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May, 2025

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Painting a longboard

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ARMADAR7
Posts: 401 - Karma: 36
So I am getting a longboard (kracked skulls scimitar) and will be painting the bottom of it, I am planning to do it with acrylics but i want to sharpie in some lettering, my three concerns are cracking the paint when the board bends, trying to sharpie over the acrylic paint, and what clear coat finich shoud i buy, for the cleer coat i want something that is very transparent that wont distort the design wile being thick enough to protect it and wont crack when it bends, if acryllic paint is going to crack what would you suggest for the type of paint i use, i will be painting it with a brush, i have oils but would rather use acrylic, sorry if this is difficult to read or understand i did this with a touch screen, I did searchbar and couldent find a good response, +k for help
13 years ago
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ARMADAR7
Posts: 401 - Karma: 36
I might spay paint parts of it as well
13 years ago
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DrZoidberg
Posts: 5676 - Karma: 4,299
Isn't that board relatively stiff? I believe people use acrylic with no problems, maybe find some flexible wood and test its resistance to cracking.

Basically, sand to bare wood, primer if you've got it, paint, let it dry fully, clearcoat.

Polyurethane is what I use, but it does yellow your colors a bit. I've heard polycrylic (clear acrylic?) or whatever it's called dries very clear, or if you can find some automotive clear coat. Spray paint works fine, just make sure to test compatibilities among all your ingredients. It would suck to spray on the clear and have it dissolve half your paint.
13 years ago
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meowmo
Posts: 319 - Karma: -102
do a clear coating of primer first and you should be fine and if your board doesnt flex too much it won't crack
13 years ago
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ARMADAR7
Posts: 401 - Karma: 36
Ok thanks for the help +k for the good answers, does anyone have expierince with a really good clear coat?
13 years ago
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DrZoidberg
Posts: 5676 - Karma: 4,299
I've never used it personally, but on the silverfish board building forums a lot of people use something called 2k poly, which I think is just poly for cars and boats or something. If you're trying to get a super gloss finish you should look into wet sanding and polishing techniques.

No finish is going to be very resistant to concrete, so if you're trying to protect a graphic from concrete you would need to add a clear plastic laminate or something of that nature. Which would obviously get damage from a lot of concrete contact. Under normal use my minwax spar urethane finishes have held up fine, longboards don't contact the pavement as much as skateboards do, especially between the trucks.
13 years ago
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SkiLefley
Posts: 1073 - Karma: 954
Yes I used it at my school on the longboard I made. It was pretty flexy and it didn't crack at all. The car clear coat is amazing.
13 years ago
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ARMADAR7
Posts: 401 - Karma: 36
Ok thanks to all, i will be posting pics when its finished, that wont be for a while but i will post it
13 years ago
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