Fingerboard (skateboard)

A fingerboard or fingerskate is a miniature version of a skateboard complete with moving wheels, graphics and trucks. It has the same scale as a skateboard, but is 96 millimeters long. Skateboarding tricks may be performed using fingers instead of feet. Lance Mountain helped develop fingerboarding as a hobby in the late 1970s and wrote an article on how to make fingerboards in TransWorld's "SKATEboarding" magazine in 1985.

Although finger boarding was a novelty for years, they became a collectible toy as skateboard manufacturers realized the potential for product branding and profit starting in the 1990s.The most popular brand of fingerboard is "Tech Deck".cite web | last=Waters | first=Mark | title=The Fingerboard Controversy: Are toy-skateboard makers promoting skateboarding or just profiting? | publisher=Transworld Business | date=2000-03-03 | url=http://www.twsbiz.com/twbiz/industrynews/article/0,21214,704472,00.html | accessdate=2007-12-25] Fingerboards are now available as inexpensive novelty toys or as high-end collectibles complete with accessories one would find in use with standard-size skateboards.cite web | last=Hocking | first=Justin | coauthors=Jeff Knutson, Jared Jacang Maher, Jocko Weyland | title=Life and Limb: Skateboarders Write from the Deep End | publisher=Soft Skull Press | year=2004 | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=BxFdbXUDGt0C&dq=%22fingerboard%22+skateboard | accessdate=2007-12-25] cite web | title=Fingerboard Tuning | publisher=Fingerboardstore.de | year=2007 | url=http://www.fingerboardstore.de/shop/index.php?cPath=23 | accessdate=2008-12-25] Fingerboards are also used by skateboarders as 3-D model visual aids to understand potential tricks and maneuvers;cite web | last=Mullen | first=Rodney | coauthors=Sean Mortimer | title=The Mutt: How to Skateboard and Not Kill Yourself | publisher=HarperCollins | year=2004 | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=yKDJjltBon8C&pg=PA49&dq=%22fingerboard%22+skateboard&sig=0iaF28br3TMTt0-5GG-oAjm2JRw#PPA43,M1 | accessdate=2007-12-25] many users make videos to document their efforts.__TOC__

History

Fingerboards started as homemade toys in the 1970s and later became a novelties attached to key chains in skate shops.cite web | title=About Fingerboarding | publisher=Blackriver Ramps | year=2007 | url=http://www.blackriver-ramps.com/brr-blog/wordpress/?page_id=3 | accessdate=2007-12-25]

In the 1985 documentary "Future Primitive" a homemade fingerboard was ridden in a sink; some consider this the earliest fingerboard footage available for public viewing. The homemade fingerboard was built from cardboard, , and Hot Wheels axles.

Fingerboards have been a peripheral part of the skateboarding industry since the late 1980s and were originally marketed as keychains." Although barely "rideable" they were improved upon by the Tech Decks brand which mass produced a "rideable" miniature skateboard. The first entertainment licensed fingerboards were introduced by Bratz Toys, released through a Hong Kong-based toy company named Prime Time Toys, and designed by PANGEA [http://www.PangeaCorp.com] , the company that helped develop "The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" toy line for Playmates Toys. The designs were harnessed from entertainment properties such as "Speed Racer," "Woody Woodpecker," "NASCAR," "Heavy Metal," and "Crash Bandicoot." The licensed boards drove the Tech Deck brand into licensing strong urban brands (rather than simoply making up cool designs). Suddenly, brands popped-up on fingerboards, ranging from famous real-sized skateboards to sneakers. The phenomenon was milked for four years heavily -- and the market controlled expertly by the distributors of Tech Deck. Entertainment brands couldn't compete agains the urban juggernaut and eventually disappeared. Other "major players in the skateboard industry" soon followed in hopes of reaping profits as young toy-playing children would choose to take up skateboarding. More modern fingerboards, like [http://www.techdeck.com X-Concepts' Tech Decks] , [http://www.thinkskateboards.com Think's Super Mini Boards] , the [http://www.dlxsf.com Deluxe Finger Banger Boards] , and Fingerboard brand's Pro-Precision boards, featured "interchangeable wheels and trucks, a fairly accurate scale size, and pad-printed graphics reproduced from the most popular skateboard companies in the business." Blackriver Ramps' Fingerboardparks providing all manner of fingerboarding accessories including sophisticated and customizable components able to duplicate, in scale-model, the skateboarding experience thus developing the fingerboard into a collectible toy and the practice into a "form of mental skating".

