Wyatt Gregson created the concept for BambooSK8 in 2007. After teaming up with family friend Ron Stebenne, and the the two began to work on a patent for 100-percent bamboo decks. One year later Gregson, Stebenne, and BambooSK8′s president Geoff Koboldt started building and testing combinations of bamboo and wood in the decks, and officially launched the brand in January 2008 at ASR. Since BambooSK8′s launch, the Oceanside, California-based company is pushing to continue its growth, with the release of bamboo longboards in November 2009 and plans to expand its collection to include additional accessories, apparel, and graphic decks for 2010.
We caught up with Stebenne to learn more about the eco-friendly aspects of the company. For a broader look at which companies within the industry are working to make green products, pick up a copy of our April issue for a report on “The State of Sustainability in Action Sports.”
Bamboo Sk8's Geoff Koboldt and Ron Stebenne
What aspects of your company are eco-friendly?
From the managed bamboo forests, we hold accountability for how the bamboo is grown, harvested with axes and re-grown; without gas powered chainsaws which are used in cutting down maple trees. Logistically, our bamboo comes right from the back of the factory, thus no dependence on shipping like traditional maple. Bamboo by itself is highly sustainable; a grass that grows 2-4 feet per day in only a few years versus maple trees which take 40-60 years to mature and once cut down are gone forever. Cut down a bamboo chute, and 4 to 5 grow in its place immediately. Also, our company as whole is very environmentally conscious. One of our owners has one of the largest residential solar panel systems in Southern California as a private individual. Another owner no longer drives choosing to skate or take the train. All of our furniture at the office is recycled. We recycle. The list goes on…
How do manufacturing costs of your product compare to other (non-eco-friendly) companies in the industry? Does it cost more or less to produce eco-friendly boards?
It is highly competitive with traditional manufacturers and in fact, the 100% bamboo costs less due to using less plies because of the inherent strength in bamboo. Bamboo is highly dense like hickory pecan, the strongest hard wood.
What impact does BambooSK8 have on the environment?
By using bamboo predominantly in our decks, we save millions of maple trees from being deforestated. These are trees that get ripped down in the NorthWest and Canada, then shipped to Asia, milled down, shipped back to USA, etc. We ship 1 time, so ultimately our competition is contributing 2x the amount of transportation pollution.
7.5" bamboo hybrid boards
What inspired you to create an eco-friendly product?
It is simply the right thing to do. Bamboo is an amazing natural resource, found in abundance with incredible strength-to-weight ratios and density, so it was easy to choose it for making skateboards. We have also developed other bamboo-related products so we had a few years of R&D under our belt.
What is the difference between your decks and maple decks?
Strength-compression tests reveal that our decks withstand a higher pound per square inch of force. Street-testing of our latest decks have shown a high level of durability and Pop; but in fairness, this is information supplied to us by those riding our decks in comparison to other brands they’ve skated. Maple when managed properly is a wise-choice for skateboard construction due its affordability and flexibility in manufacturing but in the long run, we truly believe that bamboo is far superior not only in strength but in an ecological footprint. Why damage the earth? It just doesn’t make sense.
Here’ a brief breakdown of the strength of our boards:
- Hybrid bamboo decks due to their special construction are currently able to withstand 400-410 psi (pounds per square inch).
- Bamboo is significantly stronger than maple and has a greater strength-to-weight ratio. According to the Wood Handbook (USDA), in a hardness comparison, the pressure to indent is 1639 lbs. versus 1450 lbs. in hard maple. The hardest is hickory pecan which is around 1820 lbs.
- Bamboo is highly dense like hickory pecan, with a specific gravity of .66-.72 (lbs per cubic foot). Carbonized bamboo is even higher. Maple has a specific gravity of .52-.63. Density is a significant indicator of overall strength.
- Due to the bamboo fibers being small and tightly pressed, they have intense memory (rebound to its natural state) resulting in great pop. The modulus of elasticity is much higher again comparing bamboo at 10,600 MPa to 10,450 MPa for maple with a modulus of rupture of nearly 8,000kPa in favor of bamboo.
How does your production emission rates compare to the rest of industry?
Not easy or maybe fair to answer this as this information is unknown for the other manufacturers or brands. Nonetheless, we would love to have this comparison done from a 3rd party. We can truthfully say that every piece of bamboo used in our process that doesn’t go into a skateboard is recycled back into other bamboo products. Nothing is wasted.
TAGS: bamboo sk8, bamboosk8, geoff koboldt, longboards, ron stebenne, sustainable
