While bikes, scooters, and maybe even unicycles are cool, nothing beats riding on a plank of wood on wheels at top speed with reckless abandon—particularly when said board has some pretty killer artwork on it, too.
Tye Sheehan may be a civil engineer during the day, but during his free time, he makes some of the best wood art out there using pyrographic techniques. By running an electric current through a piece of wood, he can burn entirely unique designs onto anything made from a tree trunk. And seeing as the classic skateboard is made from wood, it only made sense for him to try his hand at designing a board.
https://www.facebook.com/TyeMadeIt/videos/944077915788968/
As with all of his woodworks, Tye begins by running a stream of electricity through both ends of the skate deck. This creates a branching streak of burnt wood from the two connectors which spreads to the rest of the board (you can actually see the electricity as it runs through the wood).
Once the two streaks meet, Tye washes the burnt wood with a water hose before casting the cracks in colored epoxy. This preserves the intricate creases of the board and helps ensure they won’t disappear over time—and countless kickflips.
To finish the skateboard, he sands it down and applies some varnish to make it shiny and golden brown. Seeing as the final skateboard design now looks maybe even a little too good to ride, it might be better to mount this bad boy on a wall rather than shredding it on some curbs.
You can find more of Tye’s woodworking art on his Facebook page, Tye Made It. He also has an Etsy page if you want some burnt woodwork for yourself!
