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This review was written by Marevix, but I am submitting it for him.
About ten days ago, I ordered the California Blank from blankdecks.com. Five days ago, it arrived and was then mounted to the rest of my setup from December that I had previously cleaned/adjusted. After spending about twenty-five hours skating it since, I find that I've adjusted to the shape and width/length enough to give my detailed review and opinion.
Material/Workmanship
The board arrived in flawless condition, loosly wrapped and pre-drilled. The holes are dead-center of the board, parallel to the rails, and distanced properly (one would expect that from any decent deck, but I've heard of WalMart and various blanks having drilling defects). The wood is solid, and pressed into seven dense plys. No lamination, although the wood is pressed flat/smooth enough for a uniform sleekness upon opening.
Shape
The nose is larger than the tail; the difference is noticeable even from grip-side-up view from seven-eight feet away. The edges on the tail start curving downward about halfway across the truck mount, but the nose's start as soon as the concave hits the bolts. The tail is slightly steeper than the nose, suggesting that a similar-proportioned curvature was used for both ends and extended on the nose. The concave is about ten degrees on either side in the middle, heightening to around fifteen degrees on the inner edges of the truck mounts before dipping back down. The nose is steeper than the tail, approximated at 45 and 35 degrees respectively. On both ends can be seen a subtle down-curve about halfway through the angled edges of each tail, although I'm not sure how this effects skating.
Durability
I don't have much to say so far on this subject other than speculation; as mentioned above, I've spent about twenty-five hours skating it. After doing some nose stalls on an admittedly rough curb, it seems as if the deck is vulnerable to scraping when a semi-sharp edge is focused on a single point on the deck's surface; unless you're skating a flatbar with sharpened ridges or stalling on rough concrete, this is nothing to worry about. The first two plys are wearing away on the nose, thee on the tail; this confirms that the wood's primary weakness is abrasion resistance. Unless you have issues landing on the bolts and/or skate large gaps/sets/drops, this deck will probably have some serious tail-shortening before the wood is weak enough to snap.
Overall Skateability
This deck skates well overall. The concave isn't particularly steep or shallow, so just about anyone should be able to adjust to it easily; after taking an eight month break, I'm already comfortable with the deck's shape and getting my tricks/style back more by the day. The out-of-the-box snap response is solid, better than the Blind, Almost, Darkstar, ATM, and Element decks I've skated. After trying out some basic slides, it seems that California Blanks (judging from the one I have) no longer have the crayon-esque sticking effect on sliding tricks. After taking it to a waxed/wooden rail, I found that with a solid push I could slide seven feet without difficulty or abnormal speed loss. The wax on the rail tends to stick to the board, which is a plus when skating unwaxed or otherwise slide-challenged surfaces. There isn't any lamination to speak of, so it isn't as well suited for slides as brand-name blanks like ATM or Mini-Logo. This deck is well-suited for any variety of modern skating except for longboarding/hill bombing, for obvious reasons.
All in all, I'd say that this deck is an excellent value for any skater seeking a cheap/quality alternative to big-name/graphic decks. The California Blank is $18, but it skates just as well (if not better) than decks that I've seen sold for as much as $60-$70. The Parsnip gives this deck an 9/10.
Photos:
Deck, gripside-down
Slide marks, center/gripside-down
Nose, gripside-down
Tail, gripside-down
Angled view, tail/gripside-down
Angled view, nose/gripside-down
Deck, railstand/top-down
Tail, railstand/top-down
Nose, railstand/top-down
Pre-tail curvature, railstand/top-down
Center, railstand/top-down
Pre-nose curvature, railstand/top-down
Concave view, facing towards tail
Concave view, facing towards tail closeup
Concave view, facing towards nose (interesting lighting)
Concave view, facing towards nose (even more interesting lighting)
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At least that's what it's giving me.
Nice review though. I love how it had exact angles for the nose/tail. And it's nice that you're getting back into skating.
Nice review though. I love how it had exact angles for the nose/tail. And it's nice that you're getting back into skating.