Longboard T-2 Woodworking Project

Here is my Woodworking 10 T-3 project presentation.

Note - This is a school project, thus not really a tutorial.

Roarockit Bombora Drop Deck Kit - It comes with everything you need to complete a skateboard deck, except for the finish, trucks, and hardware.

Drill - Use this to drill the mounting holes for the trucks

Drill Bits - You need a 3/16 drill bit and you will also want a countersink bit so the screws are flush

Finish - The best finish I could find for this was Minwax Urethane because it is flexible and also very durable, to get a good finish with this though you need to put in some extra steps

Optional if you use Urethane or Polyurethane:

Wet Dry Sandpaper - Get automotive paint sandpaper, you will want stuff that has grits from a 1,000 - to 3,000 grit

Buffing/Polishing Pad - If you want a glossy finish after wet sanding you will need to polish, an automotive pad on a drill or random orbital sander is perfect

Polish - To do it quickly and to get a better finish you will want to use a cutting compound before polishing, the polishing compound I used was Megiur's Ultimate Polish

Because this longboard has wheel wells the top layers of veneer need to be glued separately from the bottom layers. It is very simple:

1. you just spread two full cups (it is an included measuring cup that is not a cup) of glue (also included) on each layer
2. then line them up
3. put the stack on the mould
4. lay the breather netting on (also included)
5. put on a couple of elastic bands to make sure nothing shifts
6. stick it in the bag
7. seal it
8. pull a vacuum to form the veneers to the mould
9. wait a day until the glue cures then open everything up

1. Glue the bottom veneers together
2. place a piece of wax paper over the top part of the deck (should still be on the mould)
3. Place the bottom veneers on top and try and line up all the veneers, there are lines on the end of each veneer
4. vacuum everything, let the glue dry, then take out and separate the layers, you can throw away the wax paper

You need to shape the wheel wells into the bottom deck before you glue the two layers together. This was the hardest step in the entire process.

1. Use the included rasp (I used a power sander and Dremel) to round out the curves, you need to try and get them all looking as even and symmetrical as possible
2. Then rasp almost down to the line, that runs along the sides

1. Put glue on the bottom stack place it on the top stack and line up the lines on the end of the veneers
2. Repeat the vacuuming process

I never shaped the wheel wells enough (as you can see in the 3rd photo) so they were not flush with the top part of the board. This meant I had to do a couple of hours of sanding with a palm sander and Dremel before everything was perfect. I also think I had not spread the glue perfect to the edges so there were a couple of small cracks between the layers. for the big ones I used wood glue and a small clamp and for the small ones I just used super glue.

I'm sorry I don't have any photos really of this step. Camera equipment and dust DO NOT MIX WELL. I used a small box plane to square off the sides so they were even. I then sanded and rounded the edges using a random orbital sander. I then drilled and countersunk the holes for the bolts. I then sanded the whole board up to 220 grit.

1. To finish it I hung the board from the ceiling in the basement of my house using a wire
2. I applied two coats of Urethane using a foam brush
3. I designed and got a vinyl transfer decal printed. It is of a royal sable (the national symbol of Angola) surrounded by the gear from the outside of the Angolan flag. It means something to me because I lived most of my life there (before I moved to Canada two years ago)
4. The printing company was nice enough to supply a couple of scraps of vinyl so I could test to see if the finish would properly adhere and go over the decal, I did a test on a block of wood, everything seemed fine
5. Before applying the decal I sanded the two coats of Urethane perfectly flat with 400 grit sandpaper
6. I then applied the decal
7. After the decal was on I applied over 10 coats of Urethane so you cant feel the decal and also to provide a ton of protection, I sanded between each coat with 400 grit
8. The 5-6th photo is of the Urethane finish, there was orange peel, small drips, and dust nubs (you can't see them in the photo)
9. So I wet sanded from 1,000-3,000 grit to remove any imperfections and to get a perfectly smooth finish, the 7-8th photos are after wet sanding, in the 8th photo you can still see a couple of low spots that are shiny still because the sandpaper never reached them
10. I then spent close to an hour polishing the bottom of the board using polish and a pad on a random orbital sander, it took close to 30 minutes to get it nice and glossy again, you can see the low spots in the last photo because I never sanded enough but after another 20min of buffing they disappeared

After all this, I was left with what was a perfectly smooth and glossy finish.

I installed the trucks + grip tape and the board is finished. It took a huge amount of work and time (especially with so many coats of Urethane) but I am happy with how it turned out. This is my first time riding a skateboard and it is super fun! And seems to be holding up fine without delaminating or any other problems.

I could also make more board decks in the future and sell them for a profit to pay off the cost of the kit.