Build Your Own Skateboard

Hi everybody!

In this I'ble I will present you the whole process of building my very own, home-made, hand-painted skateboard.

I am not a rider nor a good wood maker nor an artist. I just wanted to build it by my own and ride it afterwards.

I lost a lot of time in the process finding the good and easiest techniques to build the deck, round it, sand it, paint it etc... This I'ble will describe how I did each of those steps for a pretty good result.

Enjoy the reading and check the dedicated website and on line shop ;-)

Building the deck is actually the step that took me the less time.

I used the roarokit system. It is easy and fast to master. For more info see this I'ble.

I wanted to have the ability to claim the building of the board instead of buying a blank deck on line.

If you are interested in roarokit method, here is a perfect I'ble.

It took me about a week-end to build 2 decks.

As you have seen, I have very little pictures of that step as it requires both hands and full focus to avoid mistakes (don't worry, even with my hands and brain focused I did mistakes the first time).

However it was a quick and easy step, providing a very grateful feeling of having actually built your decks.

Once the boards have been built time has come to start the sanding.

I did the rounding first using the Roarokit grater to have a rough shape. Then I used the orbital sander. Coming now is not a good practice and shouldn't be done without a clear overview of the associated risks: I fixed the sander on a workbench, up side down and did the round shape by sanding the board on it.

It worked well and is really easy. The gesture has to be learned to obtain a good round shape.

Then I have used the sander on hand using sanding paper from grade 120 to grade 500.

Don't underestimate this step. This is one of the most important step as it will define the state of the surface you will paint. The better your sanding, the less you will see you paint or ink migrate through the wood.

I used spray sealer to seal my boards. Spray is much easier and dry faster. I used chopsticks to maintain the board. I am really happy about this tip.

Once dried one can sand it again with a very fine sand paper (500 or above) and then re-seal the board. I haven't done that even if I found it as a good practice over the net.

The results I obtained are good and at least sufficient for me.

Here is about your personal drawing skills. If you can draw or not or if you have an artistic skill...

Really often Skateboard arts are made using spray paint and stencils. I don't master this technique so I decided to do it a more standard way. I didn't used standard paint to make the skateboard art on my decks but rather used POSCA pens. Much easier and faster to draw and dry with very little risks to see paint migrating through the wood. According to my numerous tries it is the easiest way to draw on a deck. My drawings are here B&W but POSCA pens have all existing colours in stock. I found inspiration on the web for the pics.

The sugar skull is my first try. One can notice some minor errors and defects. The fishes are much more satisfying.

I ordered a standard low cost grip band on line. I had one black and one blue grip.

I wanted to make a little bit of grip art to really make my boards special.

I have printed the logo I wanted to see on the top of my skateboards. Positioning it on the grip and then carefully cutting it with a X-knife. I saw it from the net and think it add a beautiful touch on the boards.

I got inspired by this I'ble to put the grip on the deck.

Once the grip is on and all steps are done, you just need to put the trucks and start riding.

I used Spitfire wheels and Indepedant/venutre trucks.

Enjoy!

Don'h how to store your boards? Try my simple skateboard rack