Skateboard Refactoring and Reuse.

In software engineering we use the terms refactoring and reuse a lot. We refactor code, to make it faster, better, or as we say, "more elegant." We take something that is working fine, and make it work better.
We also design software in reusable blocks. That way we can use that same block in another piece of code, or application. That way we do not have to write database lookup code over and over, or "write this data to a file" code again and again.

In skateboard design, there exist a similar principles. Deck shapes are pretty standard, there are probably around a dozen or so, with slight variations in nose or tail or side cut. They work well, and have been refactored over time to be pretty elegant. You could say these deck shapes are reusable blocks, that vary only slightly.  There are some notable exceptions, the tombstone shape, the daggertail, beamers, and punk points. Of course, there are large variations for types of skateboards, street, vert, downhill.

There are occasions when there is a confluence of these things. A time when you are reusing code, and refactoring to make it more elegant or functional. This is what this skateboard build is about.
My two favorite Santa Cruz skateboards are :  The Santa Cruz Stinger and the Bevel.  I had always planned on building a stinger, it was one of my very first decks, and I loved skating it. The Bevel was one of, if not the first concave boards. ( That fact is claimed by several decks and manufactures. ) The Bevel had a very steep concave, a big kicktail, and was awesome. The stinger, was a 7 ply deck, 11 inches wide in the nose section, and tapered down to around 10.25 at the tail. There were routings on the deck to reduce weight and provide grip. Both decks at one time, came in a bright yellow with fairly simple graphics. The Bevel with either the word "bevel" and the Stinger with a bee and the Santa Cruz logo.

The reuse : I am going to combine the two decks. The big stinger shape, and the steep concave and kicktail.

The refactor : I am building it in blue, with new graphics, and my own route design.

First order of business is to lay up the plys.

I used the same technique to get the shape, as I did for my KBeam build. I got a good straight on shot of the stinger, and then using known sizes for the original deck, and a little math, I had a ratio to build a template.  Or again, half a template, that I trace onto folded butcher paper.

On the last boards I have done, I bend the "square" stock, and then apply the shape. The next board I do, I am going to rough cut the shape first, and then glue it up. I will take it to the final shape after that. There are some issues with doing it either way, but I think the rough cut version might have fewer issues. A template placed on the top vs. the bottom of the deck might have a variance of up to a 1/2" depending on the depth of the concave. This has to be taken into account for either method. so the rough cut shape has to be at least that much larger than the final size.


Lots of concave on this one.

I traced the template on the plys, and did a rough cut to get the shape. I try to stay between 1/16 and 1/8 of an inch away from my template line during the cut.

As you can see, I am using the whole width of the laminate that I have. If I ever want to make a Dogtown Pig ( 12" ) I am gonna have to get wider maple.

I use a disk sander, and starting with 60 grit sandpaper, I take the board down to the template line. Once I hit the line, I switch to 220 grit to take out the rough spots, and as I get closer to finished on the edges, I go to 600, then 1000, then 2000 grit sandpaper.

Next, I did the layout for my custom routing.

I colored in the route areas so that it is easy to see against the blue background.
The routing is kind of a pain in the rear, but I got it done.

I am going to lay down custom graphics for the middle of the board, and in the routed areas...

I will add more to this post, as I finish out the routed areas and grip it up..