Travis Rice walks us through Lib Tech's process

As he constructs his new T.Rice Pro, snowboard superstar Travis Rice walks us through the steps involved in making each Lib Tech snowboard.

Author: Joe / 25.11.24

Building A Lib Tech Dream Board with Travis Rice

We had the chance to look into the production process of Mervin Made snowboards, namely Lib Tech snowboards, which produces zero harmful waste. Watch as Travis assembles his new dream board at Mervin Manufacturing in Sequim, WA, USA.

CORE SHOP

Our adventure begins in the Core Shop, where each core is assembled using only renewable FSC-certified wood of various kinds. Different patterns and thicknesses are used to better highlight the performing qualities of the board.

Travis in the Core Shop dusting off the beginnings of his next dream board

PRINT SHOP

The topsheet and foundation, which are made in the Print Shop, are required after the wooden core has been correctly chosen.

Lib Tech has an extraordinary printing process. The designs are transferred directly onto the snowboard – without harmful chemicals. The colors used are completely water-based and contain no harmful substances. This ensures that leftovers of the topsheet and base material are 100% recyclable.

Travis admiring the amazing detail of Jessica Litchenstein's design brought to life

Lib Tech is famous for its expressive designs and this year's boards are yet another example of their unique colorways.

PARTS

Now it's time to assemble the parts to complete the board. Lib Tech's Magne-Traction® edges are recognizable by their slightly wavy form along the board's edges. This gives the rider more edge hold, especially on ice and hard snow. The edges do not go fully around the board, which means the tip and tail are entirely edge-free.

Little extra information: The tip and tail of the boards are made from wood and a very robust plastic; this requires high precision from crafters when cutting out the final board shape. The advantage of this feature is that it saves a substantial amount of weight. The thought process here was to extend the life of each board and to make it more resistant to impact damages.

LAY UP

All the basic components are together and it's time to layer it up:

Base with edge
Bio resin
High-performance fiberglass
Bio resin
Wood core
Resin
Fiberglass
Resin
Topsheet

It's clear to Travis, dream boards do come true!

Lib Tech uses various high-performance fibers in the layering step, which affect the board's flex properties differently depending on the mixture ratio: BI-AXIAL, TRI-AXIAL, BASALT, and CARBON fibers are used.
This process is followed by bringing the board in its final shape.
The board goes into the oven, also known as a snowboard press, before moving on to the finishing process.

FINISHING

The board is almost slope ready. However, it's not done until the last steps of master crafting seal the deal. In the last phase, excess material needs to be trimmed off along the edges of the board. The water cleansed system pulls dust and particles out of the air for the cleanest of finishes. Eventually, edge tuning with a grinder, base structure, and waxing complete the production of a Lib Tech board.

QUALITY CONTROL

Trav's new dream board is all but ready for a ride. It just needs to be reviewed by the Quality Control (QC) experts, looking for flaws in every aspect of the board. In QC, board info stickers are applied along with a Mervin Mfg. sticker signed by the crafter (sometimes even with an Instagram name) who finished the board. These stickers state when the board was put together and act as a seal of quality.