A few days ago, skateboardrev decided to take a trip down to Franklin, PA with Pete Scheira, the owner of Suburban Blend (A Local Skateshop). Pete was going down there to pick up some new shop decks from Penn's Wood Manufacturing. So we thought we could m
Penn's Wood Skateboards Headquarters
A few days ago, skateboardrev decided to take a trip down to Franklin, PA with Pete Scheira, the owner of Suburban Blend (A Local Skateshop). Pete was going down there to pick up some new shop decks from Penn's Wood Manufacturing. So we thought we could make a little post showing how skateboards are made.
Penn’s Wood Manufacturing is located in Franklin, PA and they make some the best decks on the planet. The Blend loves to support small businesses and Penn’s Wood is the perfect example of that with just 10 employees.
Owner, Joe McDonald, gave us a tour of the shop and told us how a skateboard is made. Every skateboard starts out as 1/24" and 1/16" thick pieces of North American Maple. 7 pieces are glued together and put in a press for one hour. Once the board has sat in the press it is taken out to air dry for four days. Once they have air dried holes are drilled through the board and then they are put, four at a time, on a CNC router to be cut. The router takes about one minute to cut each board. The boards then are each smoothed three separate times to a smooth perfection.
At this point the boards leave the wood shop and enter the painting area. For most orders a base color is painted on all the boards. They are set to dry and then go into another room. Every graphic is screen printed by hand onto a special plastic. This plastic and the board run through a machine that heats the ink so it adheres to board. Presto! A wonderful beautiful skateboard is made.
- This is where all the skateboards are made, from being glued to cut
- The Crew learning how each skateboard is made, the little machine in front of them is where all they ply's get glued, so they can be pressed together
- The Press - After the skateboards are glued they are put in the press. They are pressed for about an hour, four boards at a time
- After the boards are pressed, they are set to air dry for four days
- They are then cut by this CNC Router, each board takes about 1 minute to cut
- After they're cut, the edges are sanded by hand to perfection
- If the workers need a break, they just go to the break room
- After the boards are sanded, they head to this room for a base layer of paint
- Then they have screens that they heat to the boards, here is the Suburban Blend Screen
- The Screen Machine, this machine heats the screen up to 400 degrees and thats how the logo is printed onto the board
- Johnny Cobra, the guy who designed the board, with the finished product
