[lagerstarfish]

I've been using my exercise allowance these last few days to cycle around town searching skips and looking for any wood i could use to make holds but couldn't find anything suitable seeing as i don't have a belt sander. However last night i struck gold, so thought i'd share it so people in the same situation know what to look for.

A wooden handrail.

Ridiculously easy to make any sort of hold and fine tune them from pretty good to downright filthy all with just a jigsaw and some sandpaper. Pinches with small flatties on top, medium crimps, small and nasty crimps, etc all in like half an hour and the wood feels as solid as it gets 




Oh and also slopers/mini jugs

known as "mopstick handrail" if anyone is looking to buy it online - the ~50mm diameter works well

mount on ply offcuts to make jugs

[gme]

Just ordered timber, ply, fixings, tnuts and 150 holds to get the board sorted.
 Fuck me it’s expensive, I could have membership to a wall for three years.

[Paul B]

Just ordered timber, ply, fixings, tnuts and 150 holds to get the board sorted.
 Fuck me it’s expensive, I could have membership to a wall for three years.

Have a look at the prices of the larger comp style holds you see down the wall  . I've heard rumours of outrageous (in my head but probably not based on traffic) hold budgets for London walls (per month).

[SA Chris]

Looks like you have enough to keep you going!

[Will Hunt]

I had never appreciated how much psyche (and ease of use) there was to be gained from naming the holds and the problems. Highly recommended.

[SA Chris]

I've got an old whiteboard i got when our old office closed, which is getting put to good use keeping track of problems and progress.

[remus]

Just ordered timber, ply, fixings, tnuts and 150 holds to get the board sorted.
 Fuck me it’s expensive, I could have membership to a wall for three years.

What's the breakdown for that lot Gav? Managed to get all the wood and fixings for mine for £270 (2.4 x 3.6m) so Im guessing most of the wonga went on holds?

[tomtom]

Just ordered timber, ply, fixings, tnuts and 150 holds to get the board sorted.
 Fuck me it’s expensive, I could have membership to a wall for three years.

My budget.

£130 wood, screws and bolts
£70 (40 assorted resin holds tnuts and bolts)
£8 hardwood Jenga set on EBay. Feet
£5 wooden half domes. Feet.
£10 decent Allen key for TNut cap screws.
£120-150 for 24 wooden holds - being made for me at the moment. 
£6 liquid chalk.

£350 ish?

[nai]

A chalk ball kept in an old takeaway container keeps dust minimal if the resin on your hands doesn't appeal.
Of course, that bumps the cost if you have to buy a takeaway.

[Paul B]

A chalk ball kept in an old takeaway container keeps dust minimal if the resin on your hands doesn't appeal.
Of course, that bumps the cost if you have to buy a takeaway.

Likewise, Carlisle Slapper used to have an Ikea (?) laundry basket (the type that has a spring like structure and slot in the top; like this but less shit!) with a chalk bucket in the base during the era of the bed board:

[tomtom]

Yeah - yet to really try out the liquid chalk in anger... only used it in the fingerboard so far... I’ve also commandeered our old dyson and give the mats and carpet a quick once over after a session.

[sdm]

I had never appreciated how much psyche (and ease of use) there was to be gained from naming the holds and the problems. Highly recommended.

I've got an old whiteboard i got when our old office closed, which is getting put to good use keeping track of problems and progress.

I haven't named the holds but I use the free Open Climbs app to log, name and grade problems.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ionicframework.gradescordova871488

The app is pretty basic but useful.

I also keep videos of most problems on my Google drive which is useful for reminding myself of foot beta for power endurance sessions or for repeating hard problems after I've had time to forget them. Also useful for spotting mistakes I didn't know I was making.

Sometimes I haven't bothered to log a problem because I was sure I would remember it still for tomorrow's session. I have usually forgotten them by the next day.

[Will Hunt]

I've got the Open Climbs app. Basic but functional. It works well but it would be nice to have the option to save one base photo of a board, rather than have to re-upload the same photo each time you log a new problem. Not a real biggie for me, but it might help with their data bill!

[gme]

Just ordered timber, ply, fixings, tnuts and 150 holds to get the board sorted.
 Fuck me it’s expensive, I could have membership to a wall for three years.

What's the breakdown for that lot Gav? Managed to get all the wood and fixings for mine for £270 (2.4 x 3.6m) so Im guessing most of the wonga went on holds?

It’s the holds.
Got 5 sheets of good quality exterior ply plus all timber fixings tnuts etc for 300. Double that on holds.

Needed five sheets as doing a small campus and fingerboard rail thing as well plus doors on sides of panel to store pads in etc. Bling tactic.
It outside as well and having had a mini ramp outside for years I know what the weather does to ply so gone high end on all the wood.

