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Skateboarding => Shoes & Gear => Topic started by: switchfakie on January 21, 2022, 04:22:57 PM
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so this past month, i purchased and skated my first (3x) globe (dwindle) boards. The first thing i noticed about it was that the 7 ply design felt noticeably thicker than any other board i've skated. Even the way it sounded when i tapped it with my knuckles sounded really weird to me. The first half of this month, I was skating alright with it, but i think that was because i was focusing on ledge tricks.
However, i started having problems when i started committing to learn nollie flips. Just being in that state i was doing a shit ton more flip tricks than usual and i noticed that shit just wasnt working the same. The pop sounded fucking weird and everything just started to feel awkward as fuck.
it all got to me when i focused my board for the first time in months the day before yesterday and I focused a second globe (dwindle) board today - i buy boards in triplets usually.
I'm super consistent with buying boards with similar lengths + wheelbases, so the only variable here was the wood. tin foil hat went up and i made my way to the slap woodshop thread and lo and behold, my whole life, i've pretty much only ever skated boards that came from bbs.
after i focused my board today i took a polar board & FA (bbs) from my stash and compared them to the third globe board i had left and sure enough there was a difference in thickness, sound, and even seemingly the hardness of the veneers (i think this has something to do with the water soluble glue vs dwindle's resin glue). I'm already annoyed that i have board madness for wheelbase, but now im upset because having woodshop madness is a whole level above that
anyways, tell me your story of how you became aware of the board differences between woodshops!
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ben degros
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For maybe the first 20+ years on a skateboard, I really had not much of an idea and the main consideration was the price.
Some shops I knew got a lot of seconds (some blank and some with graphics) so we would sort through them, standing on every board and buying up to ten at a time (bulk discount) of which ever decks felt the most comfortable, even though there was almost never the same size, shape or concave twice.
I do think they were simpler times, but I would also put some of the "bad skates" down to having a board that was not quite what I would want to skate.
Once I started figuring out which brands felt better and specifically sought out those boards, more so than just getting whatever I could afford, things got a whole lot easier and although I still had bad days, I knew that was me having a bad day and not my board causing me to have a bad day.
Been skating over 40 years now, so the last 20 with some product knowledge and a whole lot more interest in specific things has made me very conscious of what works for me and what doesn't. That is also not to say that what works for me will work for everyone, so I never try to make people get whatever I liked, when I worked in skate shop environments, but was more open to asking questions and giving them enough information to make an informed decision, usually resulting in them getting something they might not have thought of but almost always something they enjoyed skating.
It really gets me mad thinking of all the times I have been in a shop or somewhere and someone is telling kids or others what they should skate, based on their view of what works, especially if I know I have tried that product or combination and thought it was not so good, or didn't work at all for me.
Anyway, at the end of the day, if you can go in to whatever skate shops - yes any, no matter who, what or where - and stand on as many boards as you can to see what feels good and what might work for you. You don't have to buy from them, just work out board shapes, concave, kicks, etc which is a whole lot easier in person and often almost impossible online.
Then if you are so inclined, combine that with working out which woodshop they come from and what other brands, shapes, etc might work for you and go from there.
I still skate different boards just to see what they are like and still stand on almost too many boards in various places, but I most definitely have my favourites too, even down to making adjustments and changes to existing product just so they work exactly how I want them to.
I would never be 100% correct guessing what woodshop a whole stack of boards come from just by standing on them, but I could definitely tell you what would work for me and sort them in to different piles according to concave and feel without looking at them, which would almost equate to which woodshops they come from.
That is how I became aware of board differences between woodshops, purely from the feel of them under my feet.
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I started skating again 2 years ago and Ben Degros' videos definitely made me aware. It made me moreso aware of what to avoid (based on where I live, how I skate, what's available, etc). I skate control wood because it's the best and cheapest, but I too notice that BBS boards are way "skinnier" feeling than control boards. I feel like control boards are stiffer for longer and seem denser/slower to wear down as well, but the stiffness and weight messes with the board's feel a bit (Like Ben Degros mentioned in his tensor ATG video)
At this point Idrc about woodshop as long as it feels good and lasts long enough for me to get used to it. I dont really break boards anymore but im like 170lbs so it happens on 4+ stairs. To avoid that I usually stick to cheaper but thicker/stiffer options (control, resin7, sometimes BBS) so i can skate skatepark 5/6 stairs the entire time Im on a board.
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Gotta admit I'm not great at telling the difference/usually don't really care but it must of been around when quasi started I'd get those or fa and company like that boards which I think we're PS and the tails would always be flexy which I hated. I guess people hate overly stiff/cheap boards but it's what I prefer. Or whatever pass port uses
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The internet.
In analog consumer times I wasn't really too aware of the concept of brands using woodshops. As the likes of Powell Peralta and Santa Cruz did actually manufacture boards.
I was very aware of board differences very early on, though.
