My Red Oak Longboard

by smileys

4.4K1614

Intro: My Red Oak Longboard

Decided to make a solid red oak board, needless to say it has NO flex, which I kind of like. It is a solid board and a bit on the heavy side, but it has a really smooth ride. All in all I think it is a great board. Also I did all the work on the board including the pattern, cutting, planing, sanding, staining, etc.

I went with red oak because of the look (I wanted to see a prominent wood grain, and the color of the wood), the lack of flex as flex boards make me very uncomfortable, and durability. As for the pattern on the back I intend to, at one point, paint the inside of the Fleur De Lis gold as I am a saints fan(hence the inspiration of my design).

Wheels are 75mm 80a Orangatang Durians with Redz bearings

Trucks are Randal's 180MM, 50 Deg.

Board is 39.5" long.



14 Comments

ultranewt 11 years ago

I'm making something like this, but i gotta know. how thick is it? And how thin has it gotta be to get some flex?

smileys 11 years ago

so this is pretty thick, 3/4 inch to be exact. 1/2 inch would have flex, but before buying trucks, wheels etc. I highly recommend propping the 1/2" board on 2 pieces of 2x4's(about where you want to put trucks) and jumping on the middle of the board to insure it will not break.

Also finding 1/2 inch thick red oak boards is hard, and pay close attention to the wood grain. If you look at the end of the board you will see the grain, make sure it looks kind of like this:

/ / // // // ////\\\\ \ \\ \\ \\\ \ \

and not like:

//// ////// ////// // // //// // // / / / /

LiftAndLove 11 years ago

Awesome job! In my shop class right now I'm making a long board. It has an oak core, then two stripes of walnut, then oak, then wide pieces of walnut. Gonna use an expensive epoxy on it tomorrow, and hopefully post some pics.

smileys 11 years ago

Sounds pretty awesome can't wait too see it!

LiftAndLove 11 years ago

All done with trucks on, just gotta find a cam!

smileys 11 years ago

Pretty neat, sounds like you put a lot of work into it.

LiftAndLove 11 years ago

Me and my best friend just unclamped it after letting the glue dry. We used Titebond III and it is amazingly strong. Ran it through the planer about 30 times and its flat and smooth. Gotta run in through a few more times to get it smaller, but it's coming along! Next week I'll plane it more, cut it, drill the truck holes, and maybe wood-burn the design in the bottom!

LiftAndLove 11 years ago

And plus my shop teacher flaked on our class and quit, so the sub got glue. That's why it took so long.

Jay-DOG 11 years ago

HEy thanks for answering smileys!! Nice advice you are giving me here :)

Ok so since this is my first board (I made some mistakes of course, lol) My widest part of the board is about 1/3 away from tail (not nose... I was totally a begginner when I was making this so that is why I accidently made that mistake)

Anyways I do know how to skate (not an expert lol) I have like a semi-longboard (if that is what you call it). It´s a very fat board and about 33¨...
The board I bought have risers in the trucks as well as notches.

The one I am making now does not have notches so I am just going to get some risers for the trucks... And also I normally have my trucks rather tight than loose so I will be fine with this wheel bite...

And finally, do you recommend me going to a local store to buy a pair of trucks and wheels or to rather buy them online? How big should they be? Like 76 mm? I have seen a large variety of prices but I am looking in the range of $30-60...

Thanks again for answering :)

Jay-DOG 11 years ago

hey smileys, looks like a very nice longboard you made there! Looks pretty awesome...
I am making one right now (my 1st one). I already have the deck cut out, but now I worry about my trucks and wheels.

My deck is very similar to yours. Nose and tail width are about 9 1/2" thick. I am kind of confused on where should I put the trucks. where should I drill? How far from nose and tail? And how wide are trucks normally? Do you think deck is going to touch wheels when I turn?

Please reply and thanks for making this sweet tutorial :)

smileys 11 years ago

I can answer some of your questions, but it might be a good idea to find a good local skate shop in your area. They will not only be able to sell you the correct trucks, wheels, nuts and bolts, etc. but they should be able to give you decent advice.

As for the truck placement, if your board is truly a pin tail like mine (fatter nose skinnier tail) you will want the trucks on the nose closer to the tip of the board as the ones on the tail can be further in.

see this image-
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_42Ez0bRTcnA/TGDTb0UY45I/AAAAAAAADds/K7mOM-10HTA/s320/pintail_longboard.jpg

As for where to drill, once you have picked out your trucks, go to the truck manufacturer's site and look for drop down/through templates for your trucks, there will be drill hole markings

here is the link to my trucks template IT MAY NOT BE THE SAME FOR YOUR TRUCKS THOUGH!

http://www.randal.com/pdfs/r2template.pdf

Note the drill holes are all you will need to really worry about, unless you make it a drop through.

When you put the trucks on be sure the "king pins" point away from the center of the board, this is very important if you want to turn, which you will.

see,
http://img489.imageshack.us/img489/2236/truckdiagramyg2.jpg

For your last question about the wheels touching your board,

This is a VERY good question, what you are referring to is called "Wheel bite" and can easily cause wipe outs (wheels touch board, board stops, you don't), luckily there are plenty of ways to avoid wheel bite. you can cut notches in your board where the wheels would normally come into contact with the board, and you can add what are called risers. Risers are just little pads you can sandwich in between the trucks and the board thus making the wheels further away from your board.

Also not all boards have have issues with wheel bite(mine for example), and it really only happens when turning sharply, or carving sharply

Also if you are new to long boarding I recommend buying some knee, elbow, and wrist pads for the learning process, for you will most likely have a few wipe outs. I personally had a pretty good one when first learning, and regret not wearing all my safety gear. AND ALWAYS WEAR A HELMET!!!