Signal Snowboards has a long history of making custom boards using unorthodox materials. But lately it’s been fixated on using cardboard, and after building both a rideable surfboard and snowboard, the company has now gone and built a surprisingly tough cardboard skateboard.
But it’s not like they cut the side off a cardboard box, attached some wheels, and then dropped into a half-pipe. Signal Snowboards actually worked alongside the paper products experts at Ernest Packaging Solutions to realise this creation.
The first attempt used layers of corrugated cardboard for the deck, but it would consistently fracture when the rider started performing more extreme tricks. So they switched to multiple layers of thick paper that was soaked to its core in resin using a vacuum sealing system and then left to harden in a press.
The resulting skateboard was a little more flexible than most decks, but it still managed to hold up to countless tricks in a half-pipe and a pool, even while being ridden than Tony Hawk himself. Would he ever switch to using cardboard decks? Probably not, but he was happy to see someone trying to introduce some innovation. [Signal Snowboards via Gizmag]