How to Make a Skimboard

I've always wanted to go skimboarding I didn't feel like dropping a hundred dollars on a new board so I just decided to make my own all right so the first thing I did was make a template I ripped out a couple big pieces of paper taped them together folded it in half and then trace the outline of what I wanted the board to look like note that I was only drawing half so that it would be symmetrical in regards to the size of your specific board I would recommend doing some research it really depends on your height weight and level of skimboarding experience I then cut the template out and this is what it looked like I then transferred the design to a half inch piece of plywood I got at Lowe's I actually had to sketch the tail on the wood because my template wasn't big enough then I darkened the line now it was time to cut for this I used a jigsaw and I just want to say I do not recommend doing this with a broken arm I saw dust-filled cast is not one of the most comfortable things you can wear I just followed the outline with the jigsaw until the entire board had been cut out then I used a 60 grit pad on a sander to fix any imperfections in the shape of the board I use the same grit to round out the top edge of the skin board the edge of the skin board is called a rail and different shapes have different properties I would recommend doing some of your own research but if you're new to skimboarding rounding the top edge is probably good enough here you can see that I'm tilting the sander side-to-side and also moving it forwards and backwards if you have a rotary tool like a dremel that would be a much better tool for doing this after sanding the next step was adding rocker to the board for those of you who don't know rocker is the curvature of the board from the nose to the tail I soaked the front one-third of the board in water overnight after I had soaked for a day it was time to bend it I set up three sawhorses with one that was taller than the other two I wanted the front nose to be 2 inches higher than the rest of the board with a gradual increase across one the lengths to accomplish this I put the nose of the skim board on the taller sawhorse and then put a bucket of rocks on the point where I wanted the bend to start as you can see I put a piece of styrofoam underneath this bucket so it wouldn't dent the wood I put a board underneath the back of the skim board to make sure that part stayed flat while the front was bent once again you're probably gonna have to do some research into how much rocker and what type you want on your board I would recommend profiting the nose up slightly more than you actually want because you will lose some of the bend when the wood dries when my board was completely dry I sanded it down by hand I mainly used 120 grit I wanted the top edge to be completely rounded and smooth and the hand sanding allowed me to achieve this the next step was filling any holes or dents in the wood with wood putty this was then sanded down for a nice smooth finish before I could perceive staining the board I had to wipe all the sawdust off the next step was priming the wood for staining I used a rag to wipe down the board with a wood primer for stain I went with a Minwax honey oak gel stain after mixing this up I coated one side of the board with it after about 15 minutes I wiped off any excess as you can see it really brought out the grain in the wood now for a design I decided to use munchkin robot because well free advertisement I took one of the pictures I have of munchkin robot and used a website to convert it to a PDF this PDF was imprinted as a poster on multiple pieces of paper I then taped the pieces of paper together and we were ready to go after properly positioning the design on the bottom of my board I used a box cutter to cut out all the individual components of the picture this created small scratches in the wood that I could then trace with a sharpie not only that but it allowed me to see what I had already traced I found that this method was a very effective way to transfer the design to the wood the next step was filling in the outline to do this I use some cheap acrylic paints that were approved for outdoor use I also bought a bunch of paintbrushes for the different shapes that I would have to fill in in addition I used a paint pen to darken the outline when the paint was dry I decided to coat the board with the exterior spar urethane however I wouldn't recommend using this for your board and you'll see why in a minute using a pure bristle brush I coated one side of the board at a time when you do this make sure to apply it in the direction of the grain and also wipe up any excess that might drip down to the other side once that side was dry I flipped it over into the other side before putting another coat on I used a 320 grit sanding block to sand down both sides two more coats of polyurethane were applied to each side of the board and I sanded it down between each coating the reason I say not uses polyurethane is that when I actually tried it in the ocean they got completely scratched and scraped up on the bottom if you plan on using this in places where there are no rocks and seashells it should be fine but otherwise I would recommend trying another product I found it's called Epiphanes clear varnish it's a super high-quality tung oil marine spar varnish it's supposed to look great and be really durable so I think it would be good for a project like this based on what I've read about it so far if I could I'd go back in time and use it to finish my board back to the board building process at this point I was done with the board and I got to say despite the scratches I'm incredibly pleased with the final product it's hard to believe it started out as a piece of plywood all in all I would say the board cost about $40 to make that's a lot cheaper than when it cost to buy wood now onto actually trying the board I bought some surf wax at a local store and used it to make the top of the board grippy if you like me are just starting out with skimboarding trust me when I say your first couple tries are not going to be pretty however I soon found myself getting much better and I was quickly cruising right across the sand now just a couple tips when you try to get onto the board after you throw it go on one foot at a time starting with your front foot also make sure your back foot is right up against the back edge of the board and that's it this has been a munchkin robot how-to video thanks for watching I'll see you in the next one also remember to Like subscribe and share with anyone who you think would find this interesting you

Channel: Brendan Chapuis

Views: 275,561

Rating: 4.859076 out of 5

Keywords: skimboard, how to make a skimboard, diy, tutorial, how to, MunchkinRobot, diy skimboard, make a skimboard, woodworking, summer, beach, ocean, water, sports, wood, how to make a wooden skimboard

Id: cYJobYvqjlU

Length: 7min 57sec (477 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 30 2016