Hold tight, it's the holds thread

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Steve R said:
Liamhutch89 said:
Has anyone built volumes and used them on their board?

Funny you should ask, this really great channel on youtube has a recent volume making video, might provide some inspiration/ideas:
like comment subscribe #retiredby40
https://youtu.be/HnseSF4bfiw

:lol: liked and subscribed
 
sdm said:
sdm said:
SA Chris said:
Bradders said:
Likewise interested if you find any. All the resin holds now are in lovely ergonomic shapes and textures, where really I just want some ratty little horrible things.

Shame I'm so far away, I inherited holds from both Dave P, and another friend who took their wall down, some right ratty old school things among them.

Most rat like crimps i have are these https://www.outside.co.uk/bleaustone-training-range-symmetrics-set.html

the smallest of which i can can barely hold on my board - 26 deg, so for a wad should be ideal. The others are more incut

I have some of these on my 45 (not the full set).

The easiest ones are crimpy but very positive, can use them for biggish moves but have to pull hard. The more rounded ones (middle, second from bottom) make nice comfortable crimp/pinches. Some of them are quite positive but only for 2/3 fingers so have to hit them accurately or I'm off. The squarish ones (top left or middle right?) are properly ratty.

I'm not a fan of the 2 sided ones in the bottom right: they are awkward to use as handholds and too good for footholds. But the rest are good.

I also have these red crimps which are very ratty and basic.

I inherited them so don't know who made them but they could be just what you're after Bradders if anyone can identify them.

https://imgur.com/a/LmB8kjT

Think these are old High Noon holds from Swanny and Dave Cowl but I'd imagine you'd struggle to find any now.
 
My mate made some small 'volumes' by getting a cutting diagonally down a 4inch fenchpost, to give two long Toblerones. Then cutting into required sizes.
On a 45deg board you can put them on to give a flat undercut and vertical face, and put little holds on for undercuts and good crimps, or in the other orientation for incut gastons/sidepulls or a pinch across the whole thing.
Only small but gives a few options for different angled holds, gastons you get right into, crimps you can properly drape below, and positive undercuts to reach up into, etc
51033105461_1a280081fe.jpg
 
remus said:
Oldmanmatt said:
I have a mixture of Crusher and Artemis, the latter being a relatively new producer.
Dan Ward, he’s very good and reasonably priced. Has a FB shop:

https://www.facebook.com/artemis.hangboards

Good shout on Artemis/Dan ward, nice selection of shapes.

I also have one of his small wedge volumes - really good quality, looks good and bargainous prices. I have managed to attach 6 different crimps on the four faces of mine (3 on the front and one on each of the other sides) so got lots of new angles out of it.
I think you could probably fit it temporarily over the top of a crimp but you'd want to check exact dimensions.
 
Paul B said:
Peewee makes them. He sorted Cofe out recently I think.

I got some lovely handles from Pete. Tulip.

Also got some Beta Blox, Beastmaker and Strongholds, all very nice.

Got some great Core holds too as I do like resin, and their Geo footholds are mega.
 
I've got a set of leaf crimps from Get a Grip (James Tunstall).

They're nicely made small, comfy, positive crimps. Just wide enough for 4 fingers, about half a pad deep for your middle 2 fingers but smaller for your index and pinky.

Haven't tried any of his other holds but the rails look interesting.

https://getagripclimbing.com/shop/

And something a bit different: I have 2 granite Skinfarmrz edges (pictured in the red crimps post above) and 2 granite slopers from Petraholds to toughen the skin up while I can't climb outdoors. I use the slopers for hangs and currently have the edges on the board.

The edges are tough on the board. They're probably best suited for hangs to toughen up the skin before a trip, especially for people with crap skin like me. As expected, they work your skin in a very similar way to climbing on crimpy granite.

They come from Canada and are not cheap. He also does a wood and granite hangboard and a "try hard stick" for training compression but I think shipping and customs would make them very expensive for the UK.

