ASR Dispatch: Sustainability the New Cool?

Young skateboarders showing off their tricks on the floor of the ASR trade show The buzz in the ASR seminar rooms hints that skateboarding is suffering from no longer being as cool as it was a few years ago. Its hipness seems to have peaked when skater shoes crossed-over and saturated the mainstream market. Also, […]

Dispatch from the ASR in San Diego

early longboard by John Hughes Not surprisingly, I found simpatico with the deans of the old school of skate and surf at the ASR. Carson and Dale Smith of Skate Designs Skateboards staged an exhibition of classic racing boards as a backdrop to their line of contemporary cruisers. I was especially drawn to a vintage […]

Old School Market Research

I’m taking a deep breath before I fly down to San Diego to dive into a couple of days of market research at the ASR (Action Sports Retailer) Conference. I will be scoping out the viability of my Deep Deck TM, an innovative, solid wood interpretation of the classic homemade, old school longboards of yore. […]

Windsor Longboard Roadtest

Aili took her Windsor Longboard  for a test spin and loved how it handled- it carves  with ease and feels rock steady going fast. The camber is just right, with just enough flex to ease road vibration and pump on a quick turn. I’m now taking advance orders for the deck on my GOODS page […]

Windsor Longboard Lives

My first Windsor Longboard experimental deck is a head-turner. My friends at Quinn Brothers Board Shop in Sebastopol, CA took to the ‘uber old school’ spirit and helped me rock the deck with super wide trucks and generic wheels; note the ‘rasta’ bolt heads, the board’s only fanfare. After some road testing I plan to […]

Windsor Longboard Shapes Up

My prototype Windsor Longboard is nearing completion.  I shaped the outer contours with my favorite Italian-made, mini spokeshaves. I have a set of three but use the one pictured above for almost everything- its rockered base allows for the most delicate control. Over the weekend I plan to mount trucks and wheels and test its […]

Shopmade Tamales

I love having a kitchen in my woodshop, especially during the rainy season when I often have something bubbling away on the stove while I make things in the shop. As I was making my prototype Windsor Longboard over the weekend, I prepared tamales for about twenty people coming over for our monthly ‘dinner club’. […]