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Have to disagree about Zero still being BBS - I had one in the spring that was definitely NOT BBS, and wasn't old Dwindle stock either. Apparently Clutch is getting a lot of business from brands that usually use BBS but are having issues with wait times (and I've heard they also got ex BBS staff). I've been keeping an eye on our Zero stock at the shop (we are loosely affiliated with the Canadian Zero dist), and they all seem to be from the same manufacturer since the spring at least. I recently rode a board that I know was pressed at Clutch - after that I have a pretty good eye for Clutch decks, and I'm about 90% sure that's what Zero boards are these days.
Don't get too hung up on the little divot punch by the truck holes - multiple woodshops do that. What you need to pay attention to is the routing of the edges, the dye colors, and the concave. Our Zero boards have very telltale routing that points to Clutch (inconsistent routing that leans more towards too much round over than too little), and the dyes also aren't reflective of BBS stock. Clutch's orange is pretty identifiable. I noticed Theories has switched to Clutch as well, at least all the last shipment we got was Clutch.
Re Zero decks - interesting!
That top stamp (not the dot) but the size as per the blue pic from the Zero board post looks just like the tops of Baker Boys distro boards, eg of boards I have from Baker, Deathwish, Birdhouse they are all the same stamp, so just wondering if your boards you have seen have that as well.
The one Clutch board I have (that I know for certain) feels almost like BBS but has steeper concave / kicks than BBS, others I have seen but not skated had very mellow and almost identical mold to BBS, but I also heard with different presses there are different concave options too, same as a lot of woodshops. My Clutch board also has the V 8 or something like that, I know I had checked and found they are the tell for those boards as to the size, shape, etc.
Also their dye not so much but more the woodgrain - very pronounced wood grain on a lot of their boards, is what I found was more a tell as to their woodshop, which is hard to convey in simple pics on here, but I know some of their instagram pics have lots more detail that you can zoom in on.
*** Just went looking at Clutch Distribution / ASF Manufacturing seems like they don't have Instagram any more ***
^Those definitely look like Clutch from the pic - the round over on Clutch boards often goes through the dye a bit, as you can see in the edges of those brown boards. It's just not as solid and consistent as BBS routing.
Apparently, from what I've heard through different sources, Clutch intentionally makes molds similar to BBS for the very reason of courting BBS customers. I agree a lot of the common Clutch boards are steeper than the average BBS deck - and another tell for Clutch is that on those steep boards there's almost no flat space in the concave - it's a constant curve from edge to edge. Most visible when you put your trucks on via the space under the corners of your baseplates.
I think I know what you mean about the pronounced woodgrain - like they're ordering a different grade. The Zero's we have, and other Clutch boards I've seen, often have streaks of woodgrain that's a darker shade than the rest.
Stamping the shape code into the boards is something brands can ask to NOT have done, and I've seen Clutch decks with and without it.
I could take a photo of my orange Nonexistent deck that was Clutch, but between my camera, my computer, and your computers, who knows what shade you're really seeing. It's a darker shade than the most common BBS orange.
The reason I'm obsessing over this particular query is that I've been trying to pin down the characteristics of Clutch decks so I could identify them in the future. I finally had the chance to skate a deck that I know came from Clutch (the Nonexistent), and there were some obvious tells for me, so now it's easier for me to spot them in other brands stock. In Canada it seems like Zero went from BBS to Clutch sometime in 2020. That's just from inspecting the decks I've had access to. We sell a fair amount at the shop.