ASRA - Australian Skateboard Racing Association

Hi peoples, First post so go easy on me. 

I've recently decided to try & build my own deck & am pretty sure I have the press sorted but I'm unsure of how long to press the board for. I've also heard some people talk of wetting the materials before pressing to allow the timber to bend more freely, any thoughts?

I am also thinking of using Brushbox as the bottom layer of the board to give it a nice finish, has anyone tried using hardwood on their boards? This pic doesn't do the species any good but this is brushbox, IRL it looks a lot like hot chocolate

 The only problems with this are,

a) I want to build a 10" wide board but the largest I can get the Brushbox is 8" meaning that there will be joins. How will this effect durability?

b) I should have mentioned earlier that I work in a timber mill that actually presses hard wood to ply all day everyday, but we only press it flat & try to avoid any kind of bends & curves. This leads me to my next issue. In the many years I have been working in this mill there has always been an issue with cupping, crowning & bowing of the pressed timber due to the moisture. I know this is a question I should ask the big wigs at work but I'll ask here first, what can I do to stop the board bending after it is pressed?

As mentioned before, I work with timber all day so this deck will be at $0 cost to me so why not give it a go. Are any of these species able to be used for construction, blackbutt, spotted gum, brushbox, blue gum, red mahogany, stringy bark, tasmanian oak, jarrah & i think that's about it. All species can be sourced between 2mm & 4mm veneers.

Any feedback would be great.

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Replies to This Discussion

if you can get rock maple that would be perfect. check out my photos of my press, i leave mine in my press for 36-48 hours because i use epoxy and fibreglass, im not a hundred % sure about the brushox though im sure you could try, good luck bro

Welcome to the board builders group Ringo

24hrs should be more than enough time to leave your board in the press. If your using a quick kick epoxy and good quality wood glue you may be able to halve this. In wet/humid, cold conditions though I would stick with 24hrs. Definately don't wet the materials before pressing. You may be thinking of people who pre steam veneers then let them dry before pressing. I don't think its necessary to do this espcially with 2mm veneers.

A lot of people use hardwood so you should have no problems there. Most hardwoods will be able to be pressed its just how it will perform in a board, for example weight, stiffness, flex, durability etc. You may need to experiment. Not sure how spliting veneers longways will affect the durability. Ive heard of doing that crossways with crossplies but never lengthways. I suspect it may not be ideal but if you use a good epoxy and stagger the joints as much as possible and only have one joint per veneer layer you might find its ok.

If your veneer is at a good moisture content and its pressed into a concave or whatever shape with good epoxy or veneer you are in affect forcing it to cup and bow etc. Once its stressed into shape and the glue has set you should be right.Store your blank on a flat surface until your ready to shape it I have never had any dramas, maybe the guys who use a lot of hardwood might want to chime in here?

Spotted gum, and Blue gum ( not to be confused with Sydney Blue gum ) should work well as they are known to bend well. The tasmanian oak would be worth a try definately and the blackbutt would work well as a stringer. Thats about the extent of my knowledge on exact species

Ive used Tasie Oak in the centre and as a bottom ply and never had a problem , have used lots of timber mix on the top most of i dont know what they are and allways have o great looking deck.

Ive had some weight problems with the smaller slalom decks but if your long boards are less then a Evo your doing ok, As for time in the press if im using Urea type glue i will leave it in for a week or  so, pollyester or epoxy i allways use a a slow mix and depending on the weather , 48 hours plus Had a lot of poor results using PVA dont bother.

You should try titebond 3 Mark. I guarantee you will not have any problems at all. It is simply the best, waterproof too

Ditto on the titebond III - it is the best stuff I've used.

Thanks for the advice guys, just finalizing the measurements & building the press. Pics will be posted once complete.

rock maple is the best thing to use, but it's so hard to find. I have searched everywhere and still can't find any. any helpful hints?

@Dan - try something else..?  Not being smart but there's plenty of us tried to get/find the elusive stuff and settled on something more attainable and cheaper.  We shoould pool our resources and try and get a pallet shipped from the US, but freight and ensuring it is certified to enter the country will kill us!  Happy to be completely torn to shreds by anyone who has a source they are willing to share ;)

will try the titebond guys just had a good read about it sounds ok  thanks

hi dan, i am in sydney and i found a supplier of Rock Maple waay out west, called Briggs Veneers, they do skateboard veneers however sell them in 2 set sizes and only 7 ply.

I am yet to test the full strength and use of this ply, as i just pressed one board with PVA, which pretty much failed... i think i should use Titebond III ????? i also used a high compression foam mold, which had its flaws..

Dan Hawkins said:

rock maple is the best thing to use, but it's so hard to find. I have searched everywhere and still can't find any. any helpful hints?

@Sam - I checked Briggs some time ago and although their website mentions longboard type lengths of Rock Maple, they only stock lengths sufficient to make a standard Skateboard size - according to the snarly woman I spoke to when I rang them directly!

i went out there in january and bought 21 sheets, so 3 sets and they are 1220mm x 310mm, which is the perfect size for a longboard... i dont know what was with the woman that answered, but they have 2 sizes, no matter what the website says.

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