Choosing the Perfect Deck Shape

Two aspects of board shapes are kick height and concave. Kick height is how steep the nose and the tail on the deck while concave is how much the board curves inward toward the middle starting at each side.

Some prefer using a deck with higher kicks since it gives more pop, but starters find it difficult to control. Many prefer medium to low kicks since it gives a more relaxed feel. I advise beginners to choose medium kicks so that they can decide whether to go for a higher or lower kick height for their next board.  

High Kicks

Low/Medium Kick

Concave plays an important role in catching flip tricks as it gives the rider control of the fingerboard. More concave can be helpful if you’re doing a lot of flip tricks, but flat decks are good for beginners. Again, I advise going first for medium concave and decide what is suitable for you.

There are a lot of different wooden fingerboard maker that offers different board shapes. Try purchasing first the cheaper ones as it performs almost the same as the expensive decks. When you are certain of what is the right shape for you, go for whatever brand you want.

Wood Fingerboard Deck vs Plastics

If you are still using plastic fingerboards like TechDeck, you might want to upgrade to a wooden deck. I started using Tech Decks that are made of plastic, but when I experienced what it’s like to use a wooden fingerboard, I started collecting and using different fingerboard deck made of wood. 

Plastic decks like those in TechDecks are easy to find, they don’t break easily and comes in different forms and graphic designs. Plastic fingerboards are cheaper too but it’s more difficult to perform tricks using plastic decks. 

A wooden deck is made of veneer wood with average of 5 plies depending on its thickness. Fingerboard deck made of wood looks and feels authentic. It gives more pop compared to plastic decks. The downside is it is more expensive than plastic and not as durable. 

I recommend using plastic decks for beginners. But as you progress and land more tricks, you might want to consider using wooden fingerboards.

Fingerboarding is a Sport

Skateboarding made it big as a sport, but its mini counterpart, Fingerboarding, is not yet recognized as a sport by everybody. Fingerboards started as a collectibles in the 70’s. Earlier model of fingerboards are different from what we see today. Most of the fingerboards back then are homemade and are not playable enough to execute skateboarding tricks.

Nowadays, fingerboards look exactly like a real skateboard. Decks are either plastic (TechDeck) or wooden. Grip tapes are made from either real skateboard grip or foam tapes. Wheels are plastic or urethane, with or without bearings and the trucks are designed like real skateboard trucks, with bushings, kingpins and axles. The progression of fingerboard facilitates easy execution of tricks similar to skating. Basic tricks are executed by fingers  like the Ollie, kickflip, shove it, heel flips, slides and grinds up to the more complex tricks and transitions are performed the same way a skater do with his foot. Miniature obstacles like ramps, rails, stairs and verts are also made to give a skate like environment.

Fingerboard communities have their own contests, fairs and workshops. Competitions are made with the same rules of skateboarding. A game of S-K-A-T-E, flat tricks, vert tricks and “streets” are some of the category. You can see in networking sites and video sharing sites like YouTube some of the competitions that are organized by dedicated fingerboarders.

Fingerboarding is a sport, or better than that... a Lifestyle.

First Push

Hello Fingerboarders! I started this blog for the Fingerboarding community. I’ll write here articles for starters, do reviews of decks, trucks, wheels, obstacles and things related to Fingerboarding, post videos of the skilled people in the Fingerskating community, news and what not.

I started my appreciation of fingerboards when I was still skateboarding. The popular TechDecks was a must have for skaters back when I was in High School. But after years of being busy with education and a developing beer belly, skating is almost an impossible activity for me to do. But a skater is always a skater right? So I started practising tricks on my fingerboard which is a plastic TechDeck back then. Until I upgraded to using a wooden finger board with bearing wheels (difficult to find/buy in our country), which helped a lot in developing my skills and my appreciation of different wooden decks.

I see fingerboarding as a sport to be taken seriously like skateboarding in the future. There are serious riders and fingerboard enthusiasts nowadays but this recreation needs more coverage. So, until the next post. I’ll be leaving you guys with this video that went viral a couple of months ago...