Woodshop Directory 2019 Thread

[palelight]

I’m currently skating one of the nasa boards and I’m pretty sure it’s PS. Has the laser etching and has the serial number or whatever that started with PS in the laser etching

Much appreciated.

I’ve had a mixed bag of Habitats from a couple series, I bought a few of the bobs burgers ones from the sale rack and those are PS. All the Harper series appear to be BBS and nasa are all PS. You can discern them pretty easily, PS have the seal between front bolt holes, not always a laser now it seems and BBS have a made in Mexico sticker in the same place

For sure. I'm just running the risk that if I order one through my local I'm going to end up getting a PS one, in which case I'd rather just pick up a Quasi or GX they already have on the rack and save everybody some time.

I do wish that at least one brand that used BBS exclusively offered that shape. I've got nothing against PS boards in theory, I just happen to skate decks for a long while and PS boards tend to get a bit shit quicker. And I really hate retiring a deck on account of sog. Feels like a waste.

[Paco Supreme]

What graphic/shape were you looking at, it’s pretty easy to find out which series is made by which wood shop

[palelight]

The 8.3 'World in Decline' team deck they have on the site right now. Zooming in, I can't make out a PS etching. The Nasa 8.3 shape is also on point (but PS as you pointed out).

[Paco Supreme]

If I had to guess just from looking, I’d say it’s PS, I have a ps habitat with that same top graphic. The Marius 8.375 with the sail boat on it is the same shape and dimensions, but I believe BBS, if you can find it

I skate the habitat 8.375 religiously

[palelight]

If I had to guess just from looking, I’d say it’s PS, I have a ps habitat with that same top graphic. The Marius 8.375 with the sail boat on it is the same shape and dimensions, but I believe BBS, if you can find it

I skate the habitat 8.375 religiously

Much appreciated! I'll be on the look out.

[ChasingCars]

Expand Quote

When you are there can you ask what concave molds they are using. I love Pennswood decks and I wish Scumco had stuck with them.

[close]

I actually ended up going with a friend who was buying his first board and got kinda wrapped up in that so I forgot to get measurements but I did chat with a guy at the shop who said the concave is a little different but pretty close to the older silver spoon/kiddie pool with the addition of a medium in-betweener concave to the line. Don't quote me on this as its totally a "friend of a friend said" kind of thing but what I was told is that Pennswood got the roof ripped off their building over the winter and was backed up on orders and that's why ScumCo went to control for this batch of decks.

I guess we'll see when the next batch drops if the move is permanent or if they'll go back to Pennswood or what, but I would definitely be sad to see ScumCo move away from Pennswood permanently since they have the Western PA connection. There's just something cool and beautiful about one the best and most creative small companies being able to get high quality wood from a small manufacturer that could theoretically just float their order down the Allegheny river to Pittsburgh like they used to do with timber.... actually that would be kinda cool to see even though it would ruin the boards.

So I ended up getting one of the Scumco boards pressed at Control. These are my impressions versus the ones pressed at Pennswood. First the decks seem to feel slightly lighter. I went with the medium concave and I would say it feels similar to a Primitive deck in both concave and kick angle. The nose of the deck appears to be slightly more blunt but that could be from moving up to an 8.5 from an 8. The pop on this board is decent and time will tell if that holds over the life of the deck. I do not feel like this deck has the same extreme pop that you get with a Pennswood deck. It doesn't feel soggy but the deck has quite a bit more flex than the Pennswood one, which has a good bit of age on it. It is a nice deck and I love the company but I may find another company that uses Pennswood for my next deck if Scumco decides to stay with Control. Or find a deck from South Central as they feel similar to Pennswood.

[Beeker]

If I had to guess just from looking, I’d say it’s PS, I have a ps habitat with that same top graphic. The Marius 8.375 with the sail boat on it is the same shape and dimensions, but I believe BBS, if you can find it

I skate the habitat 8.375 religiously

I would guess BBS on that just because of not having PS etching in the pics. I could be completely wrong. To your point on the top graphic since the Marius sailboat deck has a similar one I don't think that's a factor. I'm also a Habitat 8.375 guy. Three of the last four I've had have been PS and had the etch. Despite being basically the same shape they have a different feel than the BBS one, hard to even say what it is. I think it's just very minor shape/concave (maybe weight) difference. One of my PS was also hella warped, but I still skated it. BBS also has super high quality graphics/paint. I don't even really have a problem with PS wood (besides the warped one), but I did prefer the BBS deck I had. If that shape just had a LITTLE more concave I'd be even more in love with it.

