Homemade Cork Grip Longboard

I created this project because being a student on a college campus, I wanted a way to get around faster. I had owned a penny board but going up and down larger hills was both difficult and frightening. I decided that I wanted a longboard so that I could more easily go down hills and in the future I may try to make it electric so that I can more easily go up hills (another intractable for that may come in the future). After looking into longboards I decided that I would make my own as I am just a beginner and did not want to spend over $100 dollars on a longboard.

The longboard is very durable and can fully support me without me worrying about cracking or breaking, I weigh about 175 pounds. It has a cork layer on the top that is very durable and allows you to ride comfortably barefoot. The total project cost me about $65.

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To complete this project you will need a few different tools and materials.

Tools

1. Chop saw
2. Ban saw or jig saw
3. table saw
4. clamps (about 10)
5. sand paper
6. drill
7. exato knife
8. wood burner or soldering iron

Materials

1. 3 sheets of plywood
2. Wood stain
3. Clear coat
4. Wood glue
5. scrap 2 by 4's
6. gasket cork - Gasket Cork
7. longboard trucks and wheels - Longboard Wheels

In order to glue the longboard I decided to make a jig that would allowed me to evenly glue the board and also create more boards in the future very easily. I made the jig out of scrap 2 by 4s I had laying around. To start you will need to cut a 2 by 4 into five 14.5 inch pieces and then cut two more so that they are each 35.5 inches long.

Once you have these pieces cut you will need to take the five 14.5 inch pieces that you cut earlier and cut them in half the narrow way with a table saw as shown. after the five pieces have been cut take your two longer 2 by 4s and lay them next two each other 14.5 inches apart, these will be the base of your jig. evenly place the five pieces of 2 by 4 on the base about 8.75 inches apart and mark them on the base. Next you will need to create a curvature for your board.

I decided to create a slight curvature upward for my board so that when I step onto it the board would bend and flatten out. In order to create the curve I used paint sticks stacked on top of each other in order to raise each "clamp" so that the middle clamp would be the highest. First I took two of the five pieces of 2 by 4s and screwed one half of them in at each end of the base where I had marked earlier. Next I cut up a few pieces of thin paint sticks and a few pieces of thicker paint sticks. I then glued two of the thinner pieces of paint stick to a thicker piece of paint stick. I did this 3 more times. After I had four of these paint stick raises I glued them to the base where the next set of "clamps" would go. Next, I screwed two more half's of the five pieces of 2 by 4 I cut in the beginning to the paint stick raises and board. Lastly I glued four thinner paint stick pieces to two thicker paint stick pieces. I did this one more time and then glued each paint stick raise to the base where the last "clamp" would go. I then screwed on the last of the five pieces of 2 by 4s.

At this point you should have a base with 5 half's of 2 by 4s screwed in at even lengths apart each one slightly higher till the middle one is the highest point.

After the main body of the jig is together we will start on the clamp aspect of the jig. I had some old cork laying around so I cut out 12 strips of cork so that they would cover each face of my five "clamps" on the jig.I then placed one layer of cork on each side of the first clamp, two layers of cork on the bottom side of the second two clamps and one on the top layer and one layer of cork on each side of the middle clamp. I glued these pieces using wood glue and clamped them all together to let dry at once as shown in the picture. After this dries the jig is ready to be used. Next I took my three sheets of plywood and but them to the dimensions of 14.5 by 35.5 inch.

Once the jig is complete it is time to glue the plywood. I put a heavy amount of wood glue between the three plywood sheets and layer the boards onto the bottom layer of my clamps on the jig. After this I placed the top layer of each clamp on and used two clamps to secure each clamp on my jig. I let this sit overnight and then removed all the clamps. Next I used a cutout to trace the board design onto my newly bent wood.

After the wood is bent comes the hard part, cutting out the longboard.

In order to cut out the board I first used a table saw and a chop saw to cut out every straight edge on the board (the sides and front and back). after this I used a jigsaw in order to cut out the curved parts where the wheels go. Be sure to clamp down the board very tight when using the jigsaw. If you do not have a jigsaw you can also use a bandsaw. When I first cut the board out it was very rough and did not look very good. I used an electric sander and sanded out all the edges to rid the wood of scuff marks and unevenness. After the edges were finished, I sanded the top and bottom of the board and gave the edges of the board a curve. In order to get the sharper angles I had to hand sand some of the board.

After everything is sanded it is time to stain the wood.

After the board is cutout and sanded its time for the finishing touches. I used a soldering iron to burn the initial of my first name onto the bottom of the board. After this I used wood stain to stain the bottom of the board. I put on two coats of wood stain letting the coats dry before applying more stain. Then I put on three coats of clear coat.

After the stain and clear coat have dried completely I traced where the trucks would go and drilled holes for the truck bolts. I sunk in the tops of the bolt heads into the board so they would be flush with the wood. I then traced my truck risers onto extra gasget cork and put the trucks on. Next, I traced the outline of my board onto my gasket cork and used an exacto-knife to cut it out. I used ____ glue to glue the gasket cork to the board and let it dry for about an hour. After that I bolted on the trucks and the longboard was finished!

Your finished with your longboard!

Let me know what you think and if you think this project is awesome then check out my other instructables and don't forget to vote!