First Board building experience, help!

[midnite-cruiser]

Hey good people, im going to make my first board here soon and ive got the process basically figured out but i want you guys to approve of it just so im not doing anything wrong.

Basically im just going for a 60'' cruiser for boardwalking and cruising the flats.

Im making it out of 3/4inch baltic birch.

Basically im going to cut the wood down to 9.5'' wide

Then ill draw the shape of the board on the wood(the part that worries me the most because i dont know how im going to make it perfect)

Then cut the shape out, sand down the edges to make them round.

Then ill paint the board how ill stain the board (maybe do some designs with the stain).

THen ill apply 3 layers of some water-based polyurethane to protect the paint and surface of the wood.

Then its time to drill the holes for the hardware/trucks. I have a drill press and all so that shouldnt be too hard, im just going to have to make sure i have the holes lines up perfectly so both trucks are perfectly centered with eachother and my board doesnt ride funny . Any suggestions?

Then i sappose its just a question on what trucks and wheels to go with...

Im thinking Gravity Fu manchus (76mm 80a) for some nice big soft wheels that will roll over everything and maintain speed their speed whell.

As for trucks im thinking randal IIs or maybe some revenge trucks, i hear they are great for helping big boards become carvers.

Does this process seem like it will produce a decent board for a summer cruiser?

This is the process Adam Colton used to make his big boards before he started riding LBLs, so big thanks to him for the info on building a board.

any input?

[weasel on fire]

as far as cutting it out youve got it about right but i would cut the blank to a bit wider than you want and then cut from there, what you forgot was after you cut it out you need to sand the edges and bottom, if the bottom needs it, and for keeping youtr trucks on center i would draw on a centerline and line them up with that, also you can use nce side of your ut to trace the other side out so you can keep them the same

revenge trucks rock but are kinda tall so they take some getting used to but for a big board they are my choice

[midnite-cruiser]

thanks for the input, yeah im leaning more towards revenges than randalls right now.

Ive got a lot of input from the SF live chat, so im basically set on how im going to do this, i have a lot more confidence now.

Its more of just truck/wheel decisions i guess. How do those revenges handle the medium hills? Can you still do some fun drop knee carving and what not? im worried they are going to be super floppy.

And would those Fu Manchus be a good choice for the super cruiser, 80a is soft enough to make the ride smooth right?

[weasel on fire]

yeah they are good wheels for that, you may want to choose something with a bit wider contact patch, and those trucks are perfect for medium hills its the bigger ones that are challenging, but those wheels wont get any bite with those trucks, unrisered, just dont go any bigger, if you can get some of the yellow ones for cheap its a good idea, if not then i would suggest something like the flashbacks, or gumballs, maybe some of the new abec 11 line, the zigziags, just nothing harder than about 81a

[midnite-cruiser]

sounds good, ill keep an eye out for those funky fu's or maybe go with some gumballs(i just dislike the green color they come in)

alright well i dont do any super big hills and the medium hills i do i usually try to carve most of the time anyway so revenges should be straight, Im just worried since they are taller and all, im worried they are gunna be a pain in the ass to push since they are tall and also might want to turn any which way when i push, but i dont know.

I wish there was some video i could watch on people riding revenges on big boards, like there are for randalls and what not.

thanks again weasel

[danzas]

you might want to drill the truck holes before applying the varnish. this way you can get rid of the line drawn on to help get everything straight.
show us some pics when you're done

[Loki440]

you might want to drill the truck holes before applying the varnish. this way you can get rid of the line drawn on to help get everything straight.
show us some pics when you're done

i was just about to say the exact same thing, except for the reason that you can effectivelly seal the wood buy putting some clearcoat into the bolt holes, which the wood sucks up, then just redrill afterwards, and it remains relatively sealed

[Longbord1]

id go with avilas. that is what im using and they are super squishy