Also does whole board sets in granite or basalt but they would be very expensive for a home setup.

https://instagram.com/petraholds?igshid=e84de43h4bbd
 
Been meaning to write a bit of a review of all the holds I've acquired for ages, so here goes at last. I've tried to get a good variety, mainly as I think that's just generally a good approach for constructing a board and giving a decent amount of variation in the hold types you can use. All holds are on either a 45' or 25' board, and for reference I am occasionally able to cheat my way up 8Aish boulders but more usually climb around 7C in a session or three.

Forgive the massive essay but hopefully this is useful for someone!

Taylor Made Holds: https://taylormadeholds.com/
Holds used: thin pinches, 25mm 30' incut edges, 15' incut edges, campus rungs, triangle pinches
Review: all of the holds are made from tulipwood, and are finished with a really smooth texture giving very little friction, meaning you have to squeeze pretty hard on all of the holds. In all honesty I was a bit disappointed with the 30' incut edges, as I was thinking they'd be smaller and more incut than they are, but I've ended up using them as pretty hard undercuts and they work well for this. The less incut edges are really hard to use on the 45' board. The best thing about these holds is the finish, which is really exceptional and I particularly like the addition of washers as standard, which means they're nice and easy to screw onto the wall without over-tightening.


Jake's Holds: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/JakesHolds
Holds used: micro wavey edges (oak & walnut), small random blocks,
Review: I absolutely love the wavey edges. The finish is brilliant, and the edges are sharp little grifters that have been really hard to come across, but I think are really valuable on a board as you have to properly bear down to use them. The wavey edge to them gives a really nice shape and a much more natural feel than a flat edge. The small blocks are really hard to use on a 45' board, ending up as kind of front 3 micro pinches which feel really unique and different to literally any other holds I've seen on a board. I also put two of them close together to create a kind of split edge that feels like something you'd find on UK limestone.


Beta Blox: https://www.betablox.co.uk/
Holds used: small slopey edges, large domes, large and small pinches, 88mm sloper (in plywood)
Review: these were amongst the first holds I bought midway through the first lockdown last year. Honestly, I wasn't all that impressed at the time, given I'd specified holds for a 45' board, and having bought circa 20-30 holds I ended up having to take the majority of them off as they were completely unusable at that angle. Not just hard, I genuinely think Adam Ondra wouldn't have been able to do anything with them. On a 25' though they're much better and more recently I bought some of the sapele domes, which are absolutely lovely to use and Nigel was great in sorting out exactly what I was after.


Crusher: http://crusherholds.co.uk/
Holds: board holds set 2 (mix of edges from small to large plus medium and large pinches)
Review: these really are the budget option. At £2.50 per hold, I don't think you can really get holds cheaper unless you make them yourself. You do get what you pay for though; the wood doesn't feel amazing quality and in an outdoor board noticeably suffers more than others, the edges are very easily "cheatable" in that you can get a lot of thumb involved given they have flat edges, and they're generally not great to look at. The smallest edges were also kind of too small for 45' in my opinion, not having much of an incut. My favourite holds in the set are the large pinches, which give a really meaty handful.


Beastmaker: https://www.beastmaker.co.uk/
Holds: incut pinches, 1000 & 2000 fingerboards, micros
Review: from the budget option to the premium brand. Again, you get what you pay for; premium finish, lovely shapes, etc. But they're just not that interesting....hard to put my finger on it but even just looking at the website none of the holds make me excited to spend money on them, such that the only ones I've ended up getting are the incut pinches, which are admittedly lovely.


Strongholds: https://www.strongholds.co.uk/
Holds: small mirrored jugs and custom made small edges 15mm with 45' incut in tulipwood, small utile (mahogany type wood) edges
Review: really, really impressed with these. The small mirrored jugs in tulipwood are just perfect for warm ups at 45' for me, giving a great comfortable shaped hold that's small enough to get your fingers pulling but large enough that they still feel somewhat juggy. The 15mm edges were custom made by Rick after I got in touch. He made them to my specifications and was really accommodating. I think he was a little reluctant initially to do such a significant incut angle, but it's worked really well and he made the edge profile perfectly so it's very small, but really comfortable. The texture on these combined with the size makes them really hard to use, but never uncomfortable which is a real achievement. He even then threw in a pair of edges in utile, which is a really beautiful wood type, and again they're just really nicely shaped. Altogether these might just be the most comfortable "hard" holds on my board.


