Becoming a skateboarder will bring you into a new world. Eventually slang terms and trick names will become second nature to you. But before you run, you have to crawl, and in skateboarding that means learning how to properly assemble a skateboard.

Tools to gather:
o Phillips screw driver
o Drill(optional for mounting trucks)
o 3/8" combination wrench or nut driver
o 9/16" combination wrench or nut driver
o Razor blade

Parts to gather:
o Skateboard deck
o Grip tape
o Pair of trucks
o Hardware(set of 8 nuts & bolts)
o 4 Wheels
o 8 bearings

1. The first thing we are going to do is apply the grip tape to the deck itself. Lay the deck on a flat surface. Peel off the back of the grip tape and apply the sticky side to the top of the board. Now smooth it down with your hand so that it sticks flat to the board. Make sure to poke any air bubbles with your razor blade and flatten it down with your hand.

2. Take your screw driver using the shaft right above the handle, scrape the edge of the deck completely around. You will now have the edge shaped out nicely throughout the deck. Take your razor blade and carefully cut off the excess grip tape around the board. Take your left over grip tape and sand down the edges to make it smooth and clean.

3. We will now be mounting the trucks to our deck. Take your screwdriver and poke through the grip tape in all 8 holes on the deck. Insert your bolts from the grip tape side. On the underside line up the holes on your trucks with the bolts. Once you have the trucks set, apply the nuts to the bolts and fasten by hand. Now that both trucks are loosely mounted you need to tighten them. Using your 9/16" wrench hold the nuts still and tighten the bolts using your screwdriver. (A drill will work much faster for this process but be careful not to strip out your bolts)

4. Wheels won't do much without bearings, so here is how to insert bearings into your wheels. There is a special tool for this you might see at your local skate shop but there is a little trick that works better. Remove the nuts on each truck and Flip your board on its side. Take one bearing and place it on one truck. Now put the wheel on the truck and push hard against it. The bearing will pop right into place. Remove the wheel, put another bearing on the truck, flip the wheel around and repeat the process. Presto! One wheel complete, just repeat this for all 4 wheels.

5. For the next step we are going to mount the wheels. Just slip 2 wheels on each truck and using your 3/8" wrench tighten the nuts. Be sure not to over tighten, you want it loose enough so that the wheel can spin freely.