how chinese boards are made

brigade_bill

Johnophean

I don't think any other Chinese woodshop is going to be making decks a 10th the quality as they are made there at DSM (Dwindle). Dwindle makes quite possibly some of the most hardcore, precision made skateboards on the planet.

Double Impact decks are fuckin painfully strong! It's crazy! (heavier, but stronger).

You should have named this post "the way skateboard decks should all be made in 2013". 

Sorry, but it's the truth. 

The single deck press is the best part, I love that about Dwindles boards. No more variants.

I hate when I get a deck that I've skated before and it's flatter/deeper than the last one. 

Here come the "bring labor back to America" rants of tyranny at me. : ) 

SK8ER

If it's cheaper to make decks in China then they should be sold for cheaper prices.  You can get China made decks for the same price as decks made in the USA.  These companies making decks in China are ripping off the consumers.  I will support Powell/Bones/Independent/Jessup as long as they continue to be USA made.

brigade_bill

i do agree the impact plates could help however the powell ligament is better (waiting for that royalty check now cha-ching) fact is all chinese boards suck they dont know what they are doing simple as that

Castpolymer

Labor costs are around. 35 - .50 cents per hour in China. No benefits, no O.T. There are little to no safety regulations for workers and environmental regulations are nearly non - existant.

brigade_bill

yep

Johnophean

Has anyone here actually skated an Almost Double Impact deck? Or is everyone just judging out of hearsay?

I have and do own a Double Impact deck. My friend sent to me. I was intrigued and skeptical, so I put it through the ringer w/ my feet, not my mouth.

I skated it for a few months and it was the most solid, poppy, strong deck I've ever skated in my whole life.

It's lifespan is at least 3 decks. The extra $ is worth it.

To say Chinese boards are crap is to judge with your mouth, and not your feet.

The Mini Logo decks since they started being MIC are the exact same quality as before. Nothing changed.

That's why they never announced it. It was either go to China or start charging more for the Made in USA ones.

Either way, everyone complains. I judge quality, not where it was made.

Sure, it'd be nice to send $ to Made in USA product first, but it's 2013, everyone needs income whether it's the Asian feeding their 12 kids over there, or the Guatemalan feeding their family of 8 over here. Get it yet?

(Heck I have Made in USA deck for sale I've tried to sell to our little group of fellas and I'm Made in USA, and as poor and poverty and in need as any American, and not a single one of you want to help me out and support me, so wtf w/ this support only US sales malarkey. It's right here! Buy it, it's a deal - and you help put food in my mouth that I don't have, ya know?)  

All this MIC defending is coming from someone that is as Santa Barbara, USA Skate One obsessed as anything.

Only reason I stopped using the Almost deck was because I got a NOS PP Hill ear as a gift and started that for a while.

Otherwise it'd prob would have lasted a freakin year or so. It's that tough a deck.

The only negative thing I have to say about was that the deck is so insanely HARD that I took a chest hit from it popping out of a bowl and it came up and whacked me in the chest plate. I thought I cracked my sternum. It hurt to breath deep for 2 weeks! I've done this with tons of boards, never an issue past 2 minutes later, but this one hurt like a MF! 

Otherwise, perfectest 8.38"x32.5" 14.5" WB deck i've ever skated. 

Great shape nose and tail too!

When Skate One comes out w/ a new concave I'll be set for life on those. Made in China ML or Made in USA Powell Peralta.

Until then, I'll take whatever works and I either get sent to help me out or that I can afford.

It's 2013, there's a board for everyone. No need to judge.

SK8ER

I understand that boards made in China are not always junk, but they should cost less to the consumers.  When Santa Cruz switched from USA to China their decks stayed the same price.  If it's cheaper to produce in China, then it should sell for cheaper to consumers.  The same can be said for Mini Logo, when they made the switch there was no drop in price.

Johnophean

Prob because the costs of them now (when they are produced in China) is the same price overall as it was before (but Made in USA), but with the US prices and the hard times in skateboarding this is how it balanced out, we PAY the the SAME price.

Otherwise if they had stayed in production at Santa Barbara I bet we'd see $40 ML decks.

Honestly the China and USA Mini Logo's skate the exact same. China has a different paint layer, that's all. 

They said the SST was combined within the paint.

As for the financial shit, I don't claim to know anything. I just know what i've been told, and I know it's def something unky George had alot of pride in not doing (the moving overseas for Mini Logo's decks)...until he basically had no choice, and took super special care personally setting up shop over there to make these ML decks starting in 2012. (They've been all MIC since last Winter). The new decks are NOT like the Red Dot decks. They are better. Look for the Militant logo's or the bright green, red, purple, blue or black or natural ones. 

Same wood, same glue, same molds, same everything really, just different hands putting them together, that's all, so the cost didn't go UP if they stayed being made here.

Ya gotta realize, Mini Logo's were the bargain of all bargains before all this happened. 

We were getting a $50 or $60 Powell Peralta deck, but blank for $25-30.

Same deck as any Powell pro model popsicle was, same wood, same glue, same presses, same molds, same factory, only no exciting graphic, no top black paint and top logo and no Ligament tech. From then to now, I think they skate the same. The Ligament decks are stiffer overall and last a bit longer, but creak alot because the Ligaments move around in there between plies when it flexes. Everythings good! We have great stuff today!

Castpolymer

No question on the quality of the Almost deck. Just prefer to buy an American made deck when possible. I would rather give an American a decent paying manufacturing job than send it overseas.