Mike Delfratte in a parking lot located in Sharon Pa. Photo Tim Hickman

What’s up Mike? Tell the readers, how old are ya?

32

How many kids do you have and how old are they?

My son is 7, that’s little Mike. Aubrianna is my first she’s 14 and my stepdaughter Lilly is 12 years old now, I’ve raised her since she was 4.

3 kids is a lot - what’s your favorite and least favorite part of raising kids?

Hmm, there’s so many things I’d say are my favorite. They definitely teach me not to take life so seriously. My least favorite would have to be that they eat everything in the house.

glass wallride in Sharon Pa. Photo Tim Hickman

Alright, love those answers. What do you do to pay the bills and afford to take care of the family?

I’ve been doing landscaping for 17 years and now it’s a family business.

Big family energy all day. Does it get stressful working for the family business?

Definitely it’s hard but I have like my own schedule and everything, so it’s not like I have some boss breathing down my neck all the time. We have our disagreements but in the end, it usually works out well.

Having your own schedule seems pretty rad. How many years have you been a skateboarder?

I started at 8.

That’s most of your life. Where did you grow up ? How did you find skateboarding?

I grew up in Sharon Pennsylvania, a small town in Shenango Valley. My cousin was boardsliding this rail and I thought I could ride down this two stair although I didn’t understand how to Ollie so I just got tons of speed and did it first try - it was better than anything.

slappy feeble Sharon Pa. Photo Tim Hickman

So you’re basically a natural. You also like to do art, could you tell us about the art you create?

Yeah I do pretty much tons of stuff, I never do like one type. I basically got hooked when I visited Pittsburgh and seen all the graffiti writers and wheat paste stuff when I was a kid. I feel like mostly I was inspired by Ed Tempelton, he was weird - I like that.

You also have a brand called Leftover. What all do you offer with that?

Leftover pretty much started to be that, an art project - but now definitely something I’ve enjoyed to see grow a bit and now I’m reaching more shops which is important. I started cutting and sanding the decks in my own in my basement, printing them and all. I wanted to grow this thing in such a way to reach people so I can make it a more personal craft than just buying someone’s board from CCS.

I can say the hand cut football you made me last year is probably my favorite skateboard I’ve skated with in quite some time. Can you share more details on your process with creating custom boards?

Yeah, it depends on who I’m making it for - if I’m doing something I’m into, it’s usually a football or a popsicle right now. I basically get the uncuts. Since the virus, things have been pretty hard to get like the 10.5 to cut out like 10 inch decks. But I have templates made out of card board that I trace and measure out but nothing comes out perfect really since I’m not using a CNC machine or anything. I’m using pretty basic tools. Sanding and getting the edges rounded is pretty much the most time consuming part. On the big shapes, I really love how they come out it’s like “damn, I gotta get rid of this”. Growing a connection towards the whole process is interesting. But in the end it’s why I do it and love seeing other people enjoy them is what gets me stoked.

I really love that you hand paint them too. Do you vision graphics for shapes before you make them or does the graphic just come naturally after the board is ready?

Sometimes, I get people that ask for requests. But usually customers just tell me “do what you want” which really helps me to be open and to make whatever I’m feeling at the moment. Right now, I think I’m deep into abstract expressionism because it’s about making nothing and it being something very simple, sometimes, and it comes out profound without trying. When I try is when I screw up. I don’t want to make it sound like it’s easy, it’s just something maybe comes more natural for me.

Super rad. I seen you dabbled into creating something called the Shenango Project. What’s the vision for it?

It started out as a small shop downtown I had for 3-4 months. It was an old industrial building in Sharon - due to codes and stuff, it didn’t last. Currently looking for another space. I’m also using it to create a zine of my photography and prints of local people from the valley. Pretty much local skateboarding from Western PA to Eastern Ohio. There’s a lot of good skateboarders that don’t live in big city’s and I’m trying to push that community in our area.

I love that. Us suburban areas seem to get overlooked as a whole in the industry. What kind of photography are you shooting?

I shoot 35 mm film. I have a couple cameras, my Cannon A-E1 is pretty much my favorite. I also play around with Polaroids, they’re fun.

Pretty awesome. Well it was great catching up with you. We consider you a big part of the Union family. Keep doing what your doing. Skateboarding lives on because of people like you. If ya got any last words for the readers now is the time to go for it.

Peace- Jordan

Yeah dude, you guys welcomed me in with open arms and treated me like family. You’ve been a big inspiration to me on what you’ve done for the community. Thanks to anybody who has supported Leftover in the past and now. If you’re starting out wondering what to do in skateboarding, support your local shop or help at a local DIY or make your own.

Peace- Mike

Caught up with Mike Delfratte

LAST RESORT DROP 5

Intro blog post