Longboarding is one of the popular yet risky sports. In the times when almost every other man is stuck to mobile screens having physical ways of recreation is healthful and energizing. As the muscles remain in function, they remain healthy and strong.
But getting a longboard is not the only thing for longboarding. You will also need to grab some protective gear. Even if you are an expert, longboarding can be potentially risky, and using protective gear saves us from a lot of accidents.
For this article, we have limited ourselves to one such gear as longboarding gloves or sliding gloves. Our main concern is to help you decide How to make longboard gloves by yourself, saving some extra bucks.
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What are Longboard slide gloves?
If you have got yourself, a longboard doesn’t think you can begin cruising just now. Make sure you cover your hands with protective gloves. Longboarding gloves, more commonly known as sliding gloves, differ from ordinary gloves in having a sliding or palm puck and finger pucks.
Longboarding gloves come in various sizes and qualities. The variety of the gloves is also aimed at covering various styles of longboarding. If you are a professional and want to avoid the hassle of shopping repeatedly, you will have to spend a little extra buck on the quality. Most people do not prefer buying the gloves and favor making their own gloves mainly due to the expensive nature of the gloves.
Sliding gloves are very important, especially if you are interested in performing tricks and gaits while longboarding. They help you slay the audience as smoothly as possible. Furthermore, they can also act as brakes or support while sliding. Longboarding can be very dangerous without these gloves.
What do you need to know about Pucks?
The sliding gloves also often differ in the number and styles of the pucks. The palm pucks are often made of a thick thermoplastic film, while the finger and thumb pucks are slender. The pucks are joined to the gloves with high-quality Velcro.
But you would also find pucks made of other materials. They are less common. The pucks are often replaceable, so you don’t need to buy a new pair of gloves after the pucks are damaged. Pucks are the most crucial component of sliding gloves, and if you are planning to make your own gloves, you will have to focus mainly on them.
But when buying accessory sliding pucks, make sure you get the ones compatible with your sliding gloves.
How to make your own sliding gloves?
Saving some bucks by using your creativity is always satisfying. The sliding gloves available in the market costs a fortune, so many people prefer to make their own. If you are doing it for the first, you would be looking for some easy how-to guidelines. Therefore here, we have tried to make the whole process as easy as possible so that you don’t find it much intimidating. So if you are interested in knowing “how to make longboard gloves?” then follow the below-mentioned steps
Things you need
Following are some things you should collect before getting started with the making.
Step 1: Select your material
The most important thing in making your own sliding gloves is selecting the suitable material for your pucks. The right choice of the material depends mainly on your longboarding style and the tricks you mainly perform. There are a number of materials that you can choose from, such as the Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene, Acrylic with aluminum oxide fille, Acrylic, Delrin, Nylon, Polycarbonate.
Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene has a cross-linked network of fibers which imparts excellent strength to it. It is also the cheapest among the others mentioned. Polycarbonate is usually used in making bulletproof barriers.
But all the others are also high-quality material, and you can use them according to what is easier for you to find or what is already available. However, if you are into some crazy styles and require greater grip and strength, you should use polycarbonate or Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene.
Step 2: Decide the styles of Velcro
You need Velcro to stick your puck to the gloves. You don’t need to be very particular about the styling of your Velcro. However, one thing you need to make sure of is that your Velcro sticks appropriately to the glove. So, choose a layout that supports a strong bond. One easy way to go about it is cutting long straight strips starting from the tips of fingers to the palm. Similarly, one starting from the tip of the thumb to the palm.
So, in total, you need to cut five strips.
Step 3: Secure your Velcro to the gloves
There are two ways to go about this. You can either sew your Velcro strips to the gloves or either resort to gluing them. If you have a good glue that sticks well to the clothes, you can go with it. Gluing the Velcro is what most people do mainly because it’s easy and quick.
Sewing your Velcro to the gloves is, however, a more reliable method. This ensures that your Velcro remains attached to the gloves for a long. Simply take the strip, hold it against the gloves and start sewing around the perimeters. If you do not know how to sew, you can take help from any family member, but if you do know then, that will save much time.
Step 4: It’s time to make pucks!
Pucks can be of different shapes and sizes depending on your gloves and ultimately your hand’s size. This can be the most crucial part of the whole process because if you get this wrong, you won’t achieve the desired results with the gloves. The simplest you can with the pucks is you can make them round, rectangular, or square.
First, take the dimensions of your palm and fingers and then trace them over your material with a marker or pen. It is not advised to cut without tracing because then you may end up with the wrong dimensions. Use a saw to cut through the material and then use a jigsaw or hacksaw to smoothen the edges. Cut a few centimeters extra around the edges that you have a reasonable margin of trimming.
Step 5: Attach the pucks to the Velcro
The last and final step is attaching the pucks to your gloves. For this, you have to stick the opposite side of the Velcro to the pucks with glue or epoxy. You can also use glue in between to ensure that they stick correctly and do not separate while you are on the board cruising.
If you have followed all the guidelines up to this step correctly, you have your gloves ready. You are to go longboarding. You can use these gloves as brakes or for sliding or for whatever purpose you like.
Do’s and Don’ts of homemade sliding gloves
While making your own gloves, you should be careful about certain things:
Conclusion
The commonly found sliding gloves cost from about 58$ to 100$ hundred dollars. The best deal would be to make your gloves under 40$ at home. If by any chance find any of the surfaces detaching, do not keep using the gloves. Most probably, the gluing of the pucks can be a little challenging. If the pucks create a fuss, take them out, clean the surface from the glue residues and glue them again. Following the above guidelines, you can have a clear idea about how to make longboard gloves, and you can make them again once the previous pair wears out.
