Every durable skateboard has its life span. A time comes when the skateboard’s parts start to wear off. Skateboards have to bear hard impacts while giving you thrilling rides.
The skateboard deck is more prone to damage as it carries your weight. It may lose pop or simply fall apart due to being heavyweight. The skateboard’s tail is damaged more often during kickflips and manuals. By rubbing against the ground, the tail becomes thinner and becomes as sharp as a razor. If not taken care of with this sharp tail, it can easily chip off and damage your whole deck.
Let’s discuss in detail what are the drawbacks of this sharp thin tail and how you can prevent it.
What Is a Skateboard Razor Tail?
When the skateboard deck’s tail is over-rubbed to the ground, it starts becoming thin, eventually tearing apart at the seams. The tail becomes so light that it feels like a razor; that’s why it is referred to as a skateboard razor tail.
What Are The Drawbacks Of Razor Tail?
The sharp razor tail can surely affect your skating in the following ways.
Loose Pop
A sharp razor tail will let you loose pop from the deck. Therefore, you won’t be able to perform higher kickflips and ollies.
Can be Dangerous
This thin, sharp, edge tail can surely damage your foot if you hit it mistakenly. That’s why it is named razor tail.
Removes Lamination
Skateboard razor tail can start laminating off the skateboard’s lamination and your whole skateboard starts breaking into pieces.
How To Avoid Razor Tail?
To save you from this situation, we have brought very useful methods which can help you avoid having razor tails.
Apply Tail Guard
The first and foremost method of saving your tail from thinning is to apply rubber guards. These rubber guards act as a cushion between your deck tail and the ground. So whenever you hit the floor with your skateboard tail, the guards absorb the impact, leaving your deck tail smooth and scratch-free.
These rubber guards, also known as skid plates, are durable and lightweight. So you don’t need to worry about compromising your skating performance with these guards.
Sanding Deck
Sanding Deck involves removing the grip tape of your whole deck and applying 80 to 90 grit level sand on the edges. If there are thin wooden pieces known as veneers, you can remove them. Sanding the deck will give you a new look, and the sharp razor edge will be gone. Though the whole deck gets a bit thin, you can repeat the process a few times and increase the possible longevity of your decks.
Adopt Different Method Of Stopping
Most skaters stop their board by rubbing the tail against the ground. Due to rubbing on the ground, the tail gets worn off in no time. If you want to avoid a razor tail, you need to learn a new stopping method. You can stop the deck with your dominating foot. When you rub the foot to the ground, the deck slows down due to the shoe friction. This saves your tail from getting thin.
Unfortunately, your shoes will be worn off in this method, but good-quality shoes with strong friction can save you from this challenging situation.
You can also adopt a jump-off method to stop the skateboard to save your shoes from wearing off. This method requires great practice; otherwise, you will have knee bruises.
Use Carbon-fiber
Like guards, you can add a whole protective layer to your deck, which can save your deck from scratches. This layer is made of carbon fiber. It’s up to you to apply the layer at the nose and tail or on the whole back. If you are a professional skater and do more grinds and sliding tricks, then it’s better to apply the entire carbon-fiber layer to the backside of your deck.
Apply Grip tape
Yes, you are right if you think grip tape is intended for top surfaces. The primary purpose of grip tape is to provide friction to your shoes to hold the deck tightly. But, the same grip tape also protects the top of your deck from scratches. Therefore, you can also apply this grip tape at the bottom of your deck and protect it from scratches. You can also cut the tape and apply it to the curved parts only of your deck.
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When do You need To Buy A New Skateboard Deck?
The skateboard wheels and trucks can last longer than skateboard decks because they are more fragile. If a skateboard deck has been damaged enough, then it can stop you from enjoying your thrilling tricks. We have discussed a few alarming situations that indicate that it’s time to invest in a new skateboard deck.
- When your skateboard does not give you pop and becomes flat, then it’s time to change it. You can still use the same deck for cruising, however.
- When you have attempted a sufficient number of fixes to fix your razor tail through sanding and still a razor tail emerges again, you need to change the board. If you continue to ride on the same deck, then there are chances that the deck may snap during the ride, and you may hurt your feet or knees.
- If you feel that the layers of the skateboard have started to come apart and lamination has begun to wear off, then it’s time to invest in a new one.
Final Verdict
The Razor tail can be fixed, but some skaters ride with it and feel proud because it shows their intense practice, just like warrior bruises on his chest are signs of his bravery. If you are comfortable and your skateboard is performing completely fine, then you can skate with these razor tails; otherwise, buying a new one is always on the table.
