How to Refurbish an Old Skateboard

There are so many people that skateboard which creates many old boards that people don't want. It can be hard to know what to do with these old boards but an amazing option is refurbishing them. Many people will throw out perfectly good boards that just need new grip tape, all because they got a new board. Well I'm going to tell you how to refurbish an old board.

Tools:

• Old board with no chips in the wood
• Hairdryer or heat gun
• Exacto knife/ razor blade
• Pencil
• Paint
• New trucks, and fastening equipment
• New wheels, and fastening equipment

The first step is to take of the old grip tape. The easiest way to get it off is to heat it up first with either a hairdryer or a heat gun. This helps to release it from the board. Next you can peel it up. This may be hard to start and you may need to use a knife to get a piece off. Mine came up in mostly one piece. There was a little left and I just heated that up and took it off with a knife. There will be a sticky residue left and we will cover how to get that off in step two.

This part is going to take some time and patience. The best way to get this residue off is to use WD-40. I know it sounds a little weird but just spray some on and rub it in this will get all the residue off. It will take a lot of rubbing which you will get tired of but just keep adding WD-40 and rubbing until you can feel all the residue gone.

My board had some stickers on it so I peeled those off with a knife first and then sanded it down. You may want to start with less fine grain first and then work your way to finer grain sandpaper. This will give you a more smooth board that will grip tape better. This will also take a long time to do so be patient and get it all off.

I painted my background plain white, but pick any color you want. Here is where things start to take a more creative liberty path. You can paint yours however you would like and don't even have to paint it. Although I would suggest at least one solid color. I then sketched out what i wanted to paint which is a very good idea if you are going to paint it more intricately.

I then painted my board, and did line art afterwards. I painted with acrylics, but I would also suggest spray paint. There are many cool designs you can do with spray paint.

Next we need to put on new grip tape. This was my first time doing my own grip tape so its not the best job. Anyways you want to take of the backing and press it onto the board so there are no air bubbles. Then take something flat and score the outside. Then cut off the excess grip tape with a razor blade. Lastly poke holes through so the trucks can go on easily. If you want to watch a video here is a good resource

It would be hard for me to explain how to put on the trucks and wheels so im going to refer you to two sources instead.

How to put on trucks

How to put on wheels

Now you have a fresh new board and you can be happy knowing it didn't go to the landfill. Now go skateboard and have fun. A special thanks to Maker Hub Club for sponsoring this project I could have done it without them.