Local followers and customers of the store may have seen me with a weird wooden “disk” thingy that goes on your hand while carving your snowboard.
It’s called a Snowboard Hand Plane – and it is used to be able to carve ridiculous lines on your board.
The inventor of it is a Moss Snowstick team rider from Japan, named Naoya Wada
I met Naoya at a trade show almost a year ago where he showed me his creation.
Upon returning from the trade show I quickly looked for an old skate deck and made my first one.
Trying it out on the groomed runs at local hills was an eye opening experience. You can put all of your weight onto your hand – and you do not slow down. It allows you to draw out long lines and adds a whole new dimension to riding groomers.
I managed to make about a dozen, or so last spring for friends and staff, but knew that if I wanted to expand the experience of the Snowboard Hand Plane – I would have to step up my game.
I contacted Randy at Olive Skateboards in late summer and after a few prototypes we settled on a shape and began production. Once the “boards” were done I took them to another friend, Dave at Custom Edge Design, and had him laser etch our new logo into them.
After that it was a little bit of trial and error to find a strap system that could be adjustable and easy to use.
I finally have the first batch complete and they are now available in the store.
I want to Thank Naoya for having such an open mind to come up with this idea, and for allowing me to “run with it” over here in Canada.
