People see a skateboard ring for the first time and ask the same thing: how do you get a ring out of a skateboard? Here's how skateboard rings are made at Bayshore, start to finish, from a dead deck to a ring in a wooden box. No factory, no machines doing it for me. Just boards, a saw, a lathe, and a lot of sandpaper.
Step 1: Start With a Board Somebody Actually Skated
Every ring starts as a real skateboard deck that got ridden until it was done. The boards come from skaters, every brand you can think of. Snapped decks, razor tails, boards that lost their pop. A broken board still has plenty of good wood in it, so as long as there's clean maple inside, it can become rings.
Most decks are 7-ply maple, usually made in the US. That matters, because maple is one of the toughest hardwoods out there. It's the reason skate companies use it, and it's the reason these rings hold up. (If you've got your own pile of dead decks, here's what to do with old skateboards.)
Step 2: Open It Up and See What's Inside
From the outside, a deck is a graphic on the bottom and grip tape on top. The good stuff is in between. Before a board is pressed, the maker dyes some of those thin maple sheets: blue, green, pink, yellow, whatever that run was. You never see those colors while you're skating. Cut across the board and there they are, stacked up in stripes.
I honestly don't know what a board looks like inside until I cut it. Some are mostly natural maple with one pop of color. Some are loud, with three or four colors stacked up. That's why no two skateboard rings are the same.
Step 3: Cut the Deck Into Squares
The deck gets cut down into squares. This is where I start deciding what each ring is going to look like, because a skateboard isn't flat. It has concave, a nose, and a tail, so the layers curve differently depending on where you cut. One square might give you thick, even stripes. The one next to it might have a wave running through it.
Step 4: Cut the Circles and Rough Shape
Next, each square gets a circle cut out of it, and then I rough shape the ring on the scroll saw. At this point it looks like a chunky wooden donut more than a ring. The goal here is just to get close to the final shape without taking off wood I'll need later.
Step 5: Sand, Sand, and Sand Some More
This is the longest part. The ring goes on the lathe and gets sanded through a bunch of grits, starting coarse to shape it and moving finer and finer until every layer looks crisp. As I sand, I'm taking wood off, which changes how much of each colored ply shows. So the sanding is where the ring really becomes itself.
This is also where the inside gets rounded and smoothed out. Every Bayshore ring is comfort fit, which means the inside edge is rounded so it slides on easy and feels good all day.
Step 6: Seal It With a Hard Finish
Raw wood on your finger wouldn't last long. So every ring gets a hard CA finish. I'll be upfront: CA is a synthetic coating, not an all-natural oil. I use it because it seals the wood and protects it from everyday wear, and a ring that lasts for years is better for everybody than one that falls apart. I wrote more about that tradeoff in eco friendly wooden rings.
Step 7: Polish
After the finish, the ring gets polished by hand. That's what gives it the smooth, glassy look and brings the colors in the wood forward. It's the step where a ring goes from "cool piece of wood" to something you'd actually wear to a wedding.
What About the Stainless Steel Rings?
I make two styles. All-wood rings, like the Green & Yellow and the Dark Blue & Green, are 100% skateboard. The other style has a stainless steel inner band with skateboard wood wrapped around the outside, like the Blue & Pink. You get the same colorful recycled deck on the outside, with steel touching your finger for extra strength. If you're picking a skateboard wedding band you'll wear every single day, that's the one I'd look at.
Step 8: Box It Up and Ship It
Every finished ring goes into a wooden box with a card and a sticker. The box is meant to be kept, so your ring has a home when it's not on your hand, and it's basically gift wrapped already.
Because I make every ring by hand, one at a time, give it up to 4 weeks to ship. I ship across the US and to a bunch of other countries too.
Why Make Them This Way?
I started doing this in 2020 when I broke my leg and couldn't skate (the full founder story is here). Six years and 50+ decks later, it's still just me in the workshop, now in Tampa. Doing it by hand is slower, but it means every ring gets looked at, sanded, and finished by someone who cares how it turns out. And no new trees get cut down for any of it. The wood already existed. It just needed a second life.
If you want to see what's on the bench right now, check out the skateboard rings in the shop. Before you order, grab your size with the ring size guide, since wood rings can't be resized.
FAQ
What are skateboard rings made of?
Recycled skateboard decks, which are usually 7-ply hard maple with some dyed layers. Bayshore rings are sealed with a hard CA finish. The stainless steel style also has a stainless steel inner band.
Are the colors painted on?
No. The colors come from dyed maple plies inside the deck. Nothing is painted or printed.
How long does it take to get a handmade skateboard ring?
Every ring is made by hand, so allow up to 4 weeks to ship.
Can a skateboard ring be resized?
Wood rings can't be resized, so check your size with the ring size guide before ordering. Unworn rings can be returned within 30 days.
Can you make a ring from my old skateboard?
Not yet, but it's something I really want to do. For now, every ring comes from decks skaters have already worn out.