Help me out!

[Steve Ignorant]

Okay guys. I've got a sheet of 5x5 baltic birch wood, 1/4 of an inch. Here's what's going on so far.

I've cut out three 10'' wide, 60'' long planks from it. I'm thinking it'll be 3/4 of an inch thick altogether, I weigh about 165 pounds but I'm wanting a small bit of flex.

THE PLAN:

I'm going to draw a basic oval shape into a template with cardboard/paper, cut it out, and then draw it onto one plank. I'm going to drill holes all around it a la the toothless screw-press guide. Then, I'm going to stack the three planks on top of each other with a small amount of weight to give slight camber. Once that's set in, I'm going to put Gorilla glue underneath the template plank, on top and bottom of the middle plank, and on the top of the bottom plank. Then I'm going to drill the screws in from the nose all the way to the tail. Once this is done, I'm going to leave it hanging with the weights for a day or two, and then come back and clean off the Gorilla Glue, remove it from the suspension, and cut out the shape. Since I'm awful with a jigsaw, I'm going to cut it about 8.5-9 inches wide, and then sand it down to about 8.3-8.4 inches wide to be sure it's even. Then I'm going to varnish the whole thing with polyurethane varnish, clean it off, sand it smooth again, and then apply one more coat of varnish. I'll then play around with paint after that.

Does this sound like a decent plan?

I'm also wondering if I need wheel wells, how would I go about making them? Thanks a lot, I'm excited to make my first board. If this goes well, I might try my hand at making a mini.

[User Name:]

sounds like it should work wonderfully. I made a board with 3 plys of 1/4" on a 34" wheel base but it had a bit much flex for me (245 lbs) but you should be good at that length at 160. As for the wheel wells it really depends on the shape I suppose. I have 852 grizzlys with no rise, loose red khiros, and (had) 70mm kryptos on with no wheel bite at all but I think the shape really dictates what you're gonna have to do. I'd say get it built and trucks mounted and ride it to see if it gets wheel bite without wells. Then if you need wells get either a belt sander, drum sander, or a round file and go to town.

good luck

[hoch92000]

At 160# you're going to need a WB of at least 42" to get some flex. Go with 2 plys for a shorter WB. A stiff cambered board sux. Ther rest of your plan sounds solid. Rock on. 10 by 60 slabs of BB are pretty much all I use.

I saw a nice thread on using a coke can with sand paper to make wheel wells http://www.silverfishlongboarding.co...eel-wells.html . Loosen the trucks to determine the wood/wheel contact point and angle. Or you could just use 1/4" risers instead. I use a router free hand to make wells.