[Tris]

Galleries can be surprisingly good sauces

Mmmm - love a bit of gallery on my chips...

[soapy]

google 'wood recycling', there may be a collection/disposal centre not too far away

[tomtom]

google 'wood recycling', there may be a collection/disposal centre not too far away

My local tip has a separate wood pile... you can either hang around there and see what comes in (What a cool way to spend your day!) or I would have thought the odd 5er or 10er to someone who works there to put some stuff to one side would work very well?????

[hibernated]

Thanks for all the ideas everyone. No luck today but tomorrow I might be able to get to the dump, see if they have a wood pile there, and on Monday I will see what prices are like at the uni woodshop.

I looked on ebay and there's some pretty nice deals on there, but nothing nearby unfortunately. 

Would anyone recommend scaffolding over wood, or is wood frame definitely the way to go?

Thanks all. 

[Jim]

I'd get the scaffold cos it doesn't rot but it is ££££

[hibernated]

Well rotting shouldn't be too much of a problem once I've sealed everything. £££s is something I don't have unfortunately, so looks like scaffolding is out - so thanks for clearing that up, even it was against what you said. 

Found some CD grade plywood pretty cheap, I looked up what the grades mean so I know D is awful, but is it strong enough to use? What is the cheapest grade I can realistically use without having to worry about my hand-holds pulling holes in it under pressure?

Thanks again to all who are answering, hopefully I'll be able to actually build something next week! 

[badong]

Galleries can be surprisingly good sauces

Mmmm - love a bit of gallery on my chips...

wooops, worth a shot anyway, regardless of my ridiculous spelling.

[grumpycrumpy]

18 mm CD plywood should be strong enough to use provided you fix it across the middle and not just around the edges ie half lap 3" x 2" battens across the centre of your frame to produce 1' by 1' squares which should give adequate support .... And don't forget to glue your plywood down ..... If still worried you can always back up your holds by using longer bolts and putting a washer and another nut on the other side of the ply ( nylock nuts are best but they do cost a little bit extra )   ....   

[hibernated]

Oh brilliant, that makes it a tad cheaper than what I was expecting. Thanks for the good news grumpycrumpy 
I was planning to do the batten thing already. Glueing it down is a good bit of advice I was missing though, was just going to use wood screws.

The weekends out as my girlfriends going to be here, but hopefully I'll be able to start building next week now. 

[Jim]

Make sure you have a 10v+ electric screwdriver/battery drill!
why bother glueing? just makes it harder to dismantle/modify and adds to the cost, just use enough screws to start with.
Use 10x2" screw for attatching the board to the frame

[grumpycrumpy]

It'll be cheaper if you use 3"x2" all round instead of going for expensive fancy timbers like 4"x2" .... Not sure where you're based Hibernated but if you're in Sheff I've got a couple of longish offcuts I can bung your way ....
I always glue everything , force of habit being a carpenter and all .....   

[rodma]

I always glue everything , force of habit being a carpenter and all .....

I thought you guys just paslode away 

[hibernated]

No not in Sheffiled, though I'm starting to wish I was. Seems just about everyone on here is from Sheffield.. plus my girlfriend of course  Is Sheffield bouldering central or is it just a coincidence that so many on here seem to be based there? I'm actually in Maidenhead, not far from London. Still haven't had a chance to get to the 2 nearby wood yards yet... Too much uni stuff! Also, found out we have the head office of a wood recycling company, and no wood recycling facilities - typical ey 

[rginns]

...Seems just about everyone on here is from Sheffield... Is Sheffield bouldering central or is it just a coincidence

Don't be fooled, many people are duped into thinking that Sheffield is the bouldering capital of the world. 

The enlightened few eventually realise that the centre of the bouldering universe is in fact LANCASHIRE

[grumpycrumpy]

I always glue everything , force of habit being a carpenter and all .....

I thought you guys just paslode away 

I dream of owning a paslode nail gun ..... 

[Barratt]

Bit more info contributed to this thread following my build... might be useful to anyone building a free standing board:

http://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,3260.msg229550.html#msg229550