[cha1n]

I've been thinking about campusing and deadhanging recently but don't want to fork out loads on branded campus rungs. I can't really be assed to try and sand the edges of square bits of wood as I've tried this in the past and the results were disappointing to say the least.

So after seeing these; http://www.woodpeckerholds.com/en/node/38 I thought I could just get some broom handles and chop them up or whatever. Has anyone tried hanging on rounded campus rungs? If so, are they harder to hold than standard rungs?

I know what you're thinking, if this guy can't be bothered to sand some 2x4 he probably isn't going to stick to a campus/deadhang routine. You're probably right, but I'm willing to give this a try again (tried deadhanging once, a year ago and hated it).

[andyd]

Badly edged campus rings give me horrible calluses-especially the ones I have made! A lot more time, effort and trial&error has gone into the design of branded rungs.

That said, I haven't trained for long periods on bought ones

[cha1n]

Well I was thinking that you couldn't get more joint friendly than a completely rounded rung. Happy to be proven wrong before going ahead with this though.

[Nibile]

I'd get a carpenter do the rungs for you. I hate campusing on rungs that are so rounded that you slip off more easily: that's not the aim of campusing.
I think that the rungs must be rounded on the edges to avoid ripping your skin, but they also have to be incut, so that you can pull hard on them.
So after putting up the board, I'd place a rung on it, I'd mark the rung on the side so that the (future) contact surface is horizontal, then I'd explain what to do to a carpenter (to be honest I've always done them myself because I trust no one).
I don't know if I made it clear.

[a dense loner]

Don't cut a broom handle up to make campus rungs that's a worse idea than getting bummed off a goat at burbage bridge on a Sunday morning

[cha1n]

Why?! I guess the rounded rungs have some benefit if that site is selling them? A broom handle seems a good diameter and you can get broom handles for £1 a pop on t'internet!

[Nibile]

Why?! I guess the rounded rungs have some benefit if that site is selling them? A broom handle seems a good diameter and you can get broom handles for £1 a pop on t'internet!

they benefit the seller.

[nik at work]

You want campus rungs to be comfortable, and comfort comes from them being shaped so that they match up with the shape of your fingers so there is as much contact  area as possible. This is why commercial rungs are of an incut shape with a slight scallop. A round profile as in a broom handle will end up with your fingers being point loaded which will be very painful. I can't say for sure whether it would be more or less painful than getting bummed off a goat at Burbage Bridge on a Sunday morning, but I will bow to Dense's greater knowledge...

[cha1n]

Thanks for the replies people, glad I asked the question now. Looks like I'd better get sanding!

[Probes]

You should give that lad Probes  from crusher holds a shout, he's a bit of a  , but he's been making custom rungs for a few years, if you can afford £5 a rung, you'll get a top quality mahogany rung, been used by quite a few campus dorks and the design tweaked and I reckon they're pretty bang on.

If youre doing your own I second that about round rungs, no good at all. Go with what nible is saying. You can get pine cls timber from bq that has a radius'd edge, you just need to cut them down to size and get the right width, but for all the messing about you'll probably save yourself 10 or 15 quid and end up with some medocre rungs that wont be great long term.

[Stubbs]

Hi Probes, so to go off topic, but I was wondering where you source your woods - do you use an FSC certified supplier?  I had a quick look on your site but I couldn't see anything.

[Probes]

Now then  top secret info that.

Use a couple of places, berry's in leyland is great, all fsc, but a bit pricey. There's hoghton timber which i use too, just down the road from hoghton quarry, he's a bit cheaper, but quality can suffer, and can't be 100% where its come from. He's great for anything random though, a proper timber dealer, does alot of specialist hardwoods and stuff for furniture.

[Pebblespanker]

If you really want to create your own rungs try being a little sneaky ... use pencil and paper and map the profile of a commercial rung down the wall, measure the radius. Then beg, borrow, scrounge use of a router and a radiusing bit of the appropriate size to profile timber to your requirements. If the radius turns out to be not right redo them smaller/larger.

Having said that if you have to hire a router, buy bits etc. you will probably end up with a load of expensive firewood and it would have been cheaper to buy Probes fine products (keep the cash in the community) or buy other commercially available rungs in the first place. I have a lot of DIY experience but would balk at making my own - do you not know a chippy who could help if you really must make your own?

[wsmith]

I've been thinking about campusing and deadhanging recently but don't want to fork out loads on branded campus rungs. I can't really be assed to try and sand the edges of square bits of wood as I've tried this in the past and the results were disappointing to say the least.

You can get a hand plane pretty cheap. That will give a much more consistent rounded edge than sand paper alone. If you take a bit of time its not too hard to make some good rungs with a plane and some sand paper.

As long as they are comfortable, your muscles arent gunna care if the rungs arent perfectly identical, they will just respond to having to pull hard (hopefully).

[cha1n]

I tried planing (electric plane) a rung that I got from TCA. The TCA rungs aren't very joint friendly but they're cheap and I wasn't happy with my planing results. It wasn't very consistent across it's length and I didn't really like the resultant profile.

The best rungs I've felt are the Metolious ones, which have a slight indent for the fingers and then the edge is rounded to make it joint friendly - Are the crusher holds rungs similar, probes? As it happens, I have access to the carpentry workshop of the college I work at but haven't yet managed to persuade the technician to teach me how to use the equipment yet, though I have talked him into letting me take any scrap wood I want (lots of it). They have some very good machinery as well as a CNC machine and 3D scanner in other areas.

Next time I'm at the wall, I'll try and take a profile of the Metolious rungs (all sizes) unless someone has some they can draw around for me?

Cheers!

[Probes]

A router mate, with a 6mm or more radius chamfer bit will do what you want in under a couple of seconds, that will take you 10 or 15 mins of sanding. 20-22mm deep rungs with one of these edges and dont the edge flat, do it slightly sloping, maybe 2/3 degrees away from you board. Eg. 15 deg campus board, do the edge at 12 deg. There I've give it all away. Curves/profile edges are ok but in my opinion they squeeze the tip skin under the nail a bit, on the smaller rungs. I spent quite a few months training on one at west view last year so I got quite familiar with it, I prefer dead flat personally. That is only my opinion. Each to their own an all that.