[Paco Supreme]

in certain photos they crop out the bbs sticker or the ps laser seal. Habitats site do this and a lot of places just cherrypick their stock photo for their own websites.

Skatewarehouse take real product pics, Palelight, if you're real uneasy just ask the shop you intend to buy from if they'll take a photo of the top side of the board for you, i've had a few do this for me, usually they oblige and are pretty quick about it


Edit: As for the quality of a board from either maker, i'm currently skating a BBS made habitat instead of my usual PS Stix ones and theres a noticeable different of feel in this one, its stiffer and slightly rounder than its PS Stix cousin but the board feels like it could last 1000 sessions   

[TheBoognish]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

When you are there can you ask what concave molds they are using. I love Pennswood decks and I wish Scumco had stuck with them.

[close]

I actually ended up going with a friend who was buying his first board and got kinda wrapped up in that so I forgot to get measurements but I did chat with a guy at the shop who said the concave is a little different but pretty close to the older silver spoon/kiddie pool with the addition of a medium in-betweener concave to the line. Don't quote me on this as its totally a "friend of a friend said" kind of thing but what I was told is that Pennswood got the roof ripped off their building over the winter and was backed up on orders and that's why ScumCo went to control for this batch of decks.

I guess we'll see when the next batch drops if the move is permanent or if they'll go back to Pennswood or what, but I would definitely be sad to see ScumCo move away from Pennswood permanently since they have the Western PA connection. There's just something cool and beautiful about one the best and most creative small companies being able to get high quality wood from a small manufacturer that could theoretically just float their order down the Allegheny river to Pittsburgh like they used to do with timber.... actually that would be kinda cool to see even though it would ruin the boards.

[close]

So I ended up getting one of the Scumco boards pressed at Control. These are my impressions versus the ones pressed at Pennswood. First the decks seem to feel slightly lighter. I went with the medium concave and I would say it feels similar to a Primitive deck in both concave and kick angle. The nose of the deck appears to be slightly more blunt but that could be from moving up to an 8.5 from an 8. The pop on this board is decent and time will tell if that holds over the life of the deck. I do not feel like this deck has the same extreme pop that you get with a Pennswood deck. It doesn't feel soggy but the deck has quite a bit more flex than the Pennswood one, which has a good bit of age on it. It is a nice deck and I love the company but I may find another company that uses Pennswood for my next deck if Scumco decides to stay with Control. Or find a deck from South Central as they feel similar to Pennswood.

I live a 5 min bike ride from Control’s factory on the south side of Quebec City, and have been around Control boards the whole time i’ve been skating (20 years). I skated them because I used to get them crazy cheap and they pressed the boards for the shop that hooked me up.. however I have never liked their wood. I find it was never stiff enough and the flexing got significantly worse over time. They used to chip more than BBS boards, but that was years ago, don’t know if that improved. I like stiff boards, and these just didn’t work for me.
 Skated well enough, though. I was always stoked to snap one so I could get a discounted BBS after, because I knew I’d skate better.

The C6 shape they have is really good and skates well, but you’ll be probably be needing a new board in a week.

Just got a Morning Bell (Canadian brand from Toronto), and they use South Central wood, and I love it. Stiffest tail I’ve skated in years and pops like a motherfucker. I love it.

[sharkin]

South central makes the best wood but the shapes can sometimes be too much in one direction. I’ve been stuck on DLX for about 18 months now

My friend just got me a scumco deck they did for the polish hill arts fest and it has no PA logo burned in on top so I would bet this is from Control. Kinda bummer but it is 8.75x32.25 14.5wb so a nice size up for scumco

[Sativa Lung]

South central makes the best wood but the shapes can sometimes be too much in one direction. I’ve been stuck on DLX for about 18 months now

My friend just got me a scumco deck they did for the polish hill arts fest and it has no PA logo burned in on top so I would bet this is from Control. Kinda bummer but it is 8.75x32.25 14.5wb so a nice size up for scumco

Some of the Pennswood decks don't have the logo burned in, or  any other identifying marks on them. Every control deck I've seen has had a "made in Canada" sticker with a maple leaf on it so if that isn't there youre probably safe. For a small run like that I'd think they'd keep it local and that size/wb is one that I've seen Pennswood from other companies pressed in so they might have just used someone else's molds. Do you have a Pic of it?

Also if it sounds like a wet diaper hitting the ground then it's control.

[Switch FS K-Swiss Grind]

Damn the difference in specs between wwoodshops is frustrating. The Chico Brenes renaissance got me inspired to try a wider board with a short wheelbase, so thought I'd set up this Anti Hero Austin Kanfoush "Ginzer" shape I've had lying around unused. It's 8.55, 31.6 long with a 14.125 wheelbase. It didn't look very wide so I compared to the 8.5 WKND that I had just been riding, and the 8.5 wknd was actually wider. I don't even know what to trust anymore.

What even is boardwidth these days.

[Sundaynuggets]

Expand Quote

South central makes the best wood but the shapes can sometimes be too much in one direction. I’ve been stuck on DLX for about 18 months now

My friend just got me a scumco deck they did for the polish hill arts fest and it has no PA logo burned in on top so I would bet this is from Control. Kinda bummer but it is 8.75x32.25 14.5wb so a nice size up for scumco

[close]

Some of the Pennswood decks don't have the logo burned in, or  any other identifying marks on them. Every control deck I've seen has had a "made in Canada" sticker with a maple leaf on it so if that isn't there youre probably safe. For a small run like that I'd think they'd keep it local and that size/wb is one that I've seen Pennswood from other companies pressed in so they might have just used someone else's molds. Do you have a Pic of it?

Also if it sounds like a wet diaper hitting the ground then it's control.

Yeah I think Pennswood mainly does the burning on the top of the deck for Scumco (though maybe for a couple other folks, but I havent seen them). I got a batch of decks made with PW and the only identifying marker I’ve seen on mine and the other PW brands I’ve ridden is that they stamp the width of the deck on the bottom of the deck in the middle of the bolt holes for the back truck.

[Sativa Lung]

Yeah I think Pennswood mainly does the burning on the top of the deck for Scumco (though maybe for a couple other folks, but I havent seen them). I got a batch of decks made with PW and the only identifying marker I’ve seen on mine and the other PW brands I’ve ridden is that they stamp the width of the deck on the bottom of the deck in the middle of the bolt holes for the back truck.

They did a custom one for Street Plant for the 2 decks they got done there, and I've seen some other ones too. It's probably one of those things that costs a little extra so most people leave it out. I've got a Pw ScumCo that I'm pretty sure had no markings at all, not even the width. I'm not going to peel the grip off and check but the main point is that even with ScumCo's don't fret if it doesn't have the little PA shaped burn - it doesn't mean it's the shit wood. All of the Control decks I've ended up with had the maple leaf sticker and every one I've seen online has it too.

[Sundaynuggets]

Expand Quote

Yeah I think Pennswood mainly does the burning on the top of the deck for Scumco (though maybe for a couple other folks, but I havent seen them). I got a batch of decks made with PW and the only identifying marker I’ve seen on mine and the other PW brands I’ve ridden is that they stamp the width of the deck on the bottom of the deck in the middle of the bolt holes for the back truck.

[close]

They did a custom one for Street Plant for the 2 decks they got done there, and I've seen some other ones too. It's probably one of those things that costs a little extra so most people leave it out. I've got a Pw ScumCo that I'm pretty sure had no markings at all, not even the width. I'm not going to peel the grip off and check but the main point is that even with ScumCo's don't fret if it doesn't have the little PA shaped burn - it doesn't mean it's the shit wood. All of the Control decks I've ended up with had the maple leaf sticker and every one I've seen online has it too.

Yeah, definitely not a huge deal. The only reason I brought it up is because when I got my order, the stamps on the bottom of the deck helped me tell which sizes were which because some of the sizes were very close and hard to eyeball. Figured it might be useful if anyone else ends up with the same problem

[SneakySecrets]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

When you are there can you ask what concave molds they are using. I love Pennswood decks and I wish Scumco had stuck with them.

[close]

I actually ended up going with a friend who was buying his first board and got kinda wrapped up in that so I forgot to get measurements but I did chat with a guy at the shop who said the concave is a little different but pretty close to the older silver spoon/kiddie pool with the addition of a medium in-betweener concave to the line. Don't quote me on this as its totally a "friend of a friend said" kind of thing but what I was told is that Pennswood got the roof ripped off their building over the winter and was backed up on orders and that's why ScumCo went to control for this batch of decks.

I guess we'll see when the next batch drops if the move is permanent or if they'll go back to Pennswood or what, but I would definitely be sad to see ScumCo move away from Pennswood permanently since they have the Western PA connection. There's just something cool and beautiful about one the best and most creative small companies being able to get high quality wood from a small manufacturer that could theoretically just float their order down the Allegheny river to Pittsburgh like they used to do with timber.... actually that would be kinda cool to see even though it would ruin the boards.

[close]

So I ended up getting one of the Scumco boards pressed at Control. These are my impressions versus the ones pressed at Pennswood. First the decks seem to feel slightly lighter. I went with the medium concave and I would say it feels similar to a Primitive deck in both concave and kick angle. The nose of the deck appears to be slightly more blunt but that could be from moving up to an 8.5 from an 8. The pop on this board is decent and time will tell if that holds over the life of the deck. I do not feel like this deck has the same extreme pop that you get with a Pennswood deck. It doesn't feel soggy but the deck has quite a bit more flex than the Pennswood one, which has a good bit of age on it. It is a nice deck and I love the company but I may find another company that uses Pennswood for my next deck if Scumco decides to stay with Control. Or find a deck from South Central as they feel similar to Pennswood.

[close]

I live a 5 min bike ride from Control’s factory on the south side of Quebec City, and have been around Control boards the whole time i’ve been skating (20 years). I skated them because I used to get them crazy cheap and they pressed the boards for the shop that hooked me up.. however I have never liked their wood. I find it was never stiff enough and the flexing got significantly worse over time. They used to chip more than BBS boards, but that was years ago, don’t know if that improved. I like stiff boards, and these just didn’t work for me.
 Skated well enough, though. I was always stoked to snap one so I could get a discounted BBS after, because I knew I’d skate better.

The C6 shape they have is really good and skates well, but you’ll be probably be needing a new board in a week.

Just got a Morning Bell (Canadian brand from Toronto), and they use South Central wood, and I love it. Stiffest tail I’ve skated in years and pops like a motherfucker. I love it.

Tried a scumco from Control.  It was truly awful... made no sound at all when I popped it... never a good sign.

[Sativa Lung]

So I ended up getting one of the Scumco boards pressed at Control. These are my impressions versus the ones pressed at Pennswood. First the decks seem to feel slightly lighter. I went with the medium concave and I would say it feels similar to a Primitive deck in both concave and kick angle. The nose of the deck appears to be slightly more blunt but that could be from moving up to an 8.5 from an 8. The pop on this board is decent and time will tell if that holds over the life of the deck. I do not feel like this deck has the same extreme pop that you get with a Pennswood deck. It doesn't feel soggy but the deck has quite a bit more flex than the Pennswood one, which has a good bit of age on it. It is a nice deck and I love the company but I may find another company that uses Pennswood for my next deck if Scumco decides to stay with Control. Or find a deck from South Central as they feel similar to Pennswood.

Sounds like you went through the phase I initially did where I figured "oh they wouldn't put out a deck on shit wood... they're ScumCo... it must be me" and tried to convince myself that the pop wasn't that bad or I just got a bad one. Then SneakySecrets got one and had the same experience. Then I got two more and they were the same.

I've heard from a couple people that Pennswood takes forever to fulfill orders (you can't rush quality I guess) so I'm wondering if it wasn't a case of them not being able to get an order done fast enough for ScumCo to do a summer release, especially given that ScumCo has gotten more popular and I'm sure the orders are bigger now than they used to be. Even if that's the case though, I'd much rather they use SC or Chapman or one of the Cali places, or if you're going to go out of the US go for Generator. In the meantime, if you or anyone else wants a Pennswood deck shoot me a PM and I'll try to point you in the right direction. They're sometimes hard to find because they mostly do small brands, but they're out there.

I think the best thing to do is to email ScumCo and let them know the wood is just bad, actually its not even just bad - it's old crail bad. I've got a beat up old chinese creature price point that isn't as dead as these were straight out of the plastic. I've got his address so maybe I'll put dogshit on one and light it on fire and ring his doorbell.


