About Us
The Nail Surf Decks story - Spenser Nail
Growing up in Southern California I lived about 15 minutes from the beach and would frequent it often. Like most kids in California we had skateboards at a young age and would cruise around the neighborhood or down to the local skatepark. I had lived next to a Cuban family who's father made beautiful works of art out of wood. I found myself in his garage admiring his handcarved religious statues, sharks, and an array of different Cuban artifacts. My neighbor influenced my love for woodworking and I viewed him as a mentor when I was a kid. In high school I was fortunate enough to still have Woodshop offered as a class and took it all four years. In 2005, the film Lords of Dogtown came out and inspired me to make a skateboard like the Dogtown boys of Venice Beach. Thus, the first thoughts of Nail Surf Decks were formed. I made a few basic decks, or what I would now call glorified cutting boards with holes, and sold them to some classmates. As I got closer to graduation my interests turned to leaving high school and figuring out what to do with my life.
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After high school, I was just wandering through life working some dead end jobs and wasting my time at the local community college with no goals in sight. One day I had an epiphany while scrolling through instagram and seeing a classmate going pro in surfing. I wanted to make something of myself and felt a need to "be somebody" (whatever that meant). I hit up a local surfboard shaper to talk about possibly opening up a skateboard side to his business. In doing so, I came to the conclusion that I should just go about it myself and start my own company. I called a friend, gave him the classic lets start a business motivational speech, and off we were creating a makeshift wood shop in the back corner of his backyard under a tarp. I "borrowed" a little table saw and chop saw from my Mom and bought some cheap Harbor Freight saws and sanders to complete the most basic jenky shop known to man. It was time for a proper name and logo. Skateboards shaped like surf boards made out of hardwood... I wanted something a little different that would make people more interested. Nail skateboards, Nail boards, Nail skate decks all came to mind but they are surf inspired skateboards and I was just selling the deck. Enter, Nail Surf Decks.
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to be continued...
