Introduction: How to Make Skateboard Guitar Picks

By Zebrano Wood Craft
About: I specialise in creating wooden rings and jewellery for customers all over the world as a professional Etsy seller. I also make videos sometimes, come check out my shop at: www.ZebranoWoodcraft.etsy.com Fin…

How to make skateboard guitar picks in a few simple steps! This is a cool beginner woodworking project and a great way to recycle skateboards that are broken or otherwise trashed.

In this Instructable I'll cover how to remove grip tape from the skateboard, cutting and laminating sections and making a functional guitar pick.

Although there is no sound comparison in the video, wooden guitar picks produce a warmer sound than plastic picks and are great for acoustic playing. I don't think they'd stand up to the demands of a thrash metal guitarist but they work well and make cool gifts!

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Step 1: Tools & Materials List

Want to make your own? I've included Ebay links to a few of the tools and materials I used below to help you.

*Please note that I am a member of the Ebay partner network so if you click through one of my links and make a purchase on the site that day then I receive a small reward. This does not effect the amount you pay in any way and is just a way that you can help support me to make more videos!

Gorilla glue:

Ebay USA: http://ebay.to/2ji0mAh

Ebay UK: http://ebay.to/2ji0mAh

Bench bandsaw

Ebay USA: http://ebay.to/2is9jqH

Ebay UK: http://ebay.to/2is9jqH

Wood lathe

Ebay USA: http://ebay.to/2i3zkA8

Ebay UK: http://ebay.to/2i3zkA8

Clamps (you can never have enough clamps!)

Ebay USA: http://ebay.to/2iA3Dgw

Ebay UK: http://ebay.to/2iA3Dgw

You'll also need basic workshop stuff like sandpaper and pencils. I'm sure I've missed some stuff but we'll pick those up as we go along.

Step 2: Removing Griptape From the Skateboard

To begin I removed the hardware and grip tape from a broken skateboard which was easily the most tedious part of the process.

I used a hair dryer to heat up a portion of the grip tape to soften up the adhesive. I was then able to work a razor blade under the grip tape to peel it off.

First I started with the edges and then worked on peeling off the rest. I had a few rips but I just did my best with the hair dryer and razor to strip the grip tape off.

Step 3: Cutting Sections of Skateboard

Next I moved over to the band saw to cut the skateboard down. After cutting away the parts of the deck that I didn't need I set up the fence on my bandsaw so I could slice the board down into 35mm sections.

I cut 8 sections from the center of the deck so the shape of each slice would be similar. This made the glue up easier as they would all fit together seamlessly.

Step 4: Laminating

My adhesive of choice was Gorrilla Glue as it is seriously strong and expands to three times it's volume to fill any gaps.

I simply applied a generous amount of glue to each section, smoothed it out so that I had even coverage and then placed the next section on top.

I repeated this until all of the sections of deck were glued and then I clamped them up over night.

Step 5: Cutting Out a Guitar Pick Shape

Ok so I realise that the skateboards have miraculously changed colour and that is because I preferred these colours for this particular project.

So all I did was clean up the glued blank on the bandsaw and cut out a 3mm slice. Then I traced the outline of a guitar pick on to my new smaller blank.

I moved back over to the bandsaw to cut out the shape of my guitar pick (being extra careful not to chop off my fingers in the process).

Step 6: Sanding the Guitar Pick

To clean up the edges and faces of my guitar pick I just used my bench sander. This could just as easily be done by hand with sand paper but I just used the sanding disk for speed.

I used quite a fine grit here and was extra careful not to hurt my fingers. Be careful if you try this approach.

Then I simply finished up the sanding with a few grits of sandpaper, working through progressively finer grits. I just cleaned up the faces and rounded off the edges and when it was nice and smooth I applied a little bit of beeswax.

I rubbed a few coats of wax in, shined it up and job done.

Step 7: Job Done - Stay Tuned for More! (Sorry for the Bad Pun)

So it turns out that making guitar picks with skateboards is a pretty cool project and a great way to recycle old decks.

I know I should probably do a sound test but honestly I don't have the best sound recording equipment so it wouldn't make a difference … and I can't play guitar!

Thanks very much for watching, if you'd like to support my channel you can:

Please feel free to leave questions in the comments section below and I'll get back to you within 24 hours!

See you in the next one!