I suppose it's like Enuff Skateboards, they buy their decks from China and apply graphics and fix any imperfections. I personally think you should take into consideration what everyone said because if you do what the customers want you to do they will be happy. Happy customers is a good thing as you may know! You should have a range of graphics to chose from so beginners will be able to get a deck that they like the look of for a affordable price because when I was a beginner I just chose decks by the looks. :/

Anyways, good luck with everything man! Would be sad to see such a respected company shut down

What i'd like to hear your opinions on, because I've not seen it addressed..
All these china companies have 34098230948x more marketing than you. The people in the market for china decks aren't the people who've really heard of anyone except BRR, Flatface, Prowood, and the ebay giants. Doesn't that place your decks outside of any real demographic, and thus seem like a waste of money? I think it's better if the money goes to you so don't get me wrong, I'm not wishing negativity on you, I just don't get why anyone who's after a beginner deck is not just going to go on ebay and see 'oh look, people's republic 32mm blank deck. 6 dollars.' why pay 4 extra dollars for the same thing from you? All that leaves with is locals who'll buy stuff word of mouth so far as I can imagine.. My point about graphics wasn't to negatively claim the china decks to be more than they are, but to make what you're selling slightly effort involved, and more to the point, to stand out. Seems like it'd help you both - even if you make some tacky graphic that's not at all affiliated with noco/hw it's still better than just blank in my books.

As for 'double standards' that's been thrown around in this thread.. this might explain it further: mass produced decks are required in a scene. Everyone says 'support the small companies if you want a beginner deck', but little billy just started fingerboarding and doesn't want to wait ages for a stock to come up from a small company, nor does he know enough about fingerboarding to find these companies. Once he's got a board and starts enjoying it, he's going to progress further and see these companies, and then they'll get his sale. But for now? Companies like close up and bollie who sell china decks with a bit of thought added to them and give back to the scene through sponsosring events.. they're okay in my books. I think it'd be a shame if he gave his first deck money to someone who's just buying low, selling high, and pocketing the difference, but if someone's got this deck and at least put a tiny bit of effort into it, then you're in a way paying for that effort, that thought, that creativity - the things that make products imo. That's what makes the difference in my mind. We need mass produced decks on some level - and I think if you two collaborated, put some non no co/hw affiliated spruce on these decks, you could start a whole storm of 'mass produced not mass paycheck'. right now it kind of just seems like you're wasting your money

I'm not churching up a china deck with a fancy graphic. It's STILL a china deck. Just like any brand out there that may get their own boards manufactured in china.

You can slice it, dice it, slap chop that bitch and wipe it up with a shamwow; the same hands touch the boards, the same hands shape the boards, the same hands drill the boards, the same hands finish sand the boards, the same hands lacquer the boards the same hands that touch and make the cheap boards, make those sold at incredible mark ups, hell it's the same wood.

I did in the past, and did with the new ones, finish the edges a bit better and knock the lacquer down and lacquer them more.

Is that enough "extra love" to satisfy people? lol It's still a china deck though....and it's LONE purpose is to cater to people who come to my site, and that won't, don't or can't spend the price of a deck I make.

fuck it im going to buy some china goods on ebay. zài jiàn everyone!

Like seriously, a china deck is a china deck. A graphic added to it does not make it not a china deck.

I personally like what justin plans to do with homewood.

^Thanks dude! Nathan go ahead and buy on ebay like I said you're not my target market for these decks lol. No worries at all mate!

Kerry if you can give me some time to show you what I'm talking about that would be much appreciated. I have to mold a few decks then I'll be back to edit this post with a bunch of stuff that will demonstrate my point.

Yeah, even Todd the deck master, has been selling shop decks too. I agree that china stuff isn't bad. It's another extra way to increase sales a bit for Homewood, and it's not like you are completely selling them like some companies do. You take time to craft your decks.

I wouldn't mind buying a china deck from a well-respected company like Homewood or No comply. But with all these giant ads from all the china companies, there isn't much of a chance for a beginner to look up the word "homewood fingerboards"to get to Jusin's shop, to buy a china deck, instead of heading to ebay and buying a Broken Knuckle.

But I hope Homewood stays alive because it has amazing products and has done a lot things to the scene!

Thanks so much dude! And you're exactly right the people who are brand new to fingerboarding or at least to wood boards would have a harder time finding me right now, which I plan on fixing in the coming weeks. But if you look at the home page of FFI, and look on ebay, and random online toy stores you'll find a ton of china decks being sold from specific companies. Also you'll see ads all over google. This is part of the marketing I was talking about earlier, and after I mold a few decks I'll find the exact pages and link them all here so you can all see what I'm talking about. There's websites I had no idea even existed that sell them.

