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I think different woodshops and their boards are all relative, but also very subjective, in that there is a comparable product, but yes individual user experience still remains to be the main thing to determine whether or not someone likes a woodshop or not.
To explain further, I have seen almost every single woodshop board in pieces within 5 mins of setting up, no exaggeration, even had a few myself over the years, where I have been too keen right out the gate and landed wrong, broke or cracked a board and thought that was a big fat waste of money. To also say I have seen boards from the same drop / same graphic / same run or whatever last years, yes years, when I had bought a number of them, which I would often skate for a while, then pass on to others, so this one had been through maybe four sets of hands and was still going, although so worn down it was barely worth looking at. Very specific grip tape lines / design helped identify a few of my old boards too.
Anyway, I know there will always be people who say Woodshop / Board A is better than Woodshop / Board B or C or D, then others who will say B is best, others who will say C is best, or D or whatever and so on. Sure there will be some boards that last better than others, some with quality control issues, some even of my own that have delam issues from what I might consider the best woodshop, but when you think about how boards are made, or what goes into them, then how much of a different journey they take to get to the end user, sometimes they might be in a warehouse for almost no time at all, other times years, then in the shop, in storage, on trucks or whatever else, sure there are going to be some differences in the boards, not to mention the end user and how they land, what kind of stress the board is put under on any given day which will then help it to last or cause it to flex out or break more quickly than other boards, etc.
The list goes on and on and on.
As to the interesting discussion as to where boards are made, at one point a certain woodshop in USA was the best of the best, so strong, stiff and such good boards I used to ride, but skating a few boards now from that same woodshop that had moved product elsewhere (not China), I find myself wondering how did things go so wrong. No I am not mentioning the woodshop by name but I keep seeing comments of quality of product and inconsistencies and can't help wonder as it doesn't seem like an isolated incident.
I have skated some boards from China over the years and they were rubbish, yes plain cheap rubbish. Other boards from China are amazing in terms of quality and how they hold up and the people who skate them really enjoy them. Obviously two different woodshops or very different production facilities, but I feel like now more so than ever, making a generalisation that boards from a certain place are better than others is not providing all the facts.
That is probably already too much information in one single post, but I welcome people to share their views on any and every woodshop they have had boards from, if for nothing more than to have the information out there.
Thank you everyone for adding to this thread.
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Topic: CURRENT WOODSHOP DIRECTORY 2025 + misc deck and board info, help, questions, etc (Read 466825 times)