What Makes a Fingerboard Truly Handmade? Inside the Workshop
Share
What Makes a Fingerboard Truly Handmade? Inside a Craftsman's Workshop
I get asked this question more than almost any other: what actually makes a fingerboard handmade?
It's a fair question. "Handmade" is a word that gets stretched. Labels use it loosely. Marketing teams love it. But when you've been building boards for as long as I have — tens of thousands of them, every single one through my own hands — you understand that handmade isn't a marketing term. It's a process. And process is what I want to show you.
This is what a handmade fingerboard actually involves.
Step 1: Wood Selection
Everything starts with the wood. Not every piece of timber that arrives at my workshop gets used. I inspect each sheet before it touches a blade.
Canadian maple is the standard for fingerboards. Customers want it, the grain supports it, the performance justifies it. But I also work in ebony, ash, mahogany, cherry, white oak, bird's eye maple, and exotic burl woods depending on the project. For custom one-of-one builds, the wood selection is often the most important creative decision in the whole process.
What I'm looking for: consistency of grain, no hidden voids, correct moisture content. Our workshop maintains strict humidity controls — storage cabinets run at 11% humidity. Exotic and premium woods get their own storage with tighter controls. This isn't paranoia. Wood moves with humidity. A board built from wood at the wrong moisture content will warp, crack, or lose its concave over time.
I maintain backup suppliers for critical materials. If Canadian maple gets tight, I don't compromise with whatever's available. I have contingencies. The quality of the board depends on the quality of what goes into it.
Step 2: Precision Cutting
Veneers come in at 30cm x 2.4m sheets. Each board blank gets cut to 11cm x 4cm. That cutting has to be precise. A millimetre of variance in a component this small is significant. It affects how the plies align, how the press works, and how the final board feels.
I use a wood router for shaping and precision cutting. Not a box cutter. Not scissors. The tool matters because the tolerances matter.
Step 3: Pressing — Where the Board Becomes a Board
This is the step that most people don't think about. A fingerboard is not a flat piece of wood. It has concave — a subtle curve across its width — and that curve is pressed in, not carved.
I run two 32-tonne presses in the workshop. The construction is 5-ply: three layers with the grain running vertically, two with the grain running horizontally. This cross-ply construction is what gives the board its strength and prevents splitting.
The press applies even, controlled pressure across the entire blank. Too much pressure and the blank cracks. Too little and the concave is inconsistent. The cure time matters. The temperature in the workshop matters. In Ho Chi Minh City, ambient temperatures run between 40–45°C in the workshop — that affects the glue cure and the pressing process in ways you have to learn to account for.
I use Titebond Ultimate for adhesion. It's not the cheapest option. It is the right one.
Step 4: Shaping
After pressing, the board goes through shaping. This is where the nose and tail get their geometry, the edges are refined, and the wheel wells are cut if the design calls for them.
Hand-sanding runs up to 4,000 grit. That number matters. Most boards in the mass-market stop at a few hundred grit. At 4,000, the surface is glass-smooth. The difference isn't just aesthetic — it affects how grip tape adheres and how the board feels under your fingers.
Step 5: Finishing
Two finish options: lacquer and beeswax.
Lacquer is the customer favourite. It gives a high-gloss, protective surface that pops the grain and makes graphics look sharp. Application follows a strict protocol — number of coats, drying time between coats, final buffing. I don't freestyle this. Same process, every time.
Beeswax is the alternative for riders who want a smoother, slightly matte feel. It's less shiny but lets the wood breathe a little more. Some of my collectors prefer it for the natural look.
Custom boards with hand-painting — done by my wife Huong — go through the finish process after the art is applied. The finish protects the art. It's a sequence issue, not an aesthetic one, and getting it wrong ruins work that can't be replicated.
Step 6: The 30-Minute Final Inspection
Every board I build gets a minimum 30-minute final inspection before it leaves my hands.
I check:
- Concave consistency across the full width
- Surface integrity — no bubbles, cracks, or soft spots
- Nose and tail geometry
- Hardware fit — every truck mount, every bearing seat
- Finish quality — no drips, no thin spots, no uneven sheen
Our defect rate is below 0.5%. That number didn't come from a lucky streak. It came from the inspection process. When you check every single board personally — not randomly, not by sample — you catch things before they reach a customer.
Why It Matters vs Mass-Produced
A mass-produced fingerboard is made fast, to a price point. The wood is whatever's available. The press is automated. The inspection, if it exists at all, is a glance. The variation between units is built into the process and accepted as a given.
I'm not making a volume argument against mass production. For some products, it's appropriate. For a fingerboard — a small, precision piece of equipment where the feel matters enormously and the craft is part of the value — it isn't.
When you buy a handmade board from my workshop, you're buying something I touched at every stage. Something I pressed, shaped, sanded, finished, and inspected. Something I would use myself. That's not marketing language. That's the process.
If you'd like to see what that process produces, browse the full collection — or if you want something built specifically for you, get in touch and we can talk custom.
1. How to Order a Custom Fingerboard: Wood, Concave, Graphics, and Everything In Between
https://saigonskateboards.com/blogs/news/how-to-order-a-custom-fingerboard
2. ABEC-7 Fingerboard Bearings: What the Rating Means and Why It Matters for Your Setup
https://saigonskateboards.com/blogs/news/abec-7-fingerboard-bearings-what-the-rating-means
3. 32mm vs 34mm Fingerboard: Which Size Is Right for You?
https://saigonskateboards.com/blogs/news/32mm-vs-34mm-fingerboard-which-size-is-right-for-you
4. Fingerboard Wheel Durometer Explained: Soft vs Hard Wheels
https://saigonskateboards.com/blogs/news/fingerboard-wheel-durometer-explained
5. What Makes a Fingerboard Truly Handmade? Inside the Workshop
https://saigonskateboards.com/blogs/news/what-makes-a-fingerboard-truly-handmade
6. 7 Fingerboard Tricks for Beginners (In the Right Order)
https://saigonskateboards.com/blogs/news/7-fingerboard-tricks-for-beginners
7. How to Do a Kickflip on a Fingerboard: Full Guide
https://saigonskateboards.com/blogs/news/how-to-do-a-kickflip-on-a-fingerboard
8. How to Ollie on a Fingerboard: A 40-Year Veteran's Guide
https://saigonskateboards.com/blogs/news/how-to-ollie