So whenever available and affordable (very often not), I've been sticking to certain brands that worked for me.
But, to be honest, I think my main concern was concave, kicks and width. Not too much the wood, as long as it wasn't obviously bad.
Speaking of bad wood+ the spark to true awareness:
I rode some shaped decks of a then new brand, about nearly a decade ago, which were bent and/or softened really fast. I did some research to avoid this bad woodshop in the future, which led me to this very forum.
So, thank you Professor for feeling Welcome!
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I met Paul Schmitt at my local shop on my birthday 18-19 years ago. I already sort of understood that brands used different wood shops and seemed to skate differently, but he told me some shit I wasn’t ready to hear. He gave me the college course while I was still in middle school. It’s a pretty cool/unique experience to have looking back
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Back when brands first started pressing their boards in China, I got a Poppalardo Chocolate board that got soggy FAST.
I was so stoked on that board too.
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pretty much from trying out decks from brands i think are cool on the slap woodshop directory thread.
for example: i like WKND’s graphics. i referred to the woodshop thread and saw PS Stix makes wknd’s decks. I noticed I never tried any PS boards, so I gave wknd decks a shot. I snapped the deck on like my 2nd or 3rd session with it. turns out I really don’t like PS decks and how bendy they can get. Prof Schmidt actually said in a 9 club podcast that theres actually an advantage to bendy decks if you prefer that feel, so I assume they’re manufactured to have some more bend than usual (I guess? just speaking from my experience here)
My favorite decks come from BBS Generator. BBS decks in my experience have always felt as rigid and stiff as they did on my the first day skating them.
Dwindle decks are my second favorite. They sogged out, but much much much later than PS boards have in my experience.
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Still oblivious to this day thank god
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Skating a Real Low Pro in 2011 after years of Enjois and shop boards
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First, I joined SLAP. Then, I skated my first deck made by Pennswood. Nothing's been the since same.
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Sometime in the early 90s. Learned about prime, Taylor dykema, and watson laminates while shooting the breeze with friends. Always tried to figure out which brands used which woodshops since. I would back certain brands but never touch their decks because I knew their decks wouldn't work for me.
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ben degros
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That one Transworld video with Dill and that guy who was just as annoying.
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I didn't know much about different woodshops until a couple years ago, but knew that different companies and shops pressed boards in different places.
Pretty early on in skating it was apparent to me that dlx brands were better wood/last longer than others. From 96-01 I had no real idea and skated whatever I could get my hands on, although some companies were one and done, Powell and Santa Cruz stood out in that regard. Power-Ply my ass...
I remember having some zoo, 5boro, Powell, NK, Santa Cruz, creature, girl, black label, aws, and eventually settled with with real/anti-hero/krooked boards because they lasted longer, snapped less frequently, and didn't get soggy.
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I discovered SLAP and gear awareness/madness began
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Everybody yelling about it on here.
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Ben Degros/Slap/My own pedantry
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I didn't know much about different woodshops until a couple years ago, but knew that different companies and shops pressed boards in different places.
Pretty early on in skating it was apparent to me that dlx brands were better wood/last longer than others. From 96-01 I had no real idea and skated whatever I could get my hands on, although some companies were one and done, Powell and Santa Cruz stood out in that regard. Power-Ply my ass...
I remember having some zoo, 5boro, Powell, NK, Santa Cruz, creature, girl, black label, aws, and eventually settled with with real/anti-hero/krooked boards because they lasted longer, snapped less frequently, and didn't get soggy.
It is amazing (or it isn't really when you think about it) but so many people I know have a similar view.
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I would back certain brands but never touch their decks because I knew their decks wouldn't work for me.
There are some awesome woodshops and brands out there, but as you said, they just don't work for you, which is about how I feel about quite a few really good brands over the years.
I would much rather ride a blank board that is exactly what I want, than have a brand that I think is great on a board I cannot skate, but when I try to explain that to some people, they just don't understand.
Slap certainly is good for that sort of thing though.
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My friend started up a little company, Merde (mid 2000s I think) and was getting boards from a few different woodshops. That was when I started paying attention. He had some Pennswood and South Central. Both really good at the time. For whatever reason, I can't skate South Central anymore. I'm slowly accepting I am too old to experiment much with equipment and best to stick to what I know.
Last non-BBS board I had was a Clutch. It was great while it lasted but mused out pretty quick. Same exp with PS Stix. Just can't do it. If I could get a mellow (#4 in the press) BBS every time I would.
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I think that World/Blind/101/Plan B/etc. being the same was my first taste.
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Expand Quote
I didn't know much about different woodshops until a couple years ago, but knew that different companies and shops pressed boards in different places.
Pretty early on in skating it was apparent to me that dlx brands were better wood/last longer than others. From 96-01 I had no real idea and skated whatever I could get my hands on, although some companies were one and done, Powell and Santa Cruz stood out in that regard. Power-Ply my ass...
