Impostor LongBoard

The first board I ever made. While my favorite board for aesthetic and sentimental reasons, it is the least functional board in my quiver.  

Required Resources:  10 hours, $100 (deck only)

Materials: Purpleheart, Zebrawood

Tools:  Table Saw, Planer, Jointer, Orbital Sander, Cordless drill

Shape: Longboard, Notched tail (32”, 24” wheel base' 0.65" thick)

Finish: Spar Urethane  (Outdoor use)

Grip: Lucid Clear Spray Clear Grip Medium

New Techniques: Tapered, edge-glued slats.  Creative clamping with wedges and cauls to keep edge jointed pieces level.  Hand sanded, biased fillets to complete that surfboard look. Laser etching.  Clear spray grip application.  Using Spar urethane for additional water and UV protection as well as color preservation of the purpleheart (will turn dark brown if unprotected against UV). 

Lessons Learned: Zebra wood is a beast to work with.  Planing proved a challenge as the surface of the zebra wood is prone to checking (chipping) if the planer is not at peak sharpness or if the blade attacks the grain from the wrong angle.  Additionally, it readily warps after planing, as the cleaving of the top layer of the wood releases internal stresses baked into the piece while kiln drying.  Using a drum sander instead of a planer for a finishing pass might alleviate the checking/chipping issues.  Maintaining a minimum part thickness of 0.75"  may help to mitigate the warp. 

As for the design, the board was entirely too heavy and is unmanageable to carry over a city block.   Future boards of this length should be thinned to <0.5".   Fiberglass reinforcement may be required to maintain structural integrity.    The wheel base of the board was also a bit too far apart, creating a wide turning radius that was not conducive to city sidewalk riding and commuting.   Finally, the lack of carved wheel wells on both the nose and tail led to some serious wheel bite when deck was unlifted.  The solution I chose was to add risers between the deck and truck mounting plate.  Lifted high above the pivot, the board was unstable and ultimately require fitting the deck with a new set of trucks with stiffer bushings.