H-Street Matt Hensley Kingsize Eagle Blockprint LTD Skateboard Deck
We are finally re-introducing the Matt Hensley Special Edition Eagle Block Print. Matt made this version of the all-time classic graphic himself, using the ancient block print technique, which Matt has become an avid student of.
It involves carving the entire graphic by hand in a block of linoleum, which looks like a giant rubber stamp of sorts when it’s done. Then you carefully apply a special ink to the entire thing and run it through a rather special press with a type of paper that is designed for this purpose. Check out the last photo for the original print that made this graphic.
To get this onto a graphic, T-Mag went to Matt’s garage workshop and documented the entire process, and shot high res photos of the final result, both the top and bottom graphics. This was then imported into Photoshop, where Mag does the production prep to ensure the best quality printing takes place on the decks. We first introduced Matt’s version of the Limited Edition Eagle graphic in conjunction with his induction into the Hall of Fame in 2018.
The deck was then silk-screened and numbered, which is our style. But we had one heck of a time to silk screen the fine 45-degree lines over the tail and nose. There were quite a few seconds and we weren't entirely happy with the result.
This time, we opted for hand silk-screened transfer graphics, which does not have this issue, the graphic is printed far more perfectly with no seconds. It’s available in Matt’s Full Size Mini shape, which is 32.5 x 8.9, with a 6.8 Nose, 6.6 Tail, and 14.75 Wheelbase. It’s also available in 8.5 and 8.75 street shapes.
The graphic to the Kingsize Eagle was originally drawn by Francesco Jekill Albertini, who was inspired by bold, single-color printed deck graphics from the 70s and figured that Matt would really like such a simple and bold concept, and he was right.
Matt Hensley started to ride a skateboard in the late 70s, while all the really great skate parks were still around. His local park was Surf de Earth skate park in Vista CA, where many of the legendary San Diego Pros, like Doug “Pineapple” Saladino, Dennis Martinez, Shogo Kubo, and Dave Andrecht also skated.
L 32.5 / W 8.9 / NOSE 6.8 / TAIL 6.5 / WHEELBASE 14.75
