Not everyone is lucky enough to have a career revolving around their favorite childhood sport. For Butch Maltsbey, skateboarding escalated from a hobby to a professional sport. Today he makes the decks he used to board on.

Maltsbey was a sponsored skateboarder from Fayetteville, N.C. in the late 1980s and early ’90s. He was sponsored by Vision Skateboards, Dogtown Skateboards, Santa Cruz Skateboards, Independent Truck Company and Vans and toured across the country and overseas.

In the early 1990s skateboarding took a dive and Maltsbey was forced to find work in construction. Butch noted that he took pride in “starting with raw materials and ending with the finished product.”

In the late 1990s skateboarding came back into popularity full force. Butch still boarded as a hobby and he wanted to be shop-based. He found that there was a need for a skateboard deck manufacturer in the Mid-Atlantic, and left the construction business.

On Valentine’s Day of 2001, Butch Maltsbey and his wife, Laura Maltsbey leased a building at North Chase and opened Natural Manufacturing. It took six months for them to find the best setup for their decks, which they make in three concaved forms.

Everyone in his shop, save his wife, skateboards and he considers the environment similar to that on the syndicated show “American Chopper.”

“Because it’s skater (skateboarder) owned and operated, we are able to put out products that they (the customers) want,” Laura said. Maltsbey combined his experience with skateboarding and the help of other boarders to make and design boards that would sell.

Business is seasonal and is busiest from March to August and then again from October to December. During these months they produce up to 3,000 boards. The slowest months are January and February, when production is lowered to between 1,200 and 1,500 boards.

Maltsbey makes the Natural and Cape Fear brand of skateboard decks from maple wood. The Natural decks feature the natural logo, an N on a skateboard. Cape Fear decks feature pirates and skull and cross-bone designs. Natural and Cape Fear Skateboards are distributed through Eastern and can be found online or at local stores.

Maltsbey has been a sponsor at the Riverfest skateboard competitions for the past two years and plans to sponsor for a third year in 2005.

Maltsbey takes a laid back look on life.

“Don’t do anything if you’re not enjoying it-work, life, or relationships,” he said.

Taking what he loved as a kid and working with long-time friends, Maltsbey has found his niche in the skateboard industry.