How to Recycle Skateboards
Skateboarding can be an expensive sport, especially if you're an enthusiast who needs to get a new skateboard every couple months. Recycling your old skateboards can not only be a great way to get more bang out of your buck, but it's also a simple and effective way to show your love for the environment. Instead of throwing your old or broken skateboards away, put them to use elsewhere as a bookshelf, a picture frame, or even a trophy decoration. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Old skateboards
- Jigsaw
- Table saw
- Power drill
- Drill bit, 1/2 inch
- Hair dryer
- Vice
- Sandpaper or file
- 2 screws, 3 inches long
- String or yarn, 26 inches long
- Straight edge
- Pencil
Instructions
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Skateboard Picture Frame
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1
Remove the grip tape by applying low heat from a hair dryer and slowly peeling back. Follow your hand with the hair dryer as you peel the grip tape back.
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2
Use a straight-edge to create a few boxes on the bottom of the skateboard that are the size you want for your pictures. Make them a few inches apart from each other, and cover the holes where the trucks are normally mounted on either side of the board.
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3
Put the skateboard into a vice so that the boxes are facing you sideways. Tighten the vice so that it doesn't completely cover any of the boxes up.
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4
Use a power drill and a large drill bit to create a hole somewhere near one of the inside corners of each box.
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5
Cut each of the boxes out with a jigsaw. Insert the blade into the hole you created with the drill and carefully work your way around the outline of each box. Discard the extra wood.
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6
Use a medium-grit sandpaper or a file to clean up your cut and smooth down the edges.
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7
Apply a piece of tape on all four sides of your picture of choice from the back. Align it with the box you cut out from behind the skateboard, and stick it on. Repeat this process for the rest of your pictures.
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8
Hang your recycled skateboard picture frame up by resting it on a line of long screws drilled into a wall; or, set it on a table for display by gluing on two triangular pieces of wood to the bottom of the back of the skateboard on either side.
Skateboard Bookshelf
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9
Use a straight-edge to draw a line on the underside of two skateboards going across the inside bolts.
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10
Cut each of the lines on both skateboards with a table saw using a 1/2-inch blade. Stop cutting when the blade reaches the bolt-hole farthest away from your starting point. Make both cuts on the same side of both skateboards, and also the same length.
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11
Use a straight-edge to draw two lines on two other skateboards, going through the inside bolt-holes on both ends, just as you did before.
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12
Match up the lines on each skateboard with the slots you cut out on the first two skateboards and slide them in to each other. Secure them together by applying a line of hot glue on the bottom, outside corners of each shelf.
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13
Insert some long screws into your wall where you want your skateboard shelf to hang, and rest the shelves over top of them.
Trophy Decoration
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14
Lie your skateboard on the ground with the graphics facing up. Put both ends of a 26-inch piece of string or yarn into the bottom two holes on the nose of your skateboard. Pull the ends through from the other side, and make sure they are even.
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15
Insert a 3-inch screw halfway into your wall, about 1 foot above where to would like your old skateboard to hang. Put another one in about 6 inches lower.
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16
Tie your ends of string together in a knot and hang it over the top screw. Grab both parts of the string about 6 inches lower, and criss-cross them around the bottom screw so that it pulls the skateboard closer to the wall.
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1
Tips & Warnings
Ask your friends if they have any old skateboards they don't use anymore that you can take off their hands to add to your projects.
Cut your boxes for the picture frame to be the same size as the pictures you want to use.
Always wear the appropriate personal protection equipment, and take the necessary precautions when operating a table saw or jigsaw.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit the underside of a red coloured skateboard on a blue background image by Stephen Gibson from Fotolia.com
