Purple Heart Wood Longboard

by bpoulton in Outside > Skateboarding

2876 Views, 18 Favorites, 0 Comments

Purple Heart Wood Longboard

20180318_131638.jpg
20180318_131649.jpg

I had a girl knock on my door and asked if i would make her a skateboard. This is where the adventure lead me!

Checkered Pattern

20180308_172557[1].jpg
20180308_174220.jpg
20180308_174225.jpg
20180308_174932.jpg
20180308_174935.jpg

I wanted to make this unique so I decided to make the center checkered pattern this was time consuming but well worth the time and effort. I started by gluing a piece of 1/2 inch pine and a piece of 1/2 inch Purple heart wood together then cut those in to 1/2 inch pieces. I then glued the pieces in to small manageable sections I tried to glue them all together at once but it flexed and bowed.

Glue It Together

20180308_174222.jpg
20180310_121900.jpg

I then glued them all together with 2 strips of 1/4 inch mahogany wood on each side.

More Glue!

20180310_131546.jpg
20180310_143058.jpg
20180310_143106.jpg

I place the remaining piece of purple heart on the top and bottom of the board along with 2 pieces of pine to give it a good contrast in color i used the reaming mahogany and purple heart to give it a cool design!

Planing

20180311_120848.jpg
20180311_120852.jpg

After gluing it together the wood was uneven and had glue bulging out so to the planer it goes took about 10 min of planing to get it where i wanted it i went slow and steady. if you don"t have a planer you will be sanding for some time!

Cutting Out the Final Design

20180311_123916.jpg
20180311_123920.jpg
20180311_124142.jpg

I used Auto Cad to come up with my design put it on a piece of 1/4 in ply i had laying around in case I wanted to make this again. I cut it out using a cheap jig saw.

Sanding

20180311_124634.jpg

I used my belt sander to get the desired shape.

Routing

20180311_130139.jpg

I like the edges to be rounded off so I use a 3/8 round over bit in the router table.

Sanding

20180311_131316.jpg

I then use the palm sander to finish it off. I started with 120 and finished it with 220.

Add Fiberglass

20180311_174621.jpg
20180311_180116.jpg

I put a piece of fiber glass on the top of the deck.

Mark Out the Trucks

20180314_185728.jpg

I then marked out the truck location

Drill Out Truck and Screw Holes

20180315_175717.jpg
20180316_143138.jpg

I then used my drill press to drill out the truck holes and wanted to do drop thru trucks so used the bigger bits to get the desired holes and finished it off with the jig saw.

Final Fiberglass

20180317_104246.jpg
20180316_151249.jpg
20180317_101140.jpg
20180317_105817.jpg

I then put a layer of fiberglass on the bottom and sanded it down again and added a layer of epoxy.

Wheels and Trucks

20180317_110309.jpg
20180317_175303.jpg
20180317_175932.jpg

Pick out the color of wheels and trucks you desire.

Mount the Trucks

20180318_122904.jpg

I had to that the kingpin bolt out to mount the trucks.

Add Grip Tape

20180318_123149.jpg
20180318_124646.jpg
20180318_125834.jpg

With such a pretty deck I did not want to cover it up with a sheet of grip tape so I decided to make the checkered pattern. Was please with the finish product!

Watch the Build on YouTube

Purple heart wood Longboard
Purpleheart wood Longboard

please like and subscribe to my channel for more Build Videos!