Handmade with Roarockit Technology

2012 has been a huge year of transition for the Roarockit Skateboard Company. From moving to a brand new location, helping facilitate the growth of our Australian (Australian Skateboard Kits) and U.K. (Foo A Rage) distributors, to the release of the RockitRuler skateboard tool – Roarockit has been focused on the future of board building around the world, and all of this coincides with our 'Handmade with Roarockit Technology' campaign.

The idea of the 'Handmade with Roarockit Technology' campaign is to help promote the quality craftsmanship that goes into each board and project made using our Thin Air Press. Sometimes independently made products, and especially skate/longboards, get a bad reputation for being 'poor' quality. This is often a response to the perception that only large companies make quality products. There is also a learning curve attached to building goods by hand, which can contribute to a perceived lack of quality, when in fact it is more a case of inexperience.

Everyone makes mistakes, even big companies, but it is important to learn from that experience to get better. We have seen so many builders progress their skills over the years, learn from their mistakes, and now produce some of the highest quality goods around. This is why we want to promote these high-quality products that have been.... you guessed it - 'Handmade with Roarockit Technology'! 

You may have noticed receiving our new 'Handmade' stickers in a recent order. We are giving away one of these stickers for every board's worth of material sold to builders across the world. The stickers themselves are printed on a thick, glossy stock, and are highly reflective. We encourage builders to put these stickers on their finished products to show their support for handmade quality. They also look great on helmets, or as a giveaway for customers when they buy one of your boards.

CONTEST:

Now that there are a few thousand of these stickers floating around, we want to hear what this sticker means to you?  Tell us why you support 'Handmade' goods for your chance to win a Roarockit Swag Pack!  

Check out www.facebook.com/roarockitskateboard for more details

Rules & Regulations  

• No purchase necessary

• Prize can only be awarded to someone residing in US or Canada

• We have the right to use user submitted content for promotional purposes

• Contest will be promoted on our Facebook and Twitter feeds, but are not sponsored, administered by, or associated with these companies

• Any submissions with profanity, vulgarity, obscenity, racism, religious, political or as deemed inappropriate by the organizer will be disqualified from prize considerations

PINK Veneers!

Pink Floyd

Pink Panther

Pretty in Pink.

Breast Cancer Awareness

Valentine's Day

Bret Hart.

And now.... Pink Skateboards!

For far too long, Pink coloured veneers have eluded board builders around the world. For the first (and likely only) time, the Roarockit Skateboard Company has gotten a very special order of Pink Maple Street Deck, and Longboard veneers.

The colour on these limited edition veneers came out amazing! A vibrant, Magenta-like shade of Pink that has been described by some as 'Vivacious' and 'Pink Popsiclicious'! If the shade is a bit too dark for your liking, a thorough sanding will help to lighten it to more of a 'cotton candy' Pink.

Our builders for years have been asking about the possibility of Pink dyed veneers, and it has been a surprisingly difficult process to make this happen. After a few science lessons, a couple of long conversations and a bit of arm-twisting... we were finally able to get our standard high quality, 100% Canadian Maple, 1/16” veneers in Pink!

Quantities are limited, and we have 2 sizes available:

1/16” Street Deck Maple @ 10” x 35”

1/16” Longboard Maple @ 12” x 40”

We were able to get our standard Street Deck sizes veneers, but were only able to get Longboard stock at 40" in length.  Forunately, if you want to make a board using the Pink veneers, that is longer than 40", it is possible to join them to make a longer piece... this process can also make for some very unique board art! 

** Like our other Coloured veneers and RockitLam sheets, these must be ordered with another set of veneers or as a custom bundled order. This is done to ensure the veneers are not damaged in the shipping process.

If you need help putting together a custom order, feel free to contact us @

Toll Free 1-888-857-7790

email - chris@roarockit.com

Board Building in the Classroom

A big part of Roarockit's business is working closely with schools, after-school programs and non-profit organizations. There are many great programs/organizations around the world who have integrated board building using Roarockit Technologies into their students curriculum. It is such an amazing thing to see a full classroom of kids, walking away with a high quality, handmade board of their very own... not to mention some of the coolest graphic and design jobs we've seen in the skateboard industry!

While it is not a 'traditional' method of teaching by any means, instructors who have used the program have reported many benefits in their classrooms, including; 

• increase in attendance levels

• students are focused, attentive and apply themselves to complete their decks

• can work as an incentive for both 'under' and 'over-achieving' students

• teamwork and mentoring scenarios occur naturally during the build process

• students gain experience working with their hands

• the program can be applied to a wide range of subjects including Art & Design, Mathematics, Construction Technology, Business and Entrepreneurship, Physical and Environmental Sciences, and more

• students relate well to skateboards and its counter-culture aspects

• great opportunity to involve their community through fundraisers, art galleries, open-houses, etc.

