Tech deck

A tech deck is a miniature skateboard, with which a skateboarder can complete various skateboarding tricks with his/ her fingers. The index finger acting as the front foot and the middle finger acting as the back foot.

There are three sizes of tech deck: a 57 mm mini, a 96mm fingerboard and a 27cm hand board.

In early 1998, a rainy Southern California day forced young Steven Asher to stay inside instead of going out to practice his skateboarding tricks. So what did Steven do? He brought his "skateboarding" inside.

With scissors, cardboard and his 12-year old imagination, Steven created his first miniature skateboard replicas. He used the 3-inch boards to simulate real skateboard tricks with his fingers.

And, just like real skateboards, he drew graphics on the bottoms of his creations.

His dad, Peter, a toy industry veteran, saw his son's ingenious work and recognized that there might be a market for these colorful mini-boards. And so, Tech Deck™ was born.

But what would set Tech Decks™ apart from other mini collectible replicas? Steven had the answer! They had to be like the "real thing." This meant real metal trucks, real grip tape and real graphics.

Visit after visit to local skate shops helped identify the most popular brands. But getting in to talk to these manufacturers was no easy task. Call after call went unanswered until Fate seemingly stepped in. An administrative assistant in the elder Asher's office noticed Steven's Chet Thomas signature skateboard and mentioned she went to school with the skateboarding pro. Chet was contacted and was able to arrange a meeting with industry leader World Industries and a licensing arrangement followed.

Since that time, more than 4,000 different real pro-model graphic designs licensed from top skateboard manufacturers such as World Industries™, Blind™, A-Team™, Birdhouse™, Creature™, New Deal™, Element™, Black Label™, Santa Cruz™, Alien Workshop™, Zero™, Maple™, Zoo York™ and Foundation Skateboard™ have been added to the Tech Deck™ line.

Tech Deck™ has come a long way since that rainy day in 1998. From Thanksgiving of that year, when first introduced in limited distribution, until now, more than 35 million Tech Deck™ mini-replica skateboards have been sold. And interest in collecting Tech Deck™ mini-replica skateboards continues to increase.

The birth of fingerboarding to the public was around 1985 when Transworld Skateboard Magazine released an article on how to make your own personal miniature skateboard at home. The deck was made out of 7 baseball cards that were cut, shaped and glued together like 7 plys of wood on a skateboard. A magazine picture was glued on the bottom to replicate your favorite pro model graphics and real skateboard griptape was glued on top the board. 2 pencil erasers were cut off a pencil and glued to the bottom to act as the trucks. A hot wheels car was then broken and the axle and wheels of the car were taken out and poked through the eraser creating an axle for the trucks and rolling wheels! This fingerboard was featured in 1985 Powell Peraltas "Future Primitive" video with Lance Mountain doing inverts and layback grinds in a double kitchen sink as Tony Hawk, Mike McGill and Ray Underhill cheered him on.

After wearing out or breaking many of these cardboard decks, some decided to make a board that was more durable. This board was made out of plastic that was cut and shaped. The tail and nose were bent up by heating the plastic up with a candle and slowly bending to the desired angle. Once the plastic cooled down it was a nice simulated skateboard deck! Two square little pieces of plastic were then glued on with super glue to act as the trucks. These were better that the eraser trucks, because they would actually grind and not stick like the erasers.Last, a hot wheels car was still used as the wheels for the board.This was the first fingerboard that people would actually learn real tricks on, and they made many of these for themselves and friends.