How can I reuse or recycle old snowboards?
We’ve had an email from Mark:
I found your site from Google after getting fed up with old snowboarding gear I have that has no snowboarding use left but could be used for other things. Searching your site I found a use for old plastic bindings, that someone said they could use for a project.
How can I reuse 2 old snowboards (one from 2000, the other 1995?) and one set of aluminium bindings? I am not after anything for them but feel they could be put to alternative uses.
I’m presuming they’re not still usable as snowboards by anyone else for whatever reason – otherwise I’m sure Mark would just pass them onto someone else who could use them (either through something like Freecycle or a snowboard-specific forum or whatever) – and Wikipedia informs me they’re usually made from a combination of wood, fibreglass, plastic and metal so recycling them is probably a nightmare – so we’re looking for reuse suggestions.
I think they’d make a cool version of the traditional cheap breeze-block-and-a-plank shelving unit but I realise that might not fit everyone’s favoured design aesthetic.
So any other ideas?
(Photo by bartgroe)
how about mounting to the wall and making cool shelves out of the snowboards?
or how about attaching some nifty dowels or drawer pulls and mounting the board to the wall vertically– voila! pegs to hang coats…
or, you could even attach small shelves to it, and again, hang vertically.
if you paint it all the same color, or maybe even if you don’t, the curves have a very modern feel.
ooh… you could also make a coffea table with two of them together… if you can bind them with wood in the back…
Not sure if it’s the same, but I saw a really cool bracelet made out of an old skateboard deck at http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2007/12/recycles_skateboard_jewelry.html
For christmas last year i made a bench from my brother’s old snowboard. I built your basic bench and then screwed the board to the wood through the binding hole. you could make two, or you can take the second board and turn it into a bench with a back rest.. just an idea but when its finished it looks REALLY good.. and one of a kind.
Somewhere i saw where someone had cut them down and made the boards into faceplates for clocks…you can get clock kits online or at craft supply stores like AC Moore or Michaels.
I’ve seen them made into seating surfaces on benches/chairs:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/01/a_recycled_ski.php
and chopped in half to make a snow bike:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Snowboard-Bike/
i like the previous shelf suggestion. seems like they provide a large (or many small) flat surface that can be used in place of any existing flat surface.
I’m not sure what to do with the bindings, but the snowboards themselves could be turned into railings for snowboards rails – as in, a rail for boardsliding on a snowboard. It has a nice ironic twist to it, I think.
A snowboard bench/seat was raffled off at our elementary school a couple of years ago. People were disappointed when it wasn’t available the next year. Like this:
http://www.patioandyard.com/ski-snowboard.html
There are many options, clocks, tables, benches, planters… people tend to like benches (especially if you have two boards) I work for a big snowboard company and we are trying to come up with a solution for a large quantity of boards. Any ideas would be great.
Hey!
I would love them, i’m currently a graphic designer and need old unwanted snowboards to use in my gallery. do you still have them or want to get rid of them?
Lauren
I have 2 snowboards with 2 small gashes in each board
Are you still looking for boards? I would love to recycle instead of throwing them away
Ride Revival will take old used snowboards to recycle them into alternative products, just contact us http://www.riderevival.co.uk, anthony@riderevival.com
You can use a jigsaw to cut out a longboard and attach some trucks to it, and then reap the benefits of a fiberglass longboard. I suggest using the Loaded design.
I have a friend that cut his snowboard and shaped it into a longboard skateboard
I saw an old wakeboard that was used as a mirror. The original mirror was dropped and shattered, then the pieces were glued onto the middle of the wakeboard in a random way and so that no 2 pieces were touching. It was hung in the boardshop’s bathroom.
Thanks, I finnally got an Idea for my old board.
You can always turn them into Sandboards, I mayself have been looking for an old snowboard set-up to turn into a sandboard for the off season.