I made a form and bought some veneer and got to work. After several attempts it started getting close. But the one trouble I had was making sure that both halves of the form were identical. Then I had an idea. I made up one side of the form out of wood and carved and shaped it. This was the convex side. Then I bought some casting resin and put a form around the top side of the form and poured it in. This would ensure an identical mirrored form for the bottom. It worked very well! I have several versions with different concave and head/tail sizes. I can just put whichever version I want to make in the jig and I'm ready to go.

We just cut four or five pieces of veneer to size and make sure to alternate the grain. We glue them up and place the pack in the form and clamp it down then let it sit to cure. While in the form, we trace the shape onto the blank with a pencil. When it's set up we remove it and trim the board to shape and sand then finish it. Drill the holes to mount the trucks and it's ready to go. I'll have to get some pictures of the boards up the they look REALLY COOL! But at least I've got a picture of the jig. Here it is...

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I'll have to get some pictures up of the stair sets and the mini park that I built for him also.

John
 
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Thanks!

We've made some pretty cool boards by combining different species of woods. We even dye some of the lighter species and alternate colored layers and when they're all cut and sanded, the colored bands show up really well and it looks very cool.

I just went to Woodcraft and bought a bag of miscellaneous veneers for about $24 I think and we've made a ton of boards and still have a lot of wood left for more.

But now he wants to make a FULL SIZE board. :eek::)

That's gonna be a bit bigger challenge. ;)

John
 
enjoy them while yu can john!!! any time with them is priceless. just dont get to feeling to young and try it yourself remeber the slip on the snow where your shoulder took a hit for some time.. well you havnt got any younger even if you felel younger yu aint trust me:D:thumb:
 
Here are a couple pictures of some of the boards we've made without their running gear.

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Here's one with its running gear installed
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We made these a few months ago. Haven't made any in a while but he's sold a few to friends so we've got to get busy and restock. :)

John
 
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John:

Are the trucks metal or wood? It looks like wood but if it's polished metal I could just be seeing the reflection of the underside of the deck.

That is a cool father/son project. Is he bringing the $ from the sales back into the enterprise?

Enjoy the time. My 10 year old son isn't into any shop work. He want to give me a design and want the finished project to appear. I'm working on meeting him in the middle. . .

Cheers

Jim
 
Hi Jim,
they're metal. The trucks in the picture are actually higher end gear that you can buy. There are web sites that sell these boards for $50 or more EACH for a complete board! They've even got ball bearing wheels. We've gotten him some of the better quality hardware and and it does make a difference. But you can buy Tech-Deck boards at your local toy stores and such and just use that hardware.

John
 
Those look really cool, John. You can use exotic woods and make them one of a kind pieces.

I don't fully understand the allure of fingerboarding, but on the other hand, I could back up and steer a Matchbook truck with a horse trailer like an old pro when I was about 8. :p
 
John do you have any web names that sell the hardware? Me and grandson are going to try to make the boards from pr and can't seem to find anyone just selling the hardware.:wave:
 
John do you have any web names that sell the hardware? Me and grandson are going to try to make the boards from pr and can't seem to find anyone just selling the hardware.:wave:

Tom,
Yeah I had the same problem. At first, we just bought a "Tech Deck" at the local store and scavanged the hardware from that. They work but as with anything there are always "upgrades". ;) Then we found "Flatface Fingerboards" online. They sell full boards and just the hardware. Just be sure you're sitting down when you look at what they get for some of this stuff! :eek::) We've bought from them several times and the quality of this hardware blows away the stuff that comes on the Tech Decks. Here's a link...

http://flatfacefingerboards.com/webstore/


Ned,
if you have any questions when you do just drop me a line. I'd be glad to help if I can.

John
 
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Hi Jim,
they're metal. The trucks in the picture are actually higher end gear that you can buy. There are web sites that sell these boards for $50 or more EACH for a complete board! They've even got ball bearing wheels. We've gotten him some of the better quality hardware and and it does make a difference. But you can buy Tech-Deck boards at your local toy stores and such and just use that hardware.

John

Until/if he proves that this isn't a quick fad he'll only be getting generic gear.

Those look really cool, John. You can use exotic woods and make them one of a kind pieces.

I don't fully understand the allure of fingerboarding, but on the other hand, I could back up and steer a Matchbook truck with a horse trailer like an old pro when I was about 8. :p
Vaughn,
that made me laugh. I keep buying my youngest Matchbox trucks... yeah, the're really for him, Honest honey! :rolleyes: Just like I buy him Lego kits...

Tom,
Yeah I had the same problem. At first, we just bought a "Tech Deck" at the locazl store and scavanged the hardware from that. They work but as with anything there are always "upgrades". ;) Then we found "Flatface Fingerboards" online. They sell full boards and just the hardware. Just be sure you're sitting down when you look at what they get for some of this stuff! :eek::) We've bought from them several times and the quality of this hardware blows away the stuff that comes on the Tech Decks. Here's a link...

http://flatfacefingerboards.com/webstore/


Ned,
if you have any questions when you do just drop me a line. I'd be glad to help if I can.

John

You're not just whistling dixie. As I said above, I may make him a custom board, but for what they're getting for some of those pieces it's unreal! Or at least out of the budget at the moment.

One quick question, is there any benefit to you using the plastic for the press? Wouldn't hardwood do just as well?
 
Hi Ned,
I would recommend just buying the Teck Deck boards at your local store for about $3 and take the hardware off of it and use it on your home made board. They will work fine for someone just starting out.

If I had a CNC and could cut accurate molds, hardwood would probably be the best. I tried that but had a hard time making sure that the top and bottom of the mold were identical. What I did was carve the top half of the mold to the way I wanted it to be. Then I sprayed it down with a couple coats of laquer to seal it up. Then I cut a strip of heavy rubber shower pan liner. I carefully cut it to length and wrapped it around the top half of the form and then ran some tape around it. Then just a piece of scrap 1x and clamped it to each long side of the mold and then a piece of masking tape to hold the liner up against the scrap block. That made a good mold so that was fine to pour the casting resin into. I just mixed up a batch of resin and then let it cure. Once cured, peel the shower pan liner off and it separates with no problem and I've got a perfect mirror image. Then just touch up the resin portion on the sander and it's good to go.

It's a fun project to work on.

John
 
Tom,
Yeah I had the same problem. At first, we just bought a "Tech Deck" at the local store and scavanged the hardware from that. They work but as with anything there are always "upgrades". ;) Then we found "Flatface Fingerboards" online. They sell full boards and just the hardware. Just be sure you're sitting down when you look at what they get for some of this stuff! :eek::) We've bought from them several times and the quality of this hardware blows away the stuff that comes on the Tech Decks. Here's a link...

http://flatfacefingerboards.com/webstore/

thanks john will bookmark site for now looks a bit pricy for now will see if pr casting works first.:eek:
 
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