Juniors Steven Light and Patrick Qualls and their longboard business are getting a foothold on distribution of goods and art.
Patrick (Left) and Steven (Right) cruise down a local hill on their hand made boards. Photo by Mateo Rocha
It’s not rare to see kids in Colorado walk around with a wooden board under their arms, but Steven Light and Patrick Qualls not only haul their steads around, they actually cut, make, and paint their own custom longboards under the name S&P Longboards (S meaning Steven, P meaning Patrick).
I first heard about this business on a Facebook page, and throughout the past semester I have gotten to know Light through one of my art classes. Little by little I began to take interest in Steven’s shenanigans. Ultimately, my curiosity led me to interview the pair of board shapers, and get a full scoop on what’s really happening under the hood.
TJ Journal: Why did you first start longboarding?
Patrick: Eighth grade or seventh. I skated before that and liked it, so longboarding came next.
Steven: Same, Eighth grade. I bought a cheap long board at first.
TJJ: How do you guys get the word out about your “business”?
S: Facebook man, you make a little page and spread the word like butter on toast; except it’s more like spread the word on page.
TJJ: Would you call this a business?
S: Nah, it’s more like a hobby to make money off of.
P: Yeah just an easy way to make money.
TJJ: What kind of machines do you guys use to make the boards?
P: Wood working tools.
S: Jigsaw to cut the wood.
TJJ: What’s the process of making a board?
P: Chop down a tree! Legit, we buy a long piece of maple, measure the board out, and then we draw the shape of the board on the maple, and then depending if we want the board concave in or not we’ll shape the wood then.
TJJ: How do you shape the wood with concavity?:
P: You steam the wood, you get a big pot with water on a fire, set the board on top of the pot and steam it on both sides and then you put it in a clamp and you clamp it down the middle or wherever you want the concave. You lay out the design, cut the board and then shape it and sand it.
Steven Light and his ferocious stance.
S: You can do different concaves: you can get two cinderblocks, set the boards ends on the two blocks and then set another block on top of the board in the middle to give the board the camber spring, and then you just paint the board. It takes us a long time making a board because we’re procrastinators.
TJJ: Where did you guys get the idea to combine your art with making a board?
S: Fool, we were just talking about it one day. We were like, we should make longboards!
P: Yeah basically we were just like ‘we’re broke, we don’t have jobs, let’s make boards.’
TJJ: How do you price your boards?
S: A fully painted, custom made board is like 100 bucks, with everything finished, with grip tape; no wheels or trucks, however.
P: For trucks wheels bearings and bolts we don’t charge anything extra other than just the flat price at the skate shops.
TJJ: How many boards have you guys made so far?
S&P: We’ve made and sold three. Steven made his, and Patrick made his.
TJJ: and did you guys sell the first boards you made?
S: Before we sold any boards we just made our own. Like I first just decided to make my own; I wanted to make a better board than the one I had at the moment.
TJJ: What do you mean by a better longboard?
S: Well, my long board just sucked a lot. It was old and worn down; it was originally a $260 board that I had bought for ten bucks. One day I ate crap riding it and that messed it up. It wouldn’t stop leaning to one side when I would ride it.
TJJ: Do you guys see this hobby going anywhere?
P: Yeah, I mean, extra money.
A shot of board shaper, Patrick, in action.
TJJ: Being a senior at TJ, I’m always thinking about how my life’s gonna be after high school. If you were in my position, would you see yourselves carrying this hobby throughout your future lives in general?
P: No. Well, I would make boards for myself, yeah, just for the heck of it.
S: No, no, maybe for fun, yeah, like if I get bored, and I just want a board to ride around in the summer, I’ll make one. I could hook up some buddies with boards too, but nothing big.
TJJ: How do you two work together to make the boards?
P: We bust out the wood, polish it down, and make it soft.
S: We polish the wood with some lotion-like liquid, and then we work together on the design, slowly painting away until it’s all done.
TJJ: Why do you guys longboard?
P: Well I Skateboard too, snowboard, and longboard.
S: I surf and snowboard, so long boarding just goes along. It’s the whole, ‘I’m on a board’ thing. I ride boards.