Could obviously make all the holds for cheaper but gone down the moonboard route.

[Coops_13]

Just ordered timber, ply, fixings, tnuts and 150 holds to get the board sorted.
 Fuck me it’s expensive, I could have membership to a wall for three years.

Have a look at the prices of the larger comp style holds you see down the wall  . I've heard rumours of outrageous (in my head but probably not based on traffic) hold budgets for London walls (per month).

I heard Mile End had an enormous budget as their some kind of community set up where all profits are re-invested (as holds)

[Will Hunt]

A question for those with outdoor boards, asked only out of curiosity. What are you doing to weatherproof? I would have thought that CLS and ply was not happy if it got wet over and over again. And what are you going to do to make sure you can climb on it in miserable howling wind and rain? Circumstances are fairly unique now where the weather is glorious and people are training, but normally boards only get used when the crags are pisswrapped. If you have an outdoor board already, do you still use it through the winter/wetter periods?

[gme]

Mine will be under a balcony so won’t get wet from rain. However it will get damp from general moisture hence going the quality route. Will be painted as well.
Quite sheltered where it’s located but still can’t see it being used a lot in the winter.

[tomtom]

I guess you can paint / treat the bits around the back too.. I’d be concerned if I had a load of nice wooden holds on it though!

[Yossarian]

My plan is to have a tarpaulin attached to keep the climbing side as dry as possible, and then aim to have the whole thing before the weather gets too bad in the autumn. Hopefully we can make room in the garage by then and / or have a new house in mind to install it in...

[SA Chris]

A question for those with outdoor boards, asked only out of curiosity. What are you doing to weatherproof? I would have thought that CLS and ply was not happy if it got wet over and over again.

I put a little traversing wall on the side of the house using marine grade ply bits of an old wall that was given to me last summer. It's on a south facing wall so dries out pretty quickly, but it's showing no signs of the ply degrading in that time. The cheap T nuts are pretty rusty, but the holds never get changed anyway.

[Duma]

My plan is to have a tarpaulin attached to keep the climbing side as dry as possible, and then aim to have the whole thing before the weather gets too bad in the autumn. Hopefully we can make room in the garage by then and / or have a new house in mind to install it in...

Yoss, my mate Dan has built one not too dissimilar in size to yours and there's a lot of pics in the board life folder of his ig stories, hopefully you can see them:
https://instagram.com/danstep_55?igshid=hymhnntc67ms
He boxed in the back and felted it, looks a more substantial build than the yonder crew.

[Yossarian]

Duma - that’s awesome - thanks. I’ve ordered some timber, but not sure if / when they might actually be able to supply it. Fingers crossed. I think attaching it to posts sunk in the ground makes good sense. Tempted by the felting depending on how the tarp works.

My kids have got SO excited by the bags of holds I keep retrieving on expeditions to the far corner of the garage. Lots of c2001 Holdz, various wooden things bought from someone on here around the same time, and the most obscene Entreprise jug which my 5-year-old could probably sleep on.

[gme]

My Experience with skate ramps is that you need to cover any area where water can stand. If you don’t it will tot pretty quickly even if treated.
Also any wood in contact with the ground needs heavily treating.
If you want it to last i would felt the whole back of the board so water runs off. Don’t think you will have an issue with the climbing surface or holds.
I am getting the moonboard ply holds that do concern me a bit with damp getting into the ply.
 

[Paul B]

Mine will be under a balcony so won’t get wet from rain.

One day last year the dog bumped into the back door and the bottom joist fell off (completely rotten). Before replacing it I had a poke around and quickly noted the entire lean-to was rotten and thus opted to replace it with uPVC. I've been a bit bemused by a puddle I keep getting between the doorframe and the bottom step until I was in there one lovely Lancs winter day watching water literally jet through the air brick horizontally.

I can't remember what kind of design life you get out of treated timber but I think it'll seriously outlast the various bodges people are throwing up, and/or when the planning officer has a word about the new 3.5m high structure right next to the neighbour's fence line.

Another anecdote that may amuse people (or may not), a rather flash Contracts Manager (contract of course) was having a hot-tub delivered/installed. He'd gone well over the top and constructed a mega-shed/man-cave/bar and installed a pretty hefty slab for the tub (which required a decent sized crane to get it in) with a pergola over it, replete with power, TV etc. He'd forgotten to check planning and the levels meant to comply (after his neighbour complained) he had to hack the top off  .

[remus]

A question for those with outdoor boards, asked only out of curiosity. What are you doing to weatherproof?

I've just stuck a few of these on the back to keep the worst of any rain off https://www.gutta.com/product/pvc-corrugated-sheets/ Mines a temporary affair though (hopefully won't need it by autumn) so not too worried about how long it'll last, and how usable it is in poor weather.