Homeade Climbing Holds for Systems Board/Woody

Id like if everyone was able to share some ideas for home made climbing holds for a home system.

Today I cut a softball in half and mounted it on my training board to simulate slopes. I also have a handful of wood holds I shaped into different shapes including pockets/large edges/slopes and so on.

Anyone have other ideas?

I have had a lot of success with bondo for my holds. We used play-dough