Hardwood Penny Board

I've always loved skateboarding as a kid but now that I am older I havn't been able to ride since I could no longer locate my board. So I decided I was gonna buy a hardwood board online. If you have looked online for one then you know they are quite expensive. Since I know a little about woodworking I decided to make one myself.

I also included a video in case it helps.

What you will need for this instructable is the following:

1. Hardwood (any kind, I used Walnut and Maple)

2. Wood glue

3. Trucks & Wheels

4. Clamps

5. A Saw (I used a Table saw & Band saw)

6. Grip tape

7. Drill

8. Finish of choice

9. Dowels

So the first thing I did was look up the size of a Penny Board. Turns out they are about 23" long and 6" in width. I already had a scrap piece of Walnut that was 5" in width and 24" long. It actually eded up being perfect for this project.

I cut the piece of Walnut in half because I wanted a strip of Maple running down the middle. The Maple had wasn't long enough for the board so I had to cut two pieces to glue together in the middle.

I had glued one side of the Walnut with the maple strips and was gonna trim it down a little to my desired width. However, for some reason I was having a lot of trouble and my strip of Maple became quite thin. If you follow this instructable then hopefully you will have better luck!

I decided to use dowels to join the two half of the board for strength. I used a doweling jig from Rockler that cost about $20 bucks and it works really well. If you don't have a doweling jig don't worry it isn't really need. You can just use a lot of glue on the joint and a lot of clamps and you should be good to go.

I used a ruler to mark lines on the two pieces so I could line up the jig to both sides. This will ensure that the holes will line up correctly. After that I just the jig and started drilling the holes. To use this jig you line up the middle line of the jig to the line you marked. I clamped it down so it wouldn't move during the process. Now just repeat this step until all your holes are drilled.

Once the holes were drilled I put some wood glue in the holes and the sides of the wood. I used multiple thing to pound in the dowels in the holes until I found my hammer. I then used some cheap bar clamps to tighten this board up. At this point I was getting really excited for my board!

Unfortunately, I lost the footage of this step. :(

I used my bandsaw to cut out the shape of my Penny board. I googled penny board template and about a dozen popped up. I just chose the first one and printed it out. I cut as close to the line as I could without hitting it as I would reach the line in the sanding process.

I used my sander with 120 grit to just shape the board to the line. It actually went pretty quickly but the amount of sanding time will depend on how well you cut the board out. I finished the board up with 220 grit.

OPTIONAL STEP:

I used a router with a small rounder bit to over the edges of the board. It is not necessary for this project but I thought it looked nice.

For a finish/ grip I decided to use polyacrylic varnish on the board. I did one coat on the whole board and let it dry for 24 hours. Then I bought a product called Lucid grip, it has a powder grip and spray adhesive pack, to use as my grip. I used this so you could see the wood grain better. You could just use normal grip tape as well, but if you do you don't really need to put finish on the top of board.

On the second coat of finish as I applied it i sprinkled the powder grip into the finish. I made sure I put enough to have a decent grip. I am not gonna do tricks with this board so it didn't need to be terribly strong.

I finished it with a final third coat of varnish.

Now go out and enjoy your new skateboard.

I absolutly love how this board came out! All my friends love it and want to make their own. It rides really well and feels plenty strong. I made this just so I can cruise around town and the beach.