Peewee: https://www.instagram.com/peter_hobbit_wilkinson/?hl=en
Holds: mix of edges in varying sizes and incuts, few small pinches
Review: Pete made me lots of mixed edge sizes and you can tell that he knows how to make a profile of hold that's both comfortable yet gives good hard climbing. There are lots of slopey edges that are a bit different to lots of others on the market; you've got to really bear down on them, but they're not incut at all really. Compared to a lot of others they are also much, much harder to thumb cheat; i.e. you have to really crimp down on them as opposed to pinching the sides. My only criticism is the wood type used initially isn't the best and suffers a bit in my shed, but I think he's now using more tulip and they were very well priced.


Tulip Grips: https://www.instagram.com/tulipgrips/
Holds: large slopers
Review: only have a couple of these, but the finish is exceptional and they're really nice to look at and use, whilst being very reasonably priced. Keen to get some more.


Alien Holds: https://www.alienholds.com/
Holds: First Contact full set
Review: as a big set of holds to fill out a new board I think these were a really good choice. You get a great variety of shapes including some jugs that really aren't too juggy, big slopey edges that make great finishing holds, and a bunch of slopers and pinches that are really usable for easier to moderate problems on 45'. There were I think only 2 hand holds in the set that aren't usable on 45' or on a volume on the 45', whilst if I was buying again I wouldn't have got the footholds as they're just too slopey for 45', and too big for 25'. Texture wise they feel great, slightly rough but comfortable profiles.


Core: https://coreclimbing.co.uk/
Holds: Font mini jugs, limestone small edges, 20mm geo screw on feet, "board" feet
Review: everyone should just get their footholds from Core really, they're just the best. The 20mm are probably a bit too big for really hard problems at 45' but they do mean you can use some really small handholds, so it's swings and roundabouts. The board feet are small and slopey and can turn warm ups on the larger feet into projects. I've used these on a 30' board too and they're still pretty tough there! The Font mini jugs make for very easy warm ups on 45', or are good for an unfit boulderer doing aerocap on 25'. Honestly, I really didn't get on with the limestone edges. They were very usable at 45', but I found wooden holds much more comfortable to use as the edges were so sharp they tore through my skin pretty quickly.


Euroholds: https://www.euroholds.com/en/
Holds: 16M (small slopers), 5M (one / two finger pockets)
Review: The slopers made for great finishing holds on a previous 45, but were unusable for me on the steep. They make for a difficult, squeezy circuit at 25', with lots of variety to the profiles; some are draggable, whilst others you have to really pinch. The pockets are great on the 45'; positive and comfortable to use for someone who generally hates climbing on pockets. Unfortunately last time I looked at shipping costs I think these are now pretty uneconomical.


Hardwood Holds: https://www.hardwoodholds.co.uk/
Holds: big pinches, wavey crimps, board slopers
Review: another of the most established and well known brands. It would be a bit weird not to have some Hardwood Holds on a board. That said, I've not been all that impressed and I suspect their popularity / ubiquity is more based around successful marketing and familiarity, as opposed to the holds actually being any better than others on this list. The board slopers are really good though, at 45' they require you to really squeeze all the juice out of them to make them usable, and one of my crowning achievements on my board is having done a sequence linking them together.


Silly Goat: https://sillygoatholds.co.uk/
Holds: random mix of small edges
Review: another very established brand. Again, really not that impressed. The holds are generally quite interesting shapes which is nice, but they're sharp in a bad way in places and I prefer more rounded profiles where you can't get the cheat thumb engaged. I do only have a handful of them to be fair, albeit part of the reason for that is the larger slopers and pinches are a fair bit more expensive than those from other makers, and I'm not sure are worth the extra dough.


Buzz: https://buzzholds.co.uk/
Holds: big mix of pretty much everything, i.e. the 40 hold set plus a bunch of others from when he was just starting out
Review: Garry's holds have improved a lot since he started out. The first lot he sent me during lockdown 1 were good, but some were very sharp and could completely ruin your skin. The new set I got a few months ago are much better, really nice profiles on the edges and comfortable pinches. He was happy to accommodate some of my specific requirements and gave me a really cool mix of wood types which adds variety. All at a really great price. Highly recommended.
 
Mega write up Bradders. Sounds like we have a quite similar hold setup and I agree with basically everything you've said so don't have much to add.

Perhaps the only one we differ on are the Hardwood Holds. I'm a big fan of these, I find they use a bigger radius on their edges than almost every other hold on my board which is nice for variety if nothing else. A big shout out for their jugs too. Great for longer endurance stuff on steep boards and I haven't found anything else as remotely comfortable and kind to the skin.
 
Great write up.

I’ve core feet, Stronghold, Peewee and Crushers on mine and I’d agree with you on all of these.
 
Ace write up bradders, good work!

I've just had my first proper session on the taylormade pockets and Im well impressed so far. It seems like pockets are a hard shape to get right but these are a really nice profile. As bradders said they've got a pretty finely textured finish which I think works well in this case: they've got a big radius on the edge that would be too juggy if it was resin but makes them feel nicely challenging on a 45 (for my weak fingers anyway).

They are double sided which is a cool feature. One orientation is a fairly positive 2 fingers and the other way up is a slopier 3 fingers.
 
Bradders and other experienced board users, I have a few questions to try and get the most value out of my board training if you'd be so kind to help.

Are you using 2 sets of footholds on your board such that you can do a problem on the easy feet then work towards doing it on the hard feet. If so do you set them with a regular repeating spacing?

Do you ever set feet follow hands and find it has any strength training value? I think it can sometimes make more realistic movement but my primary concern is getting strong.

Do you have a preference for setting either: (a) basic problems that are hard because the holds are bad, (b) problems that are hard because the movement is hard, or a mix of both?

How many moves do you tend to aim for when creating problems where the intention is getting stronger?

Edit: sorry, I now realise most of this has strayed off topic.
 
I have three foothold options on my 45 atm;

1. Core 20mm feet, allows me to use some very small holds, and also good for doing ancap style training on easier problems.
2. Core "board" feet, in practice these are about 10mm and a bit slopey/uneven. Can make warm ups on the 20mm feet into projects that take a few sessions.
3. Feet on specified plastic holds

I don't like / can't really do feet follow as my board is only 2.5m or so high, I don't have a kicker, and I don't like using the wood holds for feet.

Given it's how the School Room 50 is set up though I think it's safe to say feet follow is a good way of doing it if you have the height!

I have my footholds in nice neat rows / columns atm but tbh am thinking of changing that, not sure if having them a bit more random might be better....?

On problem setting, variety is the spice of life! Although again, due to the height of the board it tends more towards the bad holds side of things versus something like the Kilter board which is obviously more big moves etc. In an ideal world you'd train on both ;)
 
Bradders, just a few comments regarding your comments on wood types with reference to you calling my holds not very good quality! First time in 12 years my holds and the Ash I use, has been referred to as such.
There are currently 4 main types used out there, Tulipwood, Utile, Ash and Oak. None of which are very suitable for use on a board outside. I certainly don't advertise them for use outside.
All 4 are pretty standard and are usually shipped into the country by a couple of main importers, so their quality doesn't vary throughout the country.
Tulipwood, softest wood of the 4, cheapest to buy, easy to work and get good shapes, finish becomes polished easy, least hardwearing.
Utile and Ash, similar hardness, similar price, Utile being the easier to work, Ash being slightly harder wearing.
Oak, hardest of all, expensive, difficult to work, great finish, easily absorbs moisture and if so liable to split, if kept well will out last the rest no probs.
Horses for courses pay for what you get.
My ash is the ash I've used on boards, holds & rungs since the start. Some fingerboards & campus boards have been in commercial use for 10 years and still going strong. So may be you have an off batch of ash, no idea what an off ash would be but not counting it out. Or having the holds on a board outside had lead to the wood degrading fast, no surprise there.
 
Do you use beech? I have a few holds in that- really nice. (Have some of yours and Rick's too - all good).
 
Nice write up bradders, not that I've much space left to make use of any more holds on my board!

I've only bought holds from rginns on here (strongholds) and core, so can't really give a fair comparison with other stuff, but couple of things to add.

My board is 30 degrees which is fairly unusual i think - most people seem to go steeper for height constraints and more power focus, or shallower as traversing/easier stuff - Anyway, Richard at Strongholds was brilliant tweaking incut angles to suit the 30 degree, and I love all the stuff I've got from him. Mine are nearly all oak - the texture on these is glorious and are holding up well on an outdoor board so far - though its noticeable that if I forget to brush off holds after a session they do seem to absorb more moisture than the bits of mahogany from old furniture that I've got from mates boards.
And another vote for the core board feet I use these as my "medium" feet at 30 degrees - although if you have them the good way up on a 30 they can bite through your shoes pretty quick - I've got an otherwise fairly new pair of shoes with a hole specifically at the point some of the better footholds edges bite. I've also got these from core as the "easy" set of feet and like them: https://coreclimbing.co.uk/buy-holds/shop-by-type/footholds/core-screw-ons_1/
The "hard" feet are little wood discs that came off a mates board - these are great for me but would be unusable on anything significantly steeper I think

Liam - I have my feet semi regularly spaced, but each set is sparing enough that theres not a great deal of choice for each move if restricting yourself to one set.
I don't do feet follow, though I do make an effort to set moves that might require high feet, though this isn't a weakness for me so it's not a priority. If the board was steeper I probably would.
re small holds vs difficult movement - both as much as possible, but the biggest advantage is to get others to set problems, I invariably find these more challenging than my own for "the grade", and feels much better for finding and working weaknesses
I don't worry about how many moves - my problems are generally 3-5 moves, on a board thats 3.2m "long"
 
Liamhutch89 said:
Bradders and other experienced board users, I have a few questions to try and get the most value out of my board training if you'd be so kind to help.

Are you using 2 sets of footholds on your board such that you can do a problem on the easy feet then work towards doing it on the hard feet. If so do you set them with a regular repeating spacing?

Do you ever set feet follow hands and find it has any strength training value? I think it can sometimes make more realistic movement but my primary concern is getting strong.

Do you have a preference for setting either: (a) basic problems that are hard because the holds are bad, (b) problems that are hard because the movement is hard, or a mix of both?

How many moves do you tend to aim for when creating problems where the intention is getting stronger?

Edit: sorry, I now realise most of this has strayed off topic.

I have three foothold sets. 20mm flats, 15mm (or 10mm) and some domes. Hardly use the 20s anymore, the 15s are the workhorses of the board (they’re round oak ‘coins’ courtesy of Probes) and the domes are desperate. I set using the 15mms and then swapping to the domes bumps the grade by at least what feels a whole number! Foot spacing is regular and mirrored, as the board is mirrored, but differently spaced for the three sets.

Never done feet follow hands, don’t want to ruin the handholds. If you’re after getting strong, then I wouldn’t bother. Climb outside/gym for realistic movement. Tiny screw-one for feet to engage core and get strong.

I’m very limited on space 3m x 1m so a lot of my stuff is hard because the holds are ratty and average about four/five moves or bigger moves I average about three moves to the top hold. As I am constrained on width, the focus for me is catching holds, keeping feet and maintaining tension where I can.

When it comes to setting stuff, I tend to set what feels hard for me usually centred around either an idea of a move or a particular hold or two I haven’t set with recently. Although over the last few months I’ve churned out my own holds so sometimes it is just setting to play with new holds!
 
I have a mix of mostly Crusher holds, Strongholds, a couple of TaylorMade and ones I’ve made myself to fill in gaps or edges that aren’t so generous with the incut.

Or rather, crusher are quality and the small 15mm crimps are perfect for what I want. I really like the consistent incut on the 15,20 and 25mm crimps as they aren’t always easy to use.

Strongholds make up the main bulk and Rick has been really good in making up a custom set for me. Lots of crimps with a couple pockets and undercuts too.

TaylorMade I got a jug to use as a starting undercut and a couple of the pockets. I find I middle two crimp the duo pockets rather than drag them oddly.
 


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