You guys will have to excuse me but I've been out of skateboarding for 10 years.
Why have so many company's gone to heat transfers? Also do any companies use stained wood as well?
I went to a local skate shop and everything seemed to painted and heat transferred, they reminded me of crappy Powell Peralta bonite boards.
if you do a china lazer print. its full color. its cheap.. theres that.
you can screen print onto a transfer sheet, then transfer the paint via the heat. it give you the same effect as straight screen printing onto the board. but you get to screen onto a flat surface, so you get a more consistant transfer. the screen and transfer technic give you radicially different final product then CMYK lazer prints.
and last time i was in a shop.. sunday.. most of the boards had A LOT of stained layers.
for example.. heres a board from my small company. with stained wood. and single color screen print.
but yes, lot of companies now use CMYK lazer prints. its cheaper and you get all the colors.