Never Summer Factory

Making a NS board – Step by Step – Part 3

So Eddie Wall is at the NS factory. He has his base, core and topsheet all ready. The next step is to lay it all up and this is really where the magic happens.

An aluminium cassette which is moulded to fit a specific board and size is used to hold everything together. It is cleaned meticulously before the base with the edges attached is glued in place in it. This is to hold it throughout production – the glue is all removed in the base grind at the edge. Next up its time to grab a cup of glue and get started. The layup starts with the bottom of the board getting soaked in glue, and inserts hammered in. Next carbon stringers and more rubber damping. Other design features are also pointed out like the hardwood strips the inserts are placed into. There are also quality checks ensuring the right weight of glue is added to the fibreglass.

All the layers are soaked in glue separately before coming together with more glue to assemble the final layup. Most employees at NS are snowboarders themselves. After working at the company for 6 months they are entitled to a free snowboard and longboard. They get new ones 12 months later. After two years they are allowed to make custom boards for themselves – some of the designs in the range stem from this.

After layup is complete it goes in the press. This is where the rocker, camber and tip shape is put into the board. It is heated up under alot of pressure and cooked. This takes about 18 minutes. Once it comes out of the press is is time for a quality control inspection before it is left to cool.

Next it will be finishing!

Discover more from Never Summer UK

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading