This is the story of Sticky Slat.
A few years ago I fell in love with minicruiser. Some of my friends had them made from plastic and I always wanted to ride them even though it was difficult for me at the beginning because of their small size. With some practice I became better and it felt nice riding them. Because of their size they were the perfect travelbudy in the city.
One day I figured I can build one myself. As a learned carpenter I wanted to create a wooden board made from solide plum wood that has an unique look. I planed it and brought it into shape. To give it some extra stability I attached two little stripes of solid wood facing length direction. It worked out, until I had my first shaky ride down a street that did not have a plane surface at all. The board broke and I realised why regular Skateboards are made from crosslayed veneers. So I did some research on how skateboards are made and build myself my first skateboard presse made from chip board. To get the right pressure I attached six threaded rods that would press down the press with wooden bars. It took some time to figure out how to make the pressing molds fit into each other but once I had it I was able to create many of them very fast.
To keep the unique wood design I used some special wood veneers like zebrano, walnut or pallisander for the back and front layers.
Even if these boards were already quite portable, I was annoyed by carrying the street dirty board in my hand when using public transport. I either had to carry it in my hand or I had to attach it to the backpack in a very complicated way, just to take it off again five minutes later, when I got off at my stop.
So I started to experiment with neodym magnets.
The magnets made it possible to attach and hold the board while taking it off the backpack with one hand. It also had to be strong enough not to fall off while running or jumping.
After I built my first prototype including a board and a wooden stick with several magnets in it, it fascinated me how well it worked that it inspired me to keep developing this product.
Since I got into the comfort of using this backpack holder function I would never want to go back. It is very useful, brings a lot of comfort and looks very nice!