#47 - Charity Time Again

Another year, another donation board from my kid's school. Low and long over 10" Originals, the trucks that everyone loves to hate. I find when mounted low they make for an amazingly fun carvy ride. Not built for speed or tricks, but just to cruise. Board is two plies of 3 mm w/ one of 2 mm between, one layer of 6 oz glass and two of 5.5 oz carbon fiber, 1/8" risers are tigerwood. Deck has a really nice pop to it even though I exceed max weight by a handful of pounds. I'm sure it'll land in a good home.

#46 - And a Boy Turned Three

My boy turned three last month. I figured his first skateboard was long overdue. Three plies of bamboo, two of 2mm and one of 3mm. No carbon and just a little bit of fiberglass, light as a feather, max rider weight < 100 lbs.

#45 - A Failure All Around

I'm currently experiencing a bit of a problem sourcing the bamboo that I normally use for building and this deck is an attempt to try something new with some more readily available material. For all intents and purposes it didn't go well, but not so bad I could bare to throw it in the bin. I actually think the feel of the deck is pretty nice, comfortable concave, a good rear bias camber that I like for LDP and really nice pop for someone a little lighter than myself. The problems come in the way it had to be built. It was very, very difficult to get the cave into it and as close as it is to correct it's not quite right. I also had some problems in finishing that made it not so pretty, at least not as pretty in person as it appears here. All that said, it's not good enough to sell, not bad enough to toss, and to close to #44 to be worth setting it up myself. I figured someone else might have a better use for it, So, it's headed off to a new owner and if it disappoints, at least it was free.

#44 - A New Kind of Build for Me

This is a new to me LDP design I've been kicking around in my head for a while. One ply of 4mm h-lam bamboo, one of 3mm v-lam bamboo, lots of carbon, some fabric, and a curly maple stringer to finish it off. The deck has a lot more liveliness than #28, my go to LDP deck for the last couple of years, and is not a whole lot softer. Other than the tiny bubbles in the epoxy due to putting it under heat a bit too soon I call this one a success.

#43 - For Charity

Built as a silent auction item for my kid's co-op preschool's annual fundraiser. There's a triangle forty2 logo forward of the front truck that is obscured in the photo. Pretty basic build but it looks nice, tried to do something that wouldn't be too crazy for the uninitiated. It's got more flex than I like in a deck, but I'm also on the heavier end of the spectrum so hopefully it'll work out for whoever wins it.

#42 - Another Slalom Deck

 My first slalom deck (#35) was a bit on the short side and a bit weird in the kick. I got tired of fighting it so I gave it to Jason and Katie over at Motion Boardshop. This is the replacement.

Not sure I'm 100% satisfied, but it's a big improvement over the last one. Better concave, much firmer kick, and a pretty good length. Still need to get serious with some cones to really know how I feel about it. Liking it so far.

#41 - Eddie's Replacement

Unfortunately, #5 didn't go the distance, and it's my own damn fault. So when Eddie let me know he would be visiting from Japan I got off my ass and built him a replacement. Better in every way and a proven design.

Still including the NOLA love, split stringer, and just a tiny forty2 logo. I can dig it.

#40 - Nate's Very Special Board

This was the last deck I made before losing my shop space and having a kid back in the summer of 2010. Nate was my test monkey, you might know him from the series of how to videos he's done for Motion Boardshop. He rode everything I made that was a departure from what I'd already been doing and gave me very detailed and well thought out feedback.

We talked for a long time about what his board would look like. Built in toe stop, gas pedals, knife edged sides, wedge and dewedge incorporated into the stringer, light and stiff. I think I hit the mark pretty well.

I think it's quite possibly the finest deck I've made.

It is still out there two years later and Nate still rides it from time to time.

#39 - Mike's Dancer

Just a simple dancer I made for Mike. One of my very last shark logos on the bottom. Shannon (#38) inked the name.

#38 - Shannon's Double Drop

Shannon just wanted a board. He really liked riding #18 the most so that's where I started. 

I delivered the board to him primered and he brought it back to me when he was done for grip. I really dig the results.

#37 - Allen's Double Drop

Allen requested a double drop with a pair of handles, this is what I came up with.

We had discussed a broken stringer, however I didn't feel very confident that the deck would be strong enough without a full stringer. It's mahogany by the way.

I'm really pleased with the final product, it ships out tomorrow.

#36 - Stryker's Double

Stryker wanted a deck just like #18, but a little different. The main thing was more foot room in the back extending the body closer to the rear truck.

He also requested more contrast between the carbon and the stringer so instead of walnut I ended up using natural bamboo. Also, I added just a little red stain to either end of the stringer near the middle of the deck. It's hard to see in these pictures, but believe me, it's there.

#35 - Slalom 4 Sean

This deck has actually been done for a while. I put it together in 2 days right before Christmas. It was as much built out of necessity as it was to see if I could speed up production and retain quality. I can't.

It looks good in pictures but I missed the mark in a number of ways, all because I did everything in one layup. That's right, everything, carbon, core, fabric, stringer all in one press. It was a good idea but didn't quite work out.

The deck is a touch on the short side but it works for cyber slalom, at least for the time being. There may already be a replacement in the works, but I'm getting ahead of myself. For the time being it's working just fine.

#34 - Annie's Double Drop

Annie originally contacted me about three months ago with some non-specific questions about board design and shape and the resulting ride feel. Some one hundred emails or so later the deck is finally finished and on it's way to her.

The deck consists of three plies of bamboo and a bamboo stringer. There's a small amount of carbon fiber mixed in there to tune flex and a little bit of blue to accent the graphics. She designed the vinyl on the bottom herself and sent it to me to be applied before the final layers of epoxy.

Also, if you're finding yourself in need of some sweet graphics on your kicks, hit Annie up. Looks like she's doing good work.

#33 - Brandon's Crhistmas Present

Brandon's wife ordered a deck for. Christmas and since neither of us knew what he'd want exactly I built him what I'd want were I in his shoes, a double drop of course. Carbon fiber top and bottom, cloth up top over the carbon, and a bamboo stringer.

Since it was ordered as a complete I finished it off with some black on black Paris trucks(my favorite) and some Gravity High Grades.

#32 - Going Old School

Abraham requested a board similar to an old Hosoi Hammerhead with my own little twist. I really wasn't all that excited about the deck when I started, but by the time I got around to cutting out I was totally in love. It's such a beautiful and well balanced shape.

The deck has just a little but of camber, a decent amount of concave, nice kicks at the nose and tail, cocobolo risers, and a little kevlar and carbon in the tail to stiffen it up and fight razor tail.

It's a sexy board for sure, it might just be the next thing I build for myself.

#31 - The Shovel

Three plies of bamboo, cherry stringer, and some carbon fiber.

Dead sexy and fun to ride. I don't really know what else to say about this deck.

#30 - Mason's Mini(?)

Mason's deck was originally going to be a 32" mini but after a little discussion it was decided that a little extra foot space wouldn't be so bad.

I buried some kevlar in the layup to help fight razor tail, finished the whole bottom in carbon fiber and topped it off with a stealth logo.

#29 - Kyle's Hawaiian Double Drop

Kyle wanted a deck like #18, and that's what he got. Hawaii on the top.

Walnut split stringer on the bottom.

Super comfy drop.

#28 - Pumper revisited

This is my second LDP deck. I was going for a little more predictable flex then that found in deck #20 and hit the mark dead on.

The construction is 1/8" maple stringer, uni carbon fiber, 8mm of bamboo, and some various kinds of fiberglass. It'll find a new home eventually, but for now this deck is going to hang around as a loaner.