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Similar to fingerboarding, handboarding is a scaled-down version of a skateboard that a user controls with their hands instead of just fingers, while finger snowboarding utilizes a miniature version of a snowboard.
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[edit] History
Fingerboards were first created as homemade toys in the 1970s and later became a novelty attached to key chains in skate shops (but were also mentioned as a model for a skateboard.)[3] In the 1985 documentary "Future Primitive" a homemade fingerboard was ridden in a sink; some consider this the earliest fingerboard footage available for public viewing. The homemade fingerboard was built from cardboard, coffee stirrers, and Hot Wheels axles.[1] Fingerboards have been a peripheral part of the skateboarding industry since the late 1980s and were originally marketed as keychains.[1] Although barely "rideable," they were improved upon by the Tech Deck brand which mass produced a "rideable" miniature skateboard.[3] The first entertainment licensed fingerboards were introduced by Bratz Toys, released through a Hong Kong-based toy company named Prime Time Toys, and designed by Pangea, the company that helped develop the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toy line for Playmates Toys. The designs were harnessed from entertainment properties such as "Speed Racer," "Woody Woodpecker," "NASCAR," "Heavy Metal," and "Crash Bandicoot." The licensed boards drove the Tech Deck brand into licensing strong urban brands, rather than simply creating their own designs. In the late 1990s, as fingerboards became more prominent outside the skateboarding community, X-Concepts' Tech Decks licensed "actual pro graphics from major skateboard brands" riding "the 1999 fingerboard wave right into Wal-Mart and other major outlets."[1] In 1999 there was a Tech Deck fashion of collecting one of each design similar to the Beanie Baby fad months prior.[1] Thus, Tech Deck, and its distributors at Spin Master Toys, suddenly found themselves a large market to milk. Entertainment-based fingerboard brands couldn't compete against the urban juggernaut, and eventually disappeared. Other "major players in the skateboard industry" soon followed in hopes of reaping profits as young toy-playing children would choose to take up skateboarding.[1] More modern fingerboards feature "interchangeable wheels and trucks, a fairly accurate scale size, and pad-printed graphics reproduced from the most popular skateboard companies in the business."[1] Many fingerboard companies provide all manner of fingerboarding accessories including sophisticated and customizable components able to duplicate, in scale-model, the skateboarding experience. They thus developed the fingerboard into a collectible toy and the practice into a "form of mental skating".[3]Fingerboarding is popular in Europe and the United States, and there is growing popularity in Eastern Europe.[3][8] Besides skateshops and the internet, Fingaspeak, a fingerboard store opened in Steyr, Austria although rumored to be the worlds first fingerboard store it joins a very small list of fingerboard stores that are available.[3] Although the sport of fingerboarding originated in the United States over 25 years ago it has really caught on fire in the European scene. The United States is following every so slowly and it is estimated that although the popularity seems to be in favor of the Europeans the American Fingerboard scene has much more sales. This may be due to the flooding of the market and the availability of resources in the United States. Fingerboarding has evolved from a hobby to a lifestyle for some people. Fingerboarders have regular "contests, fairs, workshops and other events".[3] ref name="The Fingerboard Controversy: Are"/> Fingerboard-product sales were estimated at $120-million for 1999.[1]
Fingerboarding is a good match for videography as the action can be controlled and framing the activity offers opportunities for creativity.[9] With the rise of the online video business from early 2006,[10] fueled, in part, because the feature that allows e-mailing clips to friends,[11] several thousand finger board and handboard videos can now be found on popular video-sharing sites such as YouTube.[6][7][12] Thus even if the weather does not permit a skateboarder to practice outside they could try a potential trick with their scaled-down fingerboard and related items and share the video with whomever they wished.
[edit] Usage
Fingerboards are used by a range of people from those utilizing them as toys to skateboarding and related sports professionals envisioning not only their own skating maneuvers but for others as well and can include the use for planning out competition courses as skating boarding develops into an international sport. Skateboarding is currently being considered as a sport for the 2012 Olympic Games in London.[13] The 2008 Summer Olympics, that was held in 8–24 August 2008 in Beijing, may present the sport as spectator event as China's second gold of the Asian Indoor Games (October 2007) was to Che Lin for skateboarding.[14] Also, skateboarding youths have attracted "mesmerized" crowds in Shenzhen, a city described by professional skateboarders as "a skating paradise."[15]
Similar to train enthusiasts building railway models, fingerboard hobbyists often construct and purchase reduced scale model figures that would be considered natural features to an urban skateboarder such as handrails, benches, and stairs they would be likely to encounter while riding. In addition users might build and buy items seen in a skatepark including half-pipes,[16] quarter pipes, trick boxes, vert ramps,[17] pyramids, banked ramps, full pipes, and any number of other trick-oriented objects.[18] These objects can be used simply for enjoyment and also to assist the visualization of skateboarding tricks or the "flow" from one trick to the next (or to create "lines"). Fingerboarding events feature some of the latest elaborate models and accessories; many of the manufacturers features photos and videos on their websites.
[edit] Components
Tech Deck makes hard plastic skateboards and borrows designs from many well-known skateboard manufacturers, such as Blind, Flip, and Element.[1] They use grip tape, and professional graphics. The stock trucks on Tech Decks are made of die-cast metal and have two separate axles for the wheels to roll on. The wheels are made out of plastic along with the bushings. Some fingerboarders prefer the feel and performance of decks made from wood. Wooden decks can be made from 3-7 plies of a given veneer; maple, walnut, and mahogany being the most popular. All of the hole-drilling and shaping is done by hand or with the aid of a machine, thus the price is higher. A wooden deck from a popular company can have a low to high price range usually depending on the quality of the deck you are going to purchase, prices range from 10 - $52 USD. Wooden fingerboard makers are now offering custom designs- you can chose from their line of graphics or send in your own. The wooden boards come in a variety of widths from 26 - 32mm and concave can vary greatly from maker to maker. Some companies offer even more customization options such as the choosing of the plies used to go into the deck, as well as the width/length of the deck (Homewood Fingerboards is the most popular company offering these services, regarded by cognoscenti to have the best craftsmanship of any wood deck maker in the world). Along with wooden decks, advanced fingerboarder's also tend to prefer bearing wheels to plastic. Bearing wheels can be made from a range of materials such as teflon, urethane, silicon, and fiberglass. The wheels are usually put into a lathe to ensure the best shape. Once the wheels have been readied, bearings are put into place to increase the smoothness of the wheels rolling on the axle. Tuning screws for the wheels cause the wheels to roll more smoothly. Rather than using the stock axles and kingpins that come on Tech Deck trucks, fingerboards use tuning screws and custom kingpins to ensure that wheels and hangars are more properly secured. Board rails can be added to the deck bottom similar to those used on a standard skateboard. Fingerboards made with plastic are sometimes altered by heating the plastic to shape it such as making the kicks higher.
[edit] Fingersnowboarding and handboards
Similar to fingerboarding, fingersnowboarding is snowboarding on a small-scale snowboard controlled with one's fingers. In December 1999 the first-ever World Snowboard Fingerboard Championships was held with a cash prize of C$1,000.00.[19] Sponsored by companies such as Gravity Fingerboards, Transworld Snowboarding and Snowboard Life magazines and others the competition featured twenty competitors utilizing a custom "fingerboard snowboard park."[19] Tom Sims, a world champion of snowboarding,[20] ended his run by landing his fingersnowboard into a flaming shotglass of Sambuka; he was treated for minor burns and donated his winning prize to Surfrider Foundation's Snowrider Project and to Board AID.[19] (A photo of the course can be seen [1].
