Guide of Deck's Technologies

In this guide, we are going to explain the different technologies used by many brands to produce skate decks.

7-Ply of Canadian maple

This is the standard construction and the most used by all the factories. It consist in 7 sheets of Canadian maple glued together to form the thickness of the deck.

After many years the conclusion is that seven is the exact number, because more sheets mean more durability, but also means a heavier and less flexible deck, and less sheets result too fragile decks.

The use of the Canadian maple has become a standard, because it is a very strong and durable wood, abundant and with a low production cost.

Brands that use this technology: All the brands have decks fabricated this way.

P2 (Pro 2)

After years of investigation, P2 technology has become one of the most efficient to build decks.

It consists on replacing one of the seven Canadian maple sheets for a oval Kevlar fiber sheet, with support the other six.

This sheet helps distributing better the pressures all along the board, increasing durability and resistance.

Decks built with this technology are thinner, lighter and the fiber sheet has a ‘spring effect’ that gives a bigger pop.

Brands that use this technology: Mystery, Toy Machine, Habitat, Plan B, Creature, Skate Mental, Santa Cruz, Flip, Zero. 

Impact

The Impact technology combines maple sheets and carbon fiber discs.

It is divided in three levels.

Impact Support: The table is constructed with eight maple sheets and two carbon fiber discs in the truck area, which is the part of the board that suffers greater stress.

This makes the boards more robust and gives them a longer life.

Impact Plus: In this level, the fabrication is the same than Impact Support’s, but adding an extra layer of carbon fiber on the top, with an oval cut.

This gives the boards more strength and durability while greater pop.

Impact Double: At this level, only seven maple sheets and two carbon fiber discs are used, in the trucks zone, but it has an entire extra sheet of carbon fiber. This technology is one of the most durable and strongest on the market, with one of the major pops simultaneously.

Brands that use this technology:: Almost, Enjoi, Cliché

Resin

Resin technology also has 7-ply mapple but, instead of using ordinary glue, exposy resin is used, to be much stronger. Is needed less quantity of resin than of glue.

There are two categories; Resin 7 and Resin 8.

Resin 7: Seven Canadian maple sheets, glued with exposy resing. They are lighter that the standard ones.

Resin 8: Instead of seven sheets of Canadian maple these decks have eight. As the exposy is lighter, even with an extra sheet these boards have the same weight that the standard 7-ply decks. So with the same weight you can have a more resistant deck because of the extra sheet.

Brands that use this technology: Almost, Enjoi, Cliché.

Über Light

This is probably the most advanced and expensive deck technology on the market.

For its construction a kind of padded carbon fiber sheet is created within the deck itself is created.

The inner sheet is extremely light and almost as hard as metal. It works as a backbone and makes the most resistant currently decks.

At the same time, to reduce weight and add strength to the table, especially on the sides, it is possible to react much faster than conventional flip charts making them much faster and more accurate.

Brands that use this technology:: Almost.

Push

This technology uses the Feather Light Helium construction, but adds a carbono fiber oval extra sheet, all glued with exposy. The result is a lighter and stronger deck.

Brands that use this technology: Element 

Featherlight Helium

Between the wooden sheets it has five patented air chambers that  significantly reduce weight without losing strength.

Brands that use this technology: Element 

Fiberlight

This technology uses thin wood sheets and adds one fiberglass. It is possible the thinnest deck on the market.

The glass fiber sheet distributes the pressure all along the board, so it is not concentrated at the ordinary points of rupture. At the same time, it adds a predetermined tension that gives the deck a greater pop.

Brands that use this technology: Element 

Featherlight

Standard construction with 7 layers of wood, but using thinner sheets, whereby a lighter board is achieved.

Brands that use this technology: Element 

Flatlight

Standard 7-ply maple construction, but with a gentle concave angles in the nose and the tail less steep. It also adds more flat area behind the trucks, to nollies and ollies with faster response.

Brands that use this technology: Element 

Thriftwood 

Is the name Element  give to their standard construction of 7 wooden sheets, which attempt to provide maximum rigidity and maximum thickness with sheets as thick as possible.

Brands that use this technology: Element

Twig

These decks are intended for young riders. They are based on featherlight technology, but the lightest and thinnest decks of the brand. 

Brands that use this technology: Element

Armor Light

AS its name suggest, Light Armor is a technology intended for getting an extremely robust and light deck. It is achieved by adding a carbon sheet in the middle of the board to provide a high stiffness without increasing the weight.

Brands that use this technology:  Darkstar 

Ligament

This technology attempts to simulate the ligaments that attach the muscles of our body. The decks that use ‘ligament’ have a wide strip of polymer in the middle of the board, very strong and flexible, and keep all together even to finishing a trick with a broken deck. The weight is the same as conventional 7-Ply decks, but they have much more pop and maintain rigidity longer.

Brands that use this technology:  Powell Peralta 

Prospec

Prospec decks are built with sheets of different thickness, thicker in the middle and thinner at the edges so these boards have greater stability and greater pop by a kind of spring effect.

Brands that use this technology: Plan B 

Powerplay

Is the name Santa Cruz give to their 7-wooden-sheet construction.

Brands that use this technology: Santa Cruz 

Fiberprime

To get an extra rigidity and long lasting, an upper sheet of fiber is added to the six-maple-sheet construction.

Brands that use this technology: Toy Machine

VX technology

Santa Cruz VX Decks are made of 5-plys of hard rock North American Maple that gets reinforced by two layers of patented Santa Cruz Quad X Technology material.  This construction makes the Santa Cruz VX decks both thinner and stronger than other board on the market. The Quad X Technology material also makes these boards keep their pop longer than any skateboard ever made.

Brands that use this technology: Santa Cruz