First I bought a 5 foot by 5 foot sheet of 1/4" Baltic Birch plywood. The Baltic birch plywood is important because the interior layers are made of actual wood rather than compressed sawdust like other plywoods. This quarter inch thick sheet has 5 layers of wood (plies). I divided the sheet into seven sections 10 inches wide. 1 section was 5 feet long, 6 sections were 4'2" long.
To make the longboard strong enough to hold up my weight, I glued multiple sections face to face. My prototype board was 2 sections(10 plies thick). You can see I used C-clamps to keep the two sections together while the glue set. Also the weights in the middle are making a curve in the board which you can see below.
Here's the board blank all glued and curved! I glued the board into the curved form because it'll give the board more leeway when someone stands on it. The board will bend downward when someone stands on it and a really low dip is unwanted. You don't want the board to bottom out and scrape the road!
Next I drew a pattern for the board shape and traced it onto the wood.
Next, I waited for a nice day outside and cut the shape out. Also, I did a bunch of sanding.
After the shape was cut, I drilled holes to attach the hardware.
Once the hardware was fitted properly, I took it back off to stain, paint, and clear coat. Then on the top side before the final clear coat dried, I sprinkled loose sand onto the board. This will give it grip, so you're feet don't slide off. People usually use griptape on the top of their skateboards but I wanted to the wood and stripes to be visible.
What's this? More clamps? This is board #2! The prototype turned out too flexible/bouncy. Also, I didn't really like how the shape of the protoboard turned out. It was bulbous. So, on to fixing the problems I had with the first board. For board 2, I used three sections of wood(15 plies total!) for additional strength/firmness. As the picture shows, I bought more c-clamps too!
I did the same steps as above for the second board. This time I changed the shape of the board and I think this version is far more aesthetically pleasing. The curve of the nose is a bit rounder, it's less wide in the midsection, and the tail is slightly wider
Drilled holes for the hardware.
Gave this board a bit more thought regarding the art design. Applied two coats of stain for a darker wood tone. Then added an asymetrical and colorful paintjob. Also painted the underside of the board with a variation of what's on top(topside below, bottomside below that)
Ta-Da! My first completed and functional board! 49 inches long, 8 1/2 inches wide. Oz has requested I make her a board as well. After I make her a board, if I'm still interested in making more I plan to make a 5 footer!