Here are some screen shots from various websites that these people also sell their decks:







And I know they also sell on ebay as well. There are probably many other sites I couldn't find just now that they sell as well. And when you do various google searches you can find paid ads from a few companies, shown here:





My main point for showing this is I feel that certain companies are only in business to buy mass produced products and distribute them to as many places as they can to make as much money as they can. Walmart philosophy: Profit by selling volume, not quality. I believe in taking pride in what you make, and supporting companies who legitimately love the sport of fingerboarding, not just random people looking for an opportunity to make a quick buck.

Again I have nothing against them marketing heavily like this as far as google ads go and what not, but if their budgets are much bigger it puts companies like mine and Todd's at a disadvantage. So again this is part of the reason I'm carrying these decks, to market to the new fingerboarders who want a beginner wood deck for not a lot of money. I'll be marketing more myself in the coming months to hopefully gain some traction again so I can focus on what I do best and that is making my own decks. I love making custom decks for people it makes me so happy when they post pictures and stuff and get all excited! I would much rather do that then have them get excited about decks I didn't make haha. And I won't waste my time covering them up with graphics when I can put them on Homewoods (which I plan on making some new graphics very soon!)

Well I mean the marketing is part of the business.. The only reason I even found about fingerboarding beyond tech decks was coming across a BKF on Amazon and then got into it way more after that.

It's up to you to create that partnership with Amazon so they list your product as well... Imagine if Amazon had actual quality boards instead of only china.

I got into fingerboarding because of Oneway and BKF

DarianN wrote:

I got into fingerboarding because of Oneway and BKF

Same here, I got into from 4CFB

didnt think oneway were china

The economy is china, trucks and wheels are china, but the other decks are made by the owners. My friend was sponsored by them 3 or 4 years ago.

DarianN wrote:

The economy is china, trucks and wheels are china, but the other decks are made by the owners. My friend was sponsored by them 3 or 4 years ago.

oh yeh cool man

Yeah that's totally cool! I'm just hoping that I can reach some new people too so they can say "I got into fingerboarding because of Homewood"

Just saying, when people get into fingerboarding they search for the most affordable choice they can find. I got in through 4CFB because they were so much more affordable compared to Berlinwood, Yellowood, or Flatface. For a beginner if they go to Homewood and they go check out the decks the first thing on their mind would be "FORGET ABOUT IT!" Because they don't understand the difference.

Point is, most people when going into fingerboarding will go to the cheaper stuff first.

Also, you made me think of berlinwood sooooo much differently now. I don't really care that they print their graphics in china because at least the woods and molds are all original. BUT you did kinda ruin blackriver trucks for me. I'm kinda glad though because honestly they weren't any difference compared to china trucks. On top of that they cost more than REAL skateboard trucks. I'm better off going to Home Depot and getting some small tool to shape china trucks.

I don't know if this is too much to ask but I'm intrested if the blackriver ramps are made in china too. Because if they are it pisses me off how over priced they are.
Last question lol, how did you get that sample graphic thing? If anything PM me of you don't want to tell everyone lol.

They don't make the ramps in china. I met Andi (rider and employee) and Martin (owner of BRR) and they said they had make all the ramps. Andi said he made the G9 park himself. Still unbelievable that brts are made in china ha

DarianN wrote:

They don't make the ramps in china. I met Andi (rider and employee) and Martin (owner of BRR) and they said they had make all the ramps. Andi said he made the G9 park himself. Still unbelievable that brts are made in china ha

Their word means next to nothing if all this other stuff is true lmao.

DarianN wrote:

They don't make the ramps in china. I met Andi (rider and employee) and Martin (owner of BRR) and they said they had make all the ramps. Andi said he made the G9 park himself. Still unbelievable that brts are made in china ha

Pretty sure they aren't going to tell you they outsource their stuff. Do you honestly think they can hand make every ramp they sell?

Ryan wrote:

DarianN wrote:

They don't make the ramps in china. I met Andi (rider and employee) and Martin (owner of BRR) and they said they had make all the ramps. Andi said he made the G9 park himself. Still unbelievable that brts are made in china ha

Pretty sure they aren't going to tell you they outsource their stuff. Do you honestly think they can hand make every ramp they sell?

ramps yes ,rails no, BRT china as well

Thank you ^^^, because word of mouth is best. They obviously wouldn't say HEY! BRR is made in china.

keelan W wrote:

Ryan wrote:

DarianN wrote:

They don't make the ramps in china. I met Andi (rider and employee) and Martin (owner of BRR) and they said they had make all the ramps. Andi said he made the G9 park himself. Still unbelievable that brts are made in china ha

Pretty sure they aren't going to tell you they outsource their stuff. Do you honestly think they can hand make every ramp they sell?

ramps yes ,rails no, BRT china as well

I personally don't think they make every single ramp they have to sell. Just wondering but how could they make the ramps but not the rails?

Just thought they could as they have like 50 employees

Thats what I thought^