In the late 1990s, as fingerboards became more prominent outside the skateboading community, X-Concepts' Tech Decks licensed "actual pro graphics from major skateboard brands" riding "the 1999 fingerboard wave right into Wal-Mart and other major outlets." In 1999 there was a Tech Deck fashion of collecting one of each design similar to the Beanie Baby fad months prior.

Materials

Tech Decks, arguably the most popular fingerboards, are made out of hard plastic and are in many different design from skateboard manufacturers, such as Blind, Flip, and Element. They have real metal trucks, grip tape, and real graphics. The stock trucks on Tech Decks are made of die-cast metal and have two separate axles for the wheels to roll on. The wheels are made out of plastic. Some fingerboarders prefer the feel and performance of decks made out of wood. Wooden decks can be made from 3-6 plies of a given veneer; Maple, walnut, and mahogany being the most popular. All of the hole-drilling and shaping are done entirely by hand. Because wooden decks are not mass-produced, they are highly priced. A wooden deck from a popular company usually costs 25$ USD. Along with wooden decks, advanced fingerboarders also tend to prefer bearing wheels to Tech Deck wheels. Bearing wheels can be made from a plethora of different materials such as teflon, urethane, silicon, and fiberglass. The materials are usually put into a lathe which gives them the most perfect round shape possible. Once the wheels have been properly drilled, bearings are put into place to increase the smoothness of the wheels rolling on the axle. Tuning is another luxury that advanced fingerboarders enjoy. Rather than using the stock axles and kingpins that come on Tech Deck trucks, fingerboarders use tuning screws and custom kingpins to ensure that wheels and hangars are more properly secured. Tuning screws for the wheels cause the wheels to roll more smoothly.

Usage

To use a fingerboard one's middle finger goes on the "tail" (back end), and the index finger goes on the middle of the board or vice versa if it does not feel comfortable to ride in the fashion that was previously stated. A variety of innovative tricks from classic, so-called "old-school", to more original and creative maneuvers can be envisioned and done on a small scale either for the enjoyment alone or as a precursor to one's skateboarding experiences where individual style and diversification of tricks is rewarded.

Fingerboards are used by a range of people from small children utilizing them as toys to skateboarding and related sports professionals envisioning not only their own skating maneuvers but for others as well and can include the use for planning out competition courses as skating boarding develops into an international sport. Skateboarding is currently being considered as a sport for the 2012 Olympic Games in London. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/olympics_2012/6734839.stm "London Could Host Skateboarding: Skateboarding could make its Olympic debut at the London 2012 Games."] BBC Sports, 8 June 2007.] The 2008 Summer Olympics, due to be held 8 August-24 August, 2008 in Beijing, may present the sport as spectator event as China's second gold of the Asian Indoor Games (October 2007) was to Che Lin for skateboarding. [ [http://en.beijing2008.cn/news/sports/headlines/swimming/n214185676.shtml "China claims women's finswimming title in Asian Indoor Games"] Xinhuanet, Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, 28 October, 2007.] Also, skateboarding youths have attracted "mesmerized" crowds in Shenzhen, a city described by professional skateboarders as "a skating paradise." [ [http://en.beijing2008.cn/news/sports/headlines/others/n214154313.shtml "Street Sports in Shenzhen Attract Expats"] Xinhuanet, Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, 12 September, 2007.]

Accessories

Similar to train enthusiasts building railway models, fingerboard hobbyists often construct and purchase reduced scale model figures that would be considered natural features to an urban skateboarder such as handrails, benches, and stairs they would be likely to encounter while riding. In addition users might build and buy items seen in a skatepark including half-pipes,cite web
last name =Halford
first name =Wayne
coauthor =Eric SodKar Fai, Steven Moran
authorlink =
title=Roll-up halfpipe for miniature toy skateboard
publisher=Mattel, Inc.
date=2000-08-03
url =http://www.google.com/patents?hl=en&lr=&vid=USPAT6350174&id=v5AJAAAAEBAJ&oi=fnd&dq=fingerboard+skateboard
accessdate=2007-12-25 Patent number: 6350174; Filing date: Aug 3, 2000; Issue date: Feb 26, 2002. ] quarter pipes, trick boxes, vert ramps,cite web
last name =Labelson
first name =Ross
coauthor =Timothy J. Klima
authorlink =
title=Amusement ramp and method for constructing same
publisher=Pillsbury Winthrop LLP
date=19 July, 1999
url =http://www.google.com/patents?id=BloNAAAAEBAJ
accessdate=2007-12-25 Patent number: 6623367, Filing date: Jul 19, 1999; Issue date: Sep 23, 2003. ] pyramids, banked ramps, full pipes, and any number of other -oriented objects.cite web
last name =Hull
first name =Everett
coauthor =
authorlink =
title=Reciprocating plaything and method for playing
publisher=Thomas L. Adams
date=10 December, 2004
url =http://www.google.com/patents?id=h1-BAAAAEBAJ
accessdate=2007-12-25 Patent number: 7261613; Filing date: Dec 10, 2004; Issue date: Aug 28, 2007 ] These objects can be used simply for enjoyment and also to assist the visualization of skateboarding tricks or the "flow" from one trick to the next (or to create "lines"). At fingerboarding events displays feature some of the latest elaborate models and accessories; many of the manufacturers features photos and videos on their websites.

Video sharing

Fingerboarding is a good match for videography as the action can be controlled and framing the activity offers opportunities for creativity.cite web
last=Vienne
first=Véronique
title=Fresh Dialogue 3: New Voices in Graphic Design
publisher=Princeton Architectural Press
year=2003
url =http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=3PoFw_4hj3UC&oi=fnd&pg=PT16&dq=fingerboard+skateboard&ots=iqx9fzkMIm&sig=GrozcGffn2GKTjvF-TcFpb2KJsY#PPT101,M1
accessdate=2007-12-25] With the rise of the online video business from early 2006 through the present,cite web
last=Perez
first=Juan Carlos
title=US online video popularity keeps climbing
publisher=MacWorld
date=September 13, 2007
url =http://www.macworld.com/news/2007/09/13/video/
accessdate=2007-09-15] fueled, in part, because the feature that allows e-mailing clips to friends,cite web
last=Zawadski
first=Alison
title=A Work in Progress
publisher=Le Provocateur
date=September 13, 2007
url =http://media.www.leprovoc.com/media/storage/paper453/news/2007/09/12/Viewpoint/A.Work.In.Progress-2964495.shtml
accessdate=2007-09-15] several thousand finger board and handboard videos can now be found on popular video-sharing sites such as YouTube.cite web
title=YouTube videos of handboarding
publisher=YouTube
date=25 December, 2007
url =http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=search_videos&search_query=handboard&search_sort=video_avg_rating&search_category=0&search=Search&v=&uploaded=&filter=1
accessdate=2007-12-25] cite web
title=YouTube videos of fingerskating
publisher=YouTube
date=25 December, 2007
url =http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=search_videos&search_query=fingerskate&search_sort=video_avg_rating&search_category=0&search=Search&v=&uploaded=&filter=1
accessdate=2007-12-25] cite web
title=YouTube videos of fingerboarding
publisher=YouTube
date=25 December, 2007
url =http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=fingerboard&search=Search
accessdate=2007-12-25] Thus even if the weather does not permit a skateboarder to practice outside they could try a potential trick with their scaled-down fingerboard and related items and share the video with whomever they wished.

Popularity

Fingerboarding is popular in Europe in countries such as England and Germany;cite web
last name =
first name =
coauthor =
authorlink =
title=Fingerboard Events Forum
publisher=Fingerboard.de
year=2007
url =http://fingerboard.de/
accessdate=2007-12-25] there is growing popularity in Eastern Europe. Besides skateshops and the internet the world's first fingerboard store opened in Steyr, Austria. Fingerboarders have regular "contests, fairs, workshops and other events". Teri Werner, owner of Boards and More, a skateboarding shop, in San Pedro, California, commented on the fad stating she promotes fingerboarding and skateboarding by holding contests on the store's fingerboard ramp with one contest having "175 entrants in two categories, plus another hundred spectators." cquote|The kids specifically come here to buy their fingerboards. We sell them for $9.99, but they come to us because they trust what we do. We're kid-friendly, and we keep it alive by having ramps available for them to play with. We sell fingerboards like crazy. Fingerboard-product sales were estimated at $120-million for 1999.

Handboards

Handboards, similar to fingerboards, are a scaled-down version of a skateboard roughly half to a third of the size of a standard skateboard (11 inches) and utilizes a person's hands rather than just their fingers to control the board and perform tricks and maneuvers. Handboards can be easier to use than fingerboards.

Handboards, because of their larger size more closely match details of a standard skateboard. For instance a skateboard truck, the wheel structure, would more likely to match part for part an actual skateboard truck rather than be a cast one-piece construction or otherwise simplified. If a user preferred a particular type of wood or decorative style that could also more easily resemble a full-scale skateboard.

Fingersnowboarding

Similar to fingerboarding, fingersnowboarding is snowboarding on a small-scale snowboard controlled with one's fingers. Fingersnowboard brands are: Tech Deck, Flick Trix. In December 1999 the first-ever World Snowboard Fingerboard Championships was held with a cash prize of C$1,000.00.cite web
last name =Stouffer
first name =John
coauthor =
authorlink =
title=Snowtopia 99: Tom Sims Wins World Fingersnowboard Championships
publisher=Transworld Business
date=17 December, 1999
url =http://www.twsbiz.com/twbiz/industrynews/article/0,21214,705865,00.html
accessdate=2007-12-25] Sponsored by companies such as Gravity Fingerboards, Transworld "Snowboarding" and "Snowboard Life" magazines and others the competition featured twenty competitors utilizing a custom "fingerboard snowboard park." Tom Sims, a world champion of snowboarding, ["Snowboarders Finally in Olympics, But Are Conforming Grudgingly", "Salt Lake Tribune, February 8, 1998.] ended his run by landing his fingersnowboard into a flaming shotglass of Sambuka; he was treated for minor burns and donated his winning prize to Surfrider Foundation's Snowrider Project and to Board AID. (A photo of the course can be seen [http://www.twsbiz.com/twbiz/industrynews/article/0,21214,705865,00.html here] .)

References

Further reading

* "Finger Skate Board Tricks and Tips Prepack" by Susan Buntrock (2000); Scholastic, Incorporated - ISBN 0439217148.
* "Life and Limb: Skateboarders Write from the Deep End" by Justin Hocking, Jeff Knutson, Jared Jacang Maher (2004); Soft Skull Press - ISBN 193236028X. (See "Whaling" chapter by Justin Hocking).

[http://www.fingerflipinc.com/forum link title] =External links = A popular american fingerboard forum
* [http://www.dmoz.org/Sports/Skateboarding/Fingerboarding/ Fingerboarding] at the Open Directory Project
* [http://www.sk8boardingaintacrime.8m.com/photo3.html "Finger Board Trick Tips"] includes "The Anatomy of a Finger Skateboard".
* [http://www.fingerboard.de "Fingerboard.de"] Fingerboard Magazine representing the largest fingerboarding community in Europe, in German with some English translations.
* [http://www.fingerboardpt.com "FingerboardPT.com"] Emerging portuguese fingerboard community starring forums, webshop and download section with over 500 members.

Videos of boarders

* [http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=fingerboard&search=Search YouTube videos of fingerboarding]
* [http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=search_videos&search_query=fingerskate&search_sort=video_avg_rating&search_category=0&search=Search&v=&uploaded=&filter=1 YouTube videos of fingerskating]
* [http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=search_videos&search_query=handboard&search_sort=video_avg_rating&search_category=0&search=Search&v=&uploaded=&filter=1 YouTube videos of handboarding]
* [http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Fingersnowboarding&search=Search YouTube videos of fingersnowboarding] made by kweenciti