I remember having some zoo, 5boro, Powell, NK, Santa Cruz, creature, girl, black label, aws, and eventually settled with with real/anti-hero/krooked boards because they lasted longer, snapped less frequently, and didn't get soggy.
It is amazing (or it isn't really when you think about it) but so many people I know have a similar view.
I don't really know if there's a difference, I mean I do, and there is, but case in point is this last deck skating now, a Real Full SE. It felt so right out the gate and kept feeling right that I'm still skating it a few months later. I hadn't skated any DLX products in the year or so that I've been skating again, and was going through decks pretty fast (partly because I don't need to skate a board til death anymore, partly because they stopped feeling good in 3-4 weeks of low impact skating).
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Working in a skate shop before there was internet.
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I remember having a terrible Enjoi in like 2004, went to my local and got a Krooked and fell in love immediately. The shop guy told me a little about DLX and basically how it was better than Dwindle. He basically told me to avoid all the Dwindle stuff because it'd all be generally the same. Coincidentally, they didn't stock any Dwindle stuff at their store.
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all I know is I skated a Deathwish that was soggy as a wet sponge off the rack
Although Creature was DSM they always felt really good to me compared to other dsm, although friends have said their recent ones were not as strong. old ones were heavy but sturdy and lasted forever)
Best board I ever had was a fugly plan B
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Also when Polar and 917 hit they were both PS Stix so mid-2010s when I would skate them in between the worst Antihero and Baker graphics of all time (gotten a lot better lately... thank god for Mike Gigliotti and Spanky), I'd notice a bit of a difference. And I remember when they went BBS and being stoked....
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Going from a DLX deck to a crailtap deck, the two crailtap decks felt way more brittle and chipped like crazy, DLX and PS Stix had been consistent and far better for strength an quality in my experience
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Going from a DLX deck to a crailtap deck, the two crailtap decks felt way more brittle and chipped like crazy, DLX and PS Stix had been consistent and far better for strength an quality in my experience
for me it was going crailtap to dlx (BBS) the quality was night and day. the bbs was superior in every way. haven’t skated many ps stix so can’t really compare them to bbs
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I've got a scumco PSstix on ice and while I kinda wanna skate it, I'm pretty happy with the particular BBS shape I'm stocked up on. I don't know if I wanna sell it or save it so that when I'm old and shit I can show off a defunct company and say "remember this KT board?"
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Had been riding strictly BBS wood while being unaware of it for 2 years of skating, then i got a Foundation 8.25 deck. It seemed to pop so much better, and it was so much more responsive than anything else I had skated.
This feeling was amazing. I looked more into how and where skateboards are made and found the list of woodshops, which began my descent into the madness.
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ben degros
Who learned about wood shops from…..you guessed it….here…
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Trial and error for sure. I think everyone has their preferences, but I've skated more or less the same sizes/ dimensions for the past 7-8 years and you can definitely tell the difference between a good or cheap wood.
Worst for me is definitely Clutch. I weigh 140lbs and broke 2 skating knee high ledges in the same weekend, also just felt flat/lifeless from the beginning. Also skated many Palaces and a few Evisens (dwindle wood?) and the china-wood does indeed suck.
Best for me is PS Stix followed very marginally close by BBS/Generator.
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Had been riding strictly BBS wood while being unaware of it for 2 years of skating
I wouldn’t say I only skated BBS, but I noticed that certain decks lost their pop and felt soggy very quickly, while others stayed poppy until I wore them out one way or another. Then I started reading the woodshop thread and realized quickly that all the decks I hated were PS and all the decks I loved were BBS. Now I try to only buy BBS decks, which is easy because both of my local shops sell BBS shop decks.
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First time I stepped on a pennswood i knew i didnt like it. Then after skating chapman wood exclusively for almost 2 years i started to actually tell the difference between the rest. But pennswood was easy to tell, I tried to skate 2 this past year and literally just took them both apart in the first session.
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Had been riding strictly BBS wood while being unaware of it for 2 years of skating
I wouldn’t say I only skated BBS, but I noticed that certain decks lost their pop and felt soggy very quickly, while others stayed poppy until I wore them out one way or another. Then I started reading the woodshop thread and realized quickly that all the decks I hated were PS and all the decks I loved were BBS. Now I try to only buy BBS decks, which is easy because both of my local shops sell BBS shop decks.
How did those Globe decks go for you?
*** Not trying to be a dick, genuinely curious ***
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I rode PS Stix almost exclusively from 2002-2015 almost all AWS/Habitat, a few Elements, and a Toy and a Plan B. All unknowing there were even different woodshops. it wasn't until I got a recent Baker in like 2018 that I got on the BBS train. And the Hook Ups 8in shape is the perfect deck for me. Skinny and tapered at the nose and tail. Reminds me of the first deck I ever had, which was a Brigade deck, when Powell was all in on "Angel Boy" phase.