Deck Thickness and Corresponding Weight

[mvdbosch90]

Today I had my second session on my Anti Hero Curb Crusher 8.5”. I wanted to try a shorter (14”) wheelbase, but I found out it just isn’t for me. The Curb Crusher is one of the more affordable decks from Anti Hero, so luckily I didn’t spend a lot of money on it. As I’ve noticed before with other price point/affordable decks, it somehow feels thicker than more expensive premium decks.
Right after I came home, I switched to an Anti Hero 8.75 Grant Taylor deck with a 14.5” (I think) wheelbase that hasn’t been skated much. Just by holding it, it already feels thinner than the Curb Crusher. After dismounting the trucks, I was surprised that despite the fact that it’s a bigger deck, it felt significantly lighter than the curb crusher. I don’t have a proper scale to measure the difference, but it was really noticeable. I skated it briefly, and despite the longer wheelbase (same Indy 159s Titanium and Spitfire 52mm conicals) the pop felt a lot snappier.

Has anyone else noticed this difference, and does anyone maybe know what causes this? I’ve had an Almost deck before which stated that it made in China which also felt heavier.
Do the wood shops that make the ‘premium’ decks use thinner layers of maple? Or is there a different glue that causes this?
Just curious to hear your thoughts!

[Mbrimson88]

Today I had my second session on my Anti Hero Curb Crusher 8.5”. I wanted to try a shorter (14”) wheelbase, but I found out it just isn’t for me. The Curb Crusher is one of the more affordable decks from Anti Hero, so luckily I didn’t spend a lot of money on it. As I’ve noticed before with other price point/affordable decks, it somehow feels thicker than more expensive premium decks.
Right after I came home, I switched to an Anti Hero 8.75 Grant Taylor deck with a 14.5” (I think) wheelbase that hasn’t been skated much. Just by holding it, it already feels thinner than the Curb Crusher. After dismounting the trucks, I was surprised that despite the fact that it’s a bigger deck, it felt significantly lighter than the curb crusher. I don’t have a proper scale to measure the difference, but it was really noticeable. I skated it briefly, and despite the longer wheelbase (same Indy 159s Titanium and Spitfire 52mm conicals) the pop felt a lot snappier.

Has anyone else noticed this difference, and does anyone maybe know what causes this? I’ve had an Almost deck before which stated that it made in China which also felt heavier.
Do the wood shops that make the ‘premium’ decks use thinner layers of maple? Or is there a different glue that causes this?
Just curious to hear your thoughts!

Have you got a pic of the Curb Crusher deck?

I didn't think they were pricepoint boards, but I don't keep up with everything these days.

All natural ply layers on DLX boards usually indicate price point, as well as the board having a pricepoint / nice price or whatever sticker on it as well, but again that can vary.

The pro wood usually has stains on top, second top and bottom layers, or specific stain layups according to certain options that they sometimes do.


As to more info, this post from a while back explained it fairly well, with regards to the pro boards, pricepoints and in between options.  Some people really notice a significant difference between boards, others not so much.

Second post with some used boards, not quite so relevant, but overall the pricepoint felt more soggy after a while on others I have had and still have, when compared to the pro boards.

[Mbrimson88]

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As to the weight and other factors, yes sometimes what could appear to be even the same boards can feel significantly different, some heavier some lighter, some thicker and some thinner.

Exactly why, who knows.  Especially given the quality control that goes into making skateboards these days, but the best wood is used for the pro boards and the other wood is used for the pricepoint boards, so it stands to reason that if you can afford it, get the pro boards more so than the pricepoint boards.


Some people I used to skate with would snap a pricepoint board in the first or second session and if it was still in one piece, it would often feel so soggy, when compared to a pro board that would usually last them a month or more, nearly every singe board.

Other people have skated them hard with no issues the whole time, only retiring it when they felt like they wanted / needed a new one, so it is funny like that.

[mvdbosch90]

Nice comparison you made I also have the feeling that the price point decks wear faster and damage/chip more easily.

I don’t have a picture of the Curb Crusher, but the coloring scheme is indeed the same as the Grant Taylor ; colored top, second and bottom layer. When I measure it with calipers, the Curb Crusher comes in at 11mm, the Grant Taylor at 10mm. Maybe the curb crusher is just made at a different factory or with less pressure? Or maybe the place in the stack has something to do with it as well.

[Sativa Lung]

Despite how it may feel, there's actually not a whole lot of variation in the actual thickness. I had a theory that PS decks felt lighter and flexed more because they were thinner, so I bought a set of digital calipers and checked my entire stack (and this was when I was skating a new board every week and had over 50 decks still in shrink) and they were mostly the same with some very slight variation in either direction.

[BALARGUE]

Nice comparison you made I also have the feeling that the price point decks wear faster and damage/chip more easily.

I don’t have a picture of the Curb Crusher, but the coloring scheme is indeed the same as the Grant Taylor ; colored top, second and bottom layer. When I measure it with calipers, the Curb Crusher comes in at 11mm, the Grant Taylor at 10mm. Maybe the curb crusher is just made at a different factory or with less pressure? Or maybe the place in the stack has something to do with it as well.

the curb crusher is your regular "premium" antihero deck (it's not a price point)
Variations happen in wood plies specs, humidity, press settings, etc

One day I weighted something like 50 shop decks and weight distribution was -50gr/+50gr for decks that were supposed to be the same