Skateboard Charcuterie

Meet the latest trend in skateboard snacking, the charcuterie skateboard.

Made entirely from a single skateboard and 4 skateboard wheels. Basically it is not much more then a 4 wheels glued to the bottom of the deck. However, to get a nice cheese board it will take you a bit more effort then that. So read on to get yourself a nice skateboard to enjoy with a nice charcuterie, cheese platter or whatever other snack plate you desire.

Step 1: Materials & Tools

Materials:

• Old skateboard
• Paint
• Glue (I used construction adhesive)

Tools:

• Optional: heat gun
• Sander + sandpaper
• Paint brushes

Step 2: Disassemble, Prepare for Paint.

I started of with separate skateboard parts, so I didn't need to do any disassembly. But in case you do start with an assembled board, this is the time to disassemble it.

Deck:

We want to have a nice finish on the board, therefor we need to get the deck to the bare wood.

1. Start by removing the grip tape, this is easier when you heat it with a hair dryer. The heat will soften the glue and will make the removal a lot easier.
2. (Hand) Sand the skateboard, start with 60 and work your way up to at least 240 going through the grids. Due to all the double curves of most boards I suggest to use hand sanding for this.
3. Optional: Fill the mounting holes for the trunk with wood filler and sand them flush.

Wheels:

The wheels should be quite dirty from all the travel. To get a fancy finish, we will paint the wheels at a later stage.

1. Remove the bearings.
2. Wash the wheels properly to remove any dirt, grease, etc.
3. Sand the entire surface for the paint to have a better grip.

Trunks:

In this build I didn't end up using the trunk. But there are no rules here, so use them however you like. If you use them, this would be the perfect time to clean those as well.

Tip:

• In between grids, mark your surface with a pencil. You know you sanded everything properly once the pencil marks are not visible anymore. I'd recommend this Instructable for more on proper sanding.

Step 3: Paint & Decorate

Yes, the fun part. Skateboard are often made of colored layers of veneers, but more often non-colored layers are used. This means after sanding they are wood color. I didn't like the light color of the wood, so I stained the wood to give it more of an oak color. Furthermore I find using acrylics on a layer of polyurethane works better then directly on wood. So that's what I did. Do a light sand between layers.

The top of the skateboard was left 'blank', so the food on top of it is in the middle of the attention. The bottom however got a fancy food (charcuterie) overhaul. And what is a skateboard without a good bottom design? We had a couple of options to put on it. We made some sketches and finally we settled on an angled charcuterie plate filled with all kind of goodies.

We took the following steps to transfer the design to the skateboard:

1. Design the art on a piece of paper (or on the computer).
2. Transfer the design to the skateboard. You can use transfer paper, but we didn't remember where we put it. So we cut out parts of the design and traced them that way. Some of the details were filled in by hand.
3. Paint the design.
4. Optionally: Outline the design using permanent marker.

Once the design was finished we added another coat of clear semi-gloss polyurethane to protect the drawing.

Tip:

Test the combination of the paints you want to use before you apply them. Otherwise your artwork might just be ruined.

Idea:

If your skateboard has colored veneers, use these to your advantage. Use the color in your drawing, of sand away some wood to reveal a second color and create an artwork based on the ply-layers.

Step 4: Add the Wheels

Almost done, time to add the wheel. Since the skateboard is curved / angled, we need to add this to the wheels to make them flush on the table. I used a disc sander to get is as good as possible. However those wheels are everything but nice to sand. So take your time and keep te wheels from getting to hot or it will melt rather then sand. (I learned this the hard way.)

To give the board a fancy look, I painted the wheels a metallic bronze with acrylic paints. Again I put a protective polyurethane coating in top, the same as for the board itself. Once done painting, glue them to the board using a good glue, I used a construction adhesive for this. On the bottom of the wheels 3D printed hubs are inserted in the wheel. They are designed such that they don't protrude the wheels. I added felt to the hubs, these stick out, so the skateboard stands on the felt.

Step 5: Make a Charcuterie

If I take a look at my wife and myself this plate is about big enough for the two of us for a nice lunch. I've added some pictures of the finished skateboard to this step. Off course I added a filled snack plate as well, just to inspire you to have a nice meal together with your loved ones. (Yes it's just staged, in the evening, when we had this plate, it would be too dark for a good picture with my picture taking skills)

ENJOY!!