Also, Terror of Planet X new decks aren't on Pennswood anymore, they're Quincy now.

[Sativa Lung]

Anybody know anything about meridian skateboards? They have an 8.25 with a 14.5wb but I can't find anything about their wood

[Reed Richards]

Thinking of getting a Zoo York deck because nostalgia/regional pride.  I saw Chapman mentioned awhile back in the thread, but does anyone have any recent experience with them?

[Sundaynuggets]

Thinking of getting a Zoo York deck because nostalgia/regional pride.  I saw Chapman mentioned awhile back in the thread, but does anyone have any recent experience with them?

I got one of Zoo Yorks Matt reason Keys reissue decks from the Chapman site two or three years ago. I loved the deck. Shape was awesome, wood was good. Not sure if the rest of the decks on their site are the same, but when I emailed them they said 90% of the decks on their site are that same shape/concave which was on the steeper side of medium.

[FrozenIndustries]

Don't know if this has been mentioned or not, but AFAIK Chapman no longer has a woodshop and outsources their pressing to (I believe) Clutch.

A friend ordered some Chapman blanks to paint and gave me one, and it was shaped and stamped like a Clutch.

[j....soy.....]

That's a bummer to hear....those boards were pretty indestructible.....I wonder where Hopps are getting pressed....clutch maybe too.

[Xen]

Don't know if this has been mentioned or not, but AFAIK Chapman no longer has a woodshop and outsources their pressing to (I believe) Clutch.

A friend ordered some Chapman blanks to paint and gave me one, and it was shaped and stamped like a Clutch.

Deets for identifying?

[Beeker]

Expand Quote

Don't know if this has been mentioned or not, but AFAIK Chapman no longer has a woodshop and outsources their pressing to (I believe) Clutch.

A friend ordered some Chapman blanks to paint and gave me one, and it was shaped and stamped like a Clutch.

[close]

Deets for identifying?

They have a stamped letter and a number that is a code for shape and size (example: P8). They also have the little dot indentation by the front truck holes (I think other shops might do this too though).

https://rayzlv.wixsite.com/clutchdistribution/copy-of-shapes-1

The one I had was great.

[FrozenIndustries]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Don't know if this has been mentioned or not, but AFAIK Chapman no longer has a woodshop and outsources their pressing to (I believe) Clutch.

A friend ordered some Chapman blanks to paint and gave me one, and it was shaped and stamped like a Clutch.

[close]

Deets for identifying?

[close]

They have a stamped letter and a number that is a code for shape and size (example: P8). They also have the little dot indentation by the front truck holes (I think other shops might do this too though).

https://rayzlv.wixsite.com/clutchdistribution/copy-of-shapes-1

The one I had was great.

Yeah, mine was 7.75" with the K3 stamp.

[Roisto]

PS Stix quality! A Welcome Nora deck from a year or so back that's been hanging there unused waiting to be set up at some point. I guess I can just throw it in the trash instead. 

[Sativa Lung]

Unlucky Roisto, always sucks to lose a deck through no fault of your own. I've been avoiding them for a while and you're making me feel better about that choice.

Meridian actually got back to me within 24 hours when I asked through their site, so kudos to them for both the customer service and transparency. They said they're mostly done on ASF/Clutch with some Bareback in the mix. I'll be happy either way, but I've wanted to try a clutch deck for a while so I'm hyped for it.

[nosneb]

Looking at hopps board in person I can say that they looks like all the other theories brand shape and concave. Looks like the standard mold from bbs/gen. The concave looks like alltimers, passport, killingfloor, magenta concaves.

[j....soy.....]

good to know...thanks...maybe I'll skate one again...

[TheBoognish]

Thinking of getting a Zoo York deck because nostalgia/regional pride.  I saw Chapman mentioned awhile back in the thread, but does anyone have any recent experience with them?

I’ve had a bunch of Chapmans and always loved the wood, it’s just hard to come by. Super stiff and poppy, never chipped, razortail wasn’t that bad and had awesome shapes. I have a one-year old Hotel Blue I really beat up and it still feels crispy-ish

One thing to keep in mind, though: I’ve seen a lot of warped Chapmans throughout the years and have even received a couple. If you get a nice straight un-warped board, you’ll love it.

They’re getting harder and harder to come by, so good luck.