update

this is old Lew.

we just skated at Louisville last night. yesterday, really. just till right before dark. it was real fun... i wore my army pants for the first time. it wasn't quite cold enough for hesh holiday...

well, I just wanted to let all of our friends out there know how things are going here at Fickle Corporate.

we are welding on the press, a little more each week, making trips to the steel supply store and designing and fabricating and having a blast creating a press that will last for years and produce amazing wood at longer lengths...

we are also more sure than ever that the skateboard wood market has gone completely insane. You see, I spend time on the phone and face to face with wood suppliers... some people make fun of how much phone time I spend... and I have more than "learned"... I've SEEN with my own eyes that the american skateboard wood market is a sick place.

sick in a bad way, that is.

I won't go into all of it, but this is why we're pressing our own from here on out. That means handmade boards. That means temp and humidity control. That means some custom shapes. That means artistic, custom finishes and a punk/DIY aesthetic. In other words, we're going to completely rock and completely suck at that same time.

We won't be pressing thousands of boards per week, like the majority of American Wood Houses. We won't have to spend time ignoring our wood customers and marginalizing the small guys, because we're only going to press Fickle Boards.

This shrinks us down, to some extent, but not really. We'll see... We think you are going to love our new wood, but we'll let you guys and girls be the judges. For sure, we're going to have the satisfaction of skating wood that our own hands have touched.

As it is, you can trust Fickle to be trying to do it right, and be sacrificing to get it right, the whole time. We just can't stand to be another "heat-transfer-on-a-popsicle-from-wherever-it's-cheapest" wood company. We are shifting the whole thing to be a company that makes your board fresh, in our own lab.

So keep looking for the new, Cincinnati-Pressed Fickle Wood this year. We aren't quitting, and we're sure you'll be stoked! Until then, we'll see you out there!