Another great part about the Roarockit skateboard deck builds is that they do not require the use of power tools and can be done in any classroom, or even outdoors...we've even had classrooms set up on picnic benches in a park! There are also no harmful glues, paints or coatings required, and the Thin Air Press is considered to be the 'greenest' method of pressing skateboards in the world (it's all hand powered!).

As part of our push to see more and more schools/programs building boards with their kids, we work diligently to help build a scenario that matches your particular teaching needs in regards to time constraints, class size and budget.

Here are a few links that include more information about course curriculum, funding options, examples of successful programs that use our kits, tutorials and more!   

Curriculum and Lessons - http://www.roarockit.com/curriculums.php

Funding - http://www.roarockit.com/how_to.php

Downloadable Order/Estimate Form - http://www.roarockit.com/materials_resources.php

Tutorials - http://ministryofwood.com/764-2/

Oasis Skateboard Factory - A Toronto District School Board reengagement program that helps students earn high school credits by running a skate/longboard design business.

Stoked Mentoring - Stoked is an action sports, youth development agency based in New York and Los Angeles

Feel free to give us a call or email if you would like to get more information about how to integrate board building into your own programs.  

You can call us Toll Free at - 1-888-857-7790

or email - norah@roarockit.com

AM Wood Skateboard Company

One of our favourite, and most advanced builders is Alistair McCall – Owner/Operator of the AM Wood Skateboard Company.

Alistair started building boards out of his garage in Grey County, Ontario as a fun and profitable woodworking hobby. His first boards were all custom built for friends and local riders, which gave him an opportunity to work with a variety of materials and board styles. This experience led him to eventually launch the AM Wood Skateboard Company in early 2011.

AM Wood's has since become one of the most prolific and recognized independent builders in North America, selling their boards to riders in over 10 countries (and counting). They have also helped build their name by being a part of some great events including the Toronto Board Meeting and the 2012 Stylus Awards.

They are also proud supporters of the Thin Air Press vacuum bag, and use them for all of their composite work and one-off custom boards. In his own words;

“It is 100% the best way to laminate composites. I have laminated in my big press before with mixed results. The best part about the tap is you can control the resin content through the use of peel plys, perforated films and pressure control. There is a reason all “real” composite parts are done with bags, aerospace, f1, boats etc…I also use the vac bags for all my custom shapes. Foam is a lot easier to work with than wood.”

The AM Wood Skateboard Company is expanding and moving its production facility later this year.  We look forward to seeing what the future of AM Wood's looks like, and will have a follow up post when they get set up... to be continued :)

You can keep up to date with AM Wood by checking them out at the links below.

AM Wood - Official Homepage

Facebook

Twitter

Wakeskate Build & Review Pt.2

**This is the 2nd part of 'Frenique Customs' Wakeskate Build & Review.  A special thanks goes out to Matthew Richardson for taking the time to put together such an in-depth and helpful post.

I enjoyed the Canada Day weekened up at my cottage on Wenona Lake in Haliburton, Ontario.  With my new wakeskate board to try out, I made sure my Dad took me for my first ride with everyone up to watch this epic moment.  I did not get up my first time - the board slipped out from my feet.  Determined to suceed, I tried once more and I got up!!!! So much stoke was happenin at this moment.  I rode side to side, over the wake and I even tried to jump and spin!!! That did not work... yet, but I got back up and tried again.  

Knowing that I made my own wakeskate, and it actually worked was such an awesome feeling.  In the end, I learned a lot from the choices I made and now feel like the options are endless!

My 4 ply board was light, and unfortunately turned out to be a bit too thin.  I left it on my dock for the day, used it to jump into the water and tried to ride it again later.  It turned out that I cracked the bottom layer... It has not ruined the board, but I know now that 4 layers is too thin.  I want to try and rectify this problem by adding a layer of fiberglass cloth to the bottom.  I feel like it’s worth a try and with my experience working with fibreglass, I know I can add a ton of strength.  That being said, a 6 ply board is the next thing to do on my list of things to try, so maybe that one will hold up for a longer period of time.  

With all the extra time and decisions to make, patience and determination was key... and let me tell you, it was really worth it. Try it out youself and see what you can come up with!

Here is some pictures of me riding my first FRENIQUE “We’re Fresh and Unique” wakeskate.

You should make sure to check out, 'like' and read Frenique Customs' profile on Facebook. They have a great story and are building some awesome things like wooden ear plugs, Muskoka chairs, cabinetry, and of course - longboards.   

Here is a cool video from the 2012 Longboard4kids event on Matthew's new Youtube feed: