HOW TO: Build your first board.

[Greenamtern]

The Toothless method of longboard building intended to get people started. The instructions in its original form can be found with pictures and all at http://www.toothless.tk/. Instructions for more elaborate methods and board designs can also be found at the website.

The attachment is basically a non-proofread listing of instructions in Microsoft Word formatting. Be sure to visit the Toothless website for things I may have missed.

[Ravn]

Hi Henry,
How is a Word document better than a website?

[Greenamtern]

Again, it's just a resource.
If you want to commit the process to memory for your ("you" referring to a beginner) first try or print out several pages from the website, be my guest.
I just personally think that having a 2 page list available for download to have next to you as a checklist would be a welcome option for a beginner.

[SidewalkSurfer]

bravo finally a first stop for the noobs

now if we can get them through the "adorable "
which * is best for sliding
and the whole pie thing

they should turn out to be successfull members of our society



now if we could figure out a way to ditch some of these stickies :P

[carbonfiberlove]

how much does all of this building estimate to?

[tomcat360]

I just wanted to add a little bit, just some basic FAQ's on materials. Most all of these are "rule of thumb"

WOODS and WOOD THICKNESS and WHERE TO BUY WOOD:

Woods: Most people use either Baltic Birch plywood (keep in mind this is thin plywood used to glue to other sheets of thin plywood) or Maple veneer. Make sure that both of these are quality strength. Some woods are cheap wood (such as Luan or particleboard) faced with Maple or Birch. These woods WILL NOT WORK! Well, it could, but why bother putting time and effort(not to mention money) into something that will break easily. This is not a place to skimp on money. Sometimes even the low strength woods (faced) are cheaper than the real stuff. For instance, my first board was out of Birch faced Luan, and it was 36 dollars for a sheet, but the real stuff is only 8. Don't ask me why.

Thickness : Most people use 1/16, 1/8, and 1/4 thickness but anything between there is alright too. Anything thinner takes a bunch of gluing, and anything thicker is very difficult to bend. For boards with more extreme bends (such as dropped decks) use thinner woods.

Where to buy wood(birch): Everyone comes on here and ask "where do I get wood?" Well, that question will just tick people off, and you will most likely just get a sarcastic response. So instead, pull out your phone book and look through the lumber suppliers and start making some calls. Most places that stock good quality wood are regional stores, not national, so I cannot tell you specific names of places. If you cannot find any wood at the places you call, ask them. Most guys that work at lumberyards are cool, they will most likely direct you to a good source.

Where to buy wood(maple): Unless you live in Canada, there is a slim chance you will find furniture-grade maple veneers close to you, unless there is a specialty shop that carries it. Instead, go to Ted from Roarockit Skateboards. Good quality stuff.
www.roarockit.com

GLUES:
Personally, I use Titebond III, at most local hardware stores. Other favorites are Multibond Sk8 by Franklin (only industrially avaible in 5 gal pails) and epoxy. There are many others people use, but these are the most popular. See this thread if you would like to do something different (although it's not necessary, I actually found the glues mentioned on here rather unconventional)

http://www.silverfishlongboarding.co...ic.php?t=23773

FIBERGLASS:
WEAR A RESPIRATOR!!! IT'S ONLY 30 BUCKS AND THIS IS YOUR HEALTH WHICH STAYS WITH YOU FOR LIFE THAT YOU ARE PROTECTING!! Just be smart, although epoxy is so much greater than polyester, there is still a large respiratory danger to using it.

Fiberglass can have a steep learning curve, but with recent progression in materials it has become easier. First off, I would STRONGLY recommend buying EPOXY resin, not polyester. Polyester is messy, extremely toxic, and very, very dangerous.

That being said, it is in your best interest to spend some money in this section. Cheap resins can be dangerous and hard to use.(ie: Lowe's, Home Depot, etc.) Again, fiberglass is not necessary. You may want to look into other options such as adding more wood or shortening the wheel base if you desire a stronger board.

I would suggest buying from
www.resinresearch.net. They have very high quality stuff, made for surfboards, which requires very high quality materials.

For more stuff on fiberglass, see the other sticky in the forum on building fiberglass decks.



I will most likely add more stuff later.

[Greenamtern]

The Word Document cut and pasted here.
A few formatting errors (and probably typos), but here it is anyway.


Make sure you have trucks, wheels, bearings, and hardware before making your board so you can get riding right after it’s finished!

Materials
1. Birch Plywood
a. 6mm thick (5 layers)
b. Cut the wood along the grain
c. You will need two boards (a top and bottom layer)
2. Box of Cheap Wood Screws
a. w/ matching screwdriver
3. Cardboard/long printer paper for template
4. Flexible straightedge
a. Used as a drawing tool to aid in drawing smooth curves
5. Paintbrush for glue
6. Measuring cup for glue components
7. Weights
8. Pot for mixing glue
9. Sandpaper
10. Glue (any of the following in order of preference)
a. AERODUX aircraft wood glue (330 gr)
b. Polyurethane 2 component wood glue
c. Epoxy resin
11. Pencil
12. Waterproof markers
13. Polyurethane paint
14. Drills
15. Belt sander (or handheld block sander)
16. Polyurethane varnish

Creating the Design
1. Draw a shape template
a. Make a line straight down the length of the template
b. This will be used as a center line reference point
c. Draw a rough sketch of the shape of the board
d. Use your flexible straightedge to draw the shape
2. Carefully cut out the template
3. Draw a center line on the plywood
a. Draw on the better quality board (if applicable)
b. This will be the bottom plank
4. Trace the template using the centerlines as guidelines
5. Mirror the template to get a symmetric design

Preparing the Board
1. Drill holes all along the outside of the traced shape
2. Place the drilled plank on top of the untouched plank with the penciled-shape face up
3. Put weights on the board at around the 1/3 mark from the front to give it camber
4. Stand back and see if you are satisfied with the flex

Gluing the Board
1. Flip over the drilled plank and place next to the unmarked plank
2. Clean-off the to-be glued surfaces to prevent air bubbles
3. Mix the glue
4. Apply plenty of glue
5. Replace the drilled plank
a. Glue should ooze out of the holes
6. Drill-in one screw in the hole at the nose
7. Add weights again
8. Recheck the curve
9. When satisfied, add screws starting from the nose down to the tail
a. Glue should be oozing out
10. Tighten the screws
11. As you’re tightening the screws, the board should flex under the pressure
12. Check the curve one last time and leave the board to dry for 24 hours
13. Clean up; make sure you clean the blue off the brush

Cutting it Out
1. Check to see if the glue is set
2. Remove the screws
3. Cut out the board
a. Get the general shape without going past the lines
4. Use the sander to smooth out the edges and perfect the shape
a. To round the edges, draw a 3mm frame and sand towards there
5. Use fine sandpaper (p120 or p180) to get the board even smoother
6. Put one layer of varnish and let dry

Adding Graphics
1. Make sure the varnish is dry
2. Smooth out any rough areas with a sander (p600 or p800)
3. Draw a logo with the waterproof marker
4. Wipe off any dust and debris on the board
5. Apply second layer of varnish and let dry
6. Smooth out any rough areas with a sander (p1000 or p1200)
7. Paint the board
a. Leave a 2mm border along the edge of the board for a professional look
b. Remove any masking tape used to aid in painting before the paint dries
8. Let dry

Finishing Touches and Making the Board Ride-Worthy
1. Mark and drill holes for your trucks
a. Use the trucks as a guideline
2. Add trucks, bearings, wheels, and hardware and be on your way!

[noclue87]

Ok so I'm about to make the jig for a board with concave but i don't have any idea how much more i need to make the curve in my jig in order to get the desired results. I was talking to a friend about it and he said humidity was maybe a factor... Is this a lagitamate statement? Also is there like a general ratio that people go by to compensate for the "bounce back" after you take it out of the jig or is it just trail and error?

[ocean4632]

The Toothless method of longboard building intended to get people started. The instructions in its original form can be found with pictures and all at toothless.tk. Instructions for more elaborate methods and board designs can also be found at the website.

The attachment is basically a non-proofread listing of instructions in Microsoft Word formatting. Be sure to visit the Toothless website for things I may have missed.

real fast...i understood just about everything there...but i have been watching youtube vids on how to do this as well and although some of the materials were different i figure they work the same or better...but one thing i did not see was the drilling holes on outline of board to use while glueing...i just saw people use clamp all along the board...but if this method is better is there a vid tutorial on it? oh and when you put the bend in the board, ive seen people try to get a center of balance, some people just want the apex of the curve in the middle and others want it more frontward..is there a general curve or is it different per person?

[skaterboy5]

The Toothless method of longboard building intended to get people started. The instructions in its original form can be found with pictures and all at toothless.tk. Instructions for more elaborate methods and board designs can also be found at the website.

The attachment is basically a non-proofread listing of instructions in Microsoft Word formatting. Be sure to visit the Toothless website for things I may have missed.

Hi

At skool this year we were told that we can build anything you wanted.
So i decied to make a longboard but i do not know how?
i would like to make a drop deck speedboard.

CAN ANYBODY HELP ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Daja Longboarding co.]

there are a million differant posts on the dimm press... read up on it and use that its the easyist beginner press. your tech teacher will prob tell you your wroung. say you talked to some pros and this is how they do it haha. 1/8 inch bb plywood 4 layers with titebond II or III and glass if you want to /can.

[crazyTERMINATR]

If u are just gluing wood and not fiberglass i recomment Titebond III, u can get a pretty good size bottle for under $10. its really strong and waterproof when dry.

[quiif]

i am a hundred percent positive this is a dumb question, but when you make a deck, why use 2 6 mm boards of plywood instead of just one 12 mm board?

[carvincam]

i am a hundred percent positive this is a dumb question, but when you make a deck, why use 2 6 mm boards of plywood instead of just one 12 mm board?

you use two because you can give the board concave and camber. when tou glue 2 pieces of wood together and put weight on it, this shifts the board underneath and when the glue dries it holds the curved shape. if you decide to use only one 12mm piece of wood, this makes the board flat and very boring to ride.

[APEXMONKEY]

starting a building project soon...
most longboards DO have fiberglass... but do i need to use fiberglass in the construction?
or can i just use a couple layers of maple?

[Big Mike]

starting a building project soon...
most longboards DO have fiberglass... but do i need to use fiberglass in the construction?
or can i just use a couple layers of maple?

Stick with wood for now, until you get the gist of the basics.

Fiberglass and other composites are incorporated to save weight/increase strength, but they are certainly not absolutely nessecary to make a rideable deck.

Search on this forum for "DIMM Press" or Google "Toothless longboard press". Next time I make a press it'll be a DIMM style, they're easily made from cheap, readily available materials...

[Primoo]

Hey I am trying to use the beginner TOOTHLESS method to make a board.
What size wood screws should I get? It doesnt specify
I cant find youtube videos, can you tell me what you searched to find it?

And I made a trip to home depot and the 3 glues recommended werent there. What alternative glues could I use?

Please get back to me soon I have a school project and this is part of it.
Thanks

[molden]

Hi,
Sorry if this is the wrong place for this question, but I just got a CNC machined baltic birch plywood deck that has no finish (no varnish). I was wondering what kind of varnish I should get and how I should go about applying it.

Then I am planning to make some griptape with sand and epoxy or polyurethane. Can I use the same product for the finish and for the griptape or do I need two different things?
Please share your wisdom, ppl, thanks!

[ilSWiSH]

Or do Shop in Junior High.

[bugleby]

ok im confused do you cut the shape out before or after you press the board i realize this is probably a dumb question.