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sidepull
Nov 27, 2001, 3:18 PM
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I made this same post in the indoor climbing forum but maybe i'll get a bigger response here.
Have any of you tried making wooden holds?
I've read all sorts of reasons for using them -- skin-friendly texture forces use of more finger strength, cheap, easy to make, etc. This isn't the perfect solution, splinters and time spent shaping are definite drawbacks.
If you have made your own wooden holds are there any specific tricks to avoiding hold spin?
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colin
Nov 27, 2001, 7:26 PM
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Registered: Nov 2, 2001
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sure, glue sandpaper to the back. And use a strong wood so you can really crank em down.
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vicum
Dec 4, 2001, 12:26 AM
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Registered: Nov 18, 2001
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use two screws?
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pianomahnn
Dec 4, 2001, 3:49 PM
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There is no need to post double topics in different forums. It wastes bandwidth.
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graniteboy
Dec 13, 2001, 7:24 PM
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Registered: Dec 1, 2001
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Yeah, I have made a thousand or so wood
holds. I had a one man company making black walnut and sycamore holds for gyms and friends. It takes a few hundred holds to really get to the point where you really know what you're doing. You can see some of my holds at Granite Arch in Sacto, Ca.
You need a bandsaw and a Good belt sander for the minimum gear. they are mega finger friendly, partly because wood is "warm" on your hands. You're not cooling your tendons every time you grab a hold, unlike all other holds on the market. Walnut is what's called an "open ring porous" wood, so it has capillaries that suck up sweat. Finding a walnut stump is mandatory. and that's hard to do, because walnut sells on the open market for abt 6$ a board foot. use a chainsaw mill or a chainsaw to mill the stump. run it thru a planer. then rough cut each hold with the bandsaw. then smooth it out (contour it to the human hand in order to be cool and ergonomic) using 40 grit on the beltsander. This is the high art, and takes lotsa practice. I drilled (bolt/washer holes) with a pair of forstner bits. Drill the washer hole (7/8") first, drill in as much as U need to to get the bolt head hidden. then drill the bolt hole, using the point hole from the other drill bit. A drill press helps immensely. With all the steps you can see why I no longer do this for money. People don't wanna pay 10$ for a medium size one of a kind art hold when they can pay 3$ for some mass produced, plastic, pollutive wal mart crap. (he's not cynical,just a realist).
Good luck, and email me if U need any pointers.
[ This Message was edited by: graniteboy on 2001-12-13 19:25 ]
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graniteboy
Dec 13, 2001, 7:27 PM
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Registered: Dec 1, 2001
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Oh, and hold spin: just dab a few bits of "household goo" (like shoe goo, but cheaper...)on the back and let it dry.
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graniteboy
Dec 14, 2001, 9:00 PM
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expatbrit: correct. most homemade wood holds suck big time. Conifer wood in general is NOT what you wanna make them out of. I had success with sycamore, walnut, ash, and to some extent alder (alder turned out to be a little too soft and wore out quickly). But Black walnut is THE wood. and if you're not gonna bother to make them ergonomic, why not just nail 2x4s to the wall?? I would suggest, not too humbly, that I am one of the world's only experts on this wood hold question. feel free to write me, and I might even be persuaded to come outta retirement and crank out a batch or 2. But You hafta be willing to Pay, and I don't whore my talents cheaply. These holds are NOT plastic crap.
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