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Fine Board Building; Chiller Style

Tuesday, 07 November 2006

In recent months, fans of the Board Building Forums inside the 'Fish have been blown away by some of the fine veneering designs produced by "Chiller Decks", including the amazing 8-Wheeler shown below. In response to multiple requests from the forum and our totally-blown-away editorial staff, the artist himself has given us this primer on the techniques used to build these beautiful, yet totally functional skateboards...

I learned most of what I know about veneering while an apprentice at the College of the Redwoods Fine Furniture program. The program is unique due to its emphasis on shop sawn veneer, which is thicker then commercially cut stock. We learned how to cut and join veneer in a way that distanced our work from what is commonly found at a furniture retailers. Some of these techniques I’ve been able to use on skate decks. With this article, I'll try to get you started with the basic concepts for the veneering I do. After you read this, let's get down to it in the Forums! Let’s start with a few definitions. First off "parquetry" is the use of geometric shapes like squares and triangles that are cut and then re-glued together to create a pattern. "Marquetry" is the sawing of images, both lifelike and abstract, with a hand saw or scroll saw then gluing those pieces back into a field somewhat like a puzzle. "String inlay" is just that, a thin line of contrasting wood either straight or curved that is usually done with a router and small router bit. Finally, routed patterns use shaped plywood fences coupled with several bushings to join edges that are not straight.

If you look at the bottom of the eight wheeler deck, you will see three of these four techniques. The sun's rays would be a form of parquetry, the circle in the middle would be a routed pattern and the cd in the center would be marquetry.

Parquetry is probably the simplest way to add some flavor to a veneer sheet. You start by cutting out the shape on the band saw or chop saw, cleaning up the edge with a hand plane, then glue it to a mating piece. By continuing in this manner, you can form a pattern.

Marquetry is done by cutting shapes and their corresponding holes then fitting the two pieces together like a puzzle. The type of marquetry I do is called double-bevel cutting. This is where you use a tilted shop jig and two pieces of veneer taped together. Because the table is tilted, the veneer underneath is just slightly bigger than the hole so the fit is nice and snug. Visit Taunton press and search out Gregg Zall’s article to get the best info on this technique.

Here’s how I go about it: start first by transferring the design to the wood via carbon paper.

Using a small bladed jewelers saw and tiny drill bit, work your way around the design cutting out pieces then gluing them back in.

Routed patterns use plywood fences and multiple router bushings to cut shapes that fit snuggly. By using two bushings, whose size difference is twice the diameter of the router bit, you are able to cut on both sides of the line.

String inlay uses a router and fence, either curved or straight. Route in the groove, then follow with the contrasting wood stringing. Cut little tiny miters at the corners.

This all might seem a bit wacked, using fine furniture-making techniques on something that is supposed to take abuse. I don’t have a decent argument in my defense but to say that a skatedeck does a really good job of showing off wood’s natural beauty. With its curvy shape and concave belly, a skate deck embodies what’s amazing about wood. To top it all off, you can mount it up with trucks and wheels and go for a ride.