Reusing My Old Skateboard

Skateboard to Mini-cruiser

How It Began

I had been skateboarding for a bit over a year but as the only place I really ever skated on was a small strip of concrete 'round the back of my house, I obviously never got good at it.

One thing I always did like though was to not try and break yourself by endlessly attempting 'radical manouvers' but to just ride, to enjoy the feeling of rolling around. It wasn't too long until I discovered longboards, a variation of the skateboard that is used for general travelling around and going down hills...fast. 

Time went on and one day I decided I would get myself a longboard, so I saved up for it, found the cheapest one I could find and bought it. Along with a friend, I would cruise along the road, occasionally do some hill bombing and experience some of the scariest and most breath-taking moments of my life.

Although my longboard was great for long straights and hills, I felt I needed something for going around the town and going between the sofa and the fridge. My old skateboard would have been great but it was pretty beaten up, just standing on it would make it sound like it were from some horror movie.

After taking the decision that I would remodel, renew and reuse my old skateboard, I set of on a long Internet journey to find guides, instructions, inspiration, ideas and anything I could to help myself with my project. I drew out several pages of ideas for the deck shape and narrowed them down to the one I wanted. I decided that the more common design would be best, it has no nose and a thinner, slicker tail. 

The Fun Part

 I looked up about all the parts I was going to need and and made a template that fit over my skateboard so I could ride it around and perfect my design. After all the earlier jumping up and down trying to do tricks, the bushings and kingpins from inside the trucks had been practically destroyed so I needed to swap them. One day, while out shopping, I wondered into a skate shop and came across the parts I needed. I also had to buy a new grip tape because my last one was full of bubbles, holes and rips from when it had been forgotten out in the rain and when it would fall on stones halfway through a kick flip, plus I couldnt cut out the deck with the grip tape still on it so I would have to replace it anyway. When I got home I cleaned up the trucks and replaced the parts. I was very pleased with my accomplishment. Now the only thing left to do was to cut out the deck. I already knew exactly what shape I wanted but I didn't have the saw needed to do it. 

It took a little while to find one but I finally discovered that a friend of mine actually had a jigsaw (the type of saw i needed to cut the wood). He happily lent it to me so I very soon got to work with it. A good tip I had seen on the Internet is to put masking tape on the skateboard so that you can draw the outline of your design and then follow it a couple millimetres out so you can have quite a precise cut and have plenty of space for sandpapering down afterwards.

 



















After a few hours of sandpapering it felt smooth enough, I was actually surprised with what I had accomplished and with the time it took me. I honestly thought that I would have done a not very good job and that it would have taken me a whole day at the least. After I finished cutting it, I put on the new grip tape and screwed on the trucks and wheels. At last, it was done, i had completed my project.

I thought it was cooler to not paint it because it would show others and remind myself that it was once just a normal skateboard but has now become a product of my creativity and hard work.

I plan to one day buy a better set of wheel bearings and wheels but for now I'm very happy with my cruiser. It does take a while to get used to not having a nose but I can still manual and ollie with it. It's great for just going on the pavement and weaving in and out between obstacles and always gives me a sense of pride and accomplishment when I remember what I did to it and how it turned out.