Hey guys I know this really isn't the site to post this but we're all board riders and I was gonna build a hamboard (its a 7ft piece of shaped plywood that looks like a longboard but have trucks and wheels) if you guys have any advice on what wood to use? What thickness? I was gonna make it 7 feet by about 16-17 inches wide and about 3/4 inches thick.
3/4" atleast depending on wood you use, maybe just use some pine or somnething cheap for your first one, then use some oak or something when you have a good idea of the whole thing.
Yeah I was just gonna use a cheap piece of pine and shape it with a circular saw and a router bit and lots of sand paper and some of that clear tacky gloss for grip tape or just go over to zumiez and get them to do it
routers are no joke, respect your tool and it will respect you. it has nearly taken off my fingers a few times.
plywood will not work, it will bow in the middle from being so long and not be strong enough an if you go with super thick wood its going to weight a ton and not have much flex when turning and carving. plus and moisture is going to get in it and warp the wood
Use plywood but put a couple 1" edge grain stringers on the bottom to stiffen it up. Or you could get some solid maple, shape it and laminate it edge grain vertical and be able to get away with a 1" thick solid wood board. How much fun do you want to have?
I'm talking about how you orient the wood. You see, wood is stronger in some directions than it is in others--it has to do with how the grain is oriented. Read this, it's the best explanation I found that puts it in terms easy to understand. http://www.zimbio.com/Woodworking/articles/48/Reading+understanding+wood+grain
Back when was skateboarding a long tme ago I know boards where 7 ply laminated decks. They use a hydraulic press to laminate them so obviously you cannot do that but you could try to mimick this by using a car. I would not use a solid piece of wood because that wil most likely break. Plywood is durable and preferable because the layers of wood are put together in an alternating pattern so you do not have all the grain of the deck in the same direction which will give it strength. If I were you I would use 1/2" plywood or maybe even 3/4" (but that seems like overkill) and get some 6 oz fiberglass cloth and epoxy resin. If you put two layers of 6 oz cloth on both sides of the board it will be moisture tight and extremely strong. It will flex in the middle but I do not think it will break. You could always reinforce it lengthwise with a flat 1" wide piece ofsteel readily available at Home depot.
I think your main problem will be with the deck flexing too much and rubbing the ground in the middle. 7 feet is a lot of room for flex between the trucks. I think you should stay away from plywood and look into some other sturdier options.
