This fabulous, fun and funky collection of stripey kitchen accessories will be on offer at our upcoming Salem estate sale and are just the thing to set out if you’re having retired competitive skateboarding legend Tony Hawk over for Sunday brunch. Can you guess what they’re made of?
Retired SKATEBOARDS! There are over 16 million skateboarders worldwide who play pretty hard, so there are a lot of beaten up boards to retire every year.
Skateboard decks (the board part) are traditionally made of thin plies (layers) of maple laminated together; 7-ply being the standard. Maple is one of the hardest domestic timbers grown in America, known for its strength, stiffness and density, and is often used for floors that need to survive serious abuse such as basketball courts and bowling alleys. For the same reason maple is also used for Major League baseball bats, so you can see why it’s perfect for hard-riding skateboards. Maple is also a popular material for luthiers (stringed musical instrument makers) because of its beauty and tight grain which gives instruments resonance. And while maple is challenging to hand-carve it’s easily machine-worked, so it’s loved by woodworkers.
In addition to maple, some ‘cruiser’ decks layer in bamboo or birch or just use bamboo or birch exclusively. Other decks incorporate synthetics such as carbon fiber or fiberglass. Due to its density, maple takes stain unevenly and trying to tint it for artistic effect is not recommended in a non-industrial setting, so you can see the appeal that these colorful pieces of pre-stained, laminated woods have for craft people. The largest recycler of used skateboards is Focused Board Supply, which collects skate and snow boards globally through shops and manufacturers for resale to artists. To date they’ve kept over 21,000 lbs of waste out of landfills.
A woodworker using skateboard decks for their creations first removes the sandpaper-like grip tape from the top surface of the board with a hair dryer on the highest heat setting. Next, since the average deck is generally no thicker than 3/4″, for most projects the woodworker needs to laminate or glue a big stack of decks together to reach the desired thickness for their woodworking ‘blank’. In the majority of reclaimed skateboard deck projects, the composited block of ‘lumber’ is then cut or turned on a lathe to show off the many colorful layers, as with our examples here. As you can see, the salt & pepper shakers, which were commercially made by the kitchen accessories line Mr. Dudley, are considerably thicker than 3/4″. And the base of this paper towel holder was cut from something like a 100-ply stack, or more than 14 old skateboards clamped and glued together. Whew! So it’s understandable that when bought new, from the crafts person, these pieces are not necessarily cheap, even if they are made of ‘trash’. A small nut bowl bought directly from the artisan on a website like Etsy can cost up to $250 due to the hours of work involved, just like any other fine woodworking piece.
In addition to items already mentioned, other skateboard kitchen gear includes egg cups, rolling pins, drink coasters, small cutting boards, and handles for knives, ice cream scoops, corkscrews and bottle openers. Non-kitchen items include pens, pencil holders, USB key cases, boxes, decorative pots for air plants, guitar pics, and inserts in wooden musical instruments like ukuleles; even baseball bats and furniture! The only limitation is these laminates cannot take high heat or long exposures to liquid, so please don’t throw those spoons in the dishwasher!
www.focusedboardsupply.com
Tuesday Treasures was started by our staff member, Jeanne Lusignan. Each week she will be featuring items that have been found at our estate sales. If you would like to submit a treasure for Jeanne to feature in a future installment of “Tuesday’s Treasures”, please follow the button below and send us an email! Please attach a few photos of your treasure in a beautiful setting as well as any details you have about your item such as manufacturer, use, age, region of origin. If you don’t know about the piece, that’s okay! We still might be able to research it for you! Don’t forget to tell us what makes this item such a treasure to you!