My Homemade Skateboard Deck

The Wood !

As I explained on my About me page, my “first” skateboard since I really got into skateboarding was made from a sheet of thick plywood (with sandpaper glued with double-sided self-adhesive as griptape). But that’s not the one I’m going to talk about in this post. I’m going to talk about my first (and only, for the moment.) homemade skateboard deck made from maple veneer, which features concave and tails.

Canadian maple skateboard deck veneer sheets
Image from roarockit.eu

In order to build a skateboard deck, one need the adequate material : wood veneer. At first I tried to find local sourced veneer but I couldn’t find one that was at the same time thick enough, long enough and made from a good hardwood. I live in a part of the country where for some reason you can’t even find birch plywood, so finding some (good) veneer was an impossible mission.

I even contacted the man behind Akasha boards, who lives not far from me, to know where he got his beech veneer. Unfortunately his supplier required a minimum order of thousands of Euros.

So I ended buying my plies from roarockit.eu which allowed me to get correct sized veneer with cross grain sheets included, ready to be glued on. They were  the cheapest veneer I could find online, and still made from Canadian hard maple wood.

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DIY Surf Keeyz / Riot plugs alternative

What are Surf Keeyz ?

Surf Keeyz bushings
Picture from Surf-Rodz.com

Surf Keeyz are small nylon rings made by Surf Rodz to be used on their trucks. They sit between the bushings and act the same way as spherical bushings except it is not as radical and can be removed easily, but hey can also worn out. They are really hard to find in Europe and I was told by Sickboard client service that they were not being made anymore. I’m not entirely convinced that it is true, I really couldn’t find any when I bought my pair of Surf Rodz TKP trucks but now they are back in stock on Sickboard…

Anyway, I really wanted to try them as it is supposed to make the trucks even better but wasn’t ready to pay like 20€ for some small nylon rings. So I decided to make my own. Continue reading “DIY Surf Keeyz / Riot plugs alternative”

How to replace Carver CX Kingpin with a Flipped Button Head Kingpin

Replacing Carver CX Kingpin

carver cx kingpin sticking out
Here you can see how the kingpin length can be a problem

As I explained in my Carver CX Review, something I didn’t like was the kingpin sticking out and hitting coping or curbs. I had a great email exchange with Neil Carver (who designed the truck) about it. He told me “Flipping the kingpin is a very good solution” but he also warned me that “It’s dangerous and you could break the base if something goes wrong. How’s that for fair warning? “.

Nonetheless I decided not only to flip my kingpin but also to change it for a DIY metric hex button head one. It is made of metric Class 10.9 steel which is a bit stronger that Grade 8 steel. It is also a little bigger in diameter so the base will need to be redrilled and going back to imperial kingpin will be difficult or even impossible.

Continue reading “How to replace Carver CX Kingpin with a Flipped Button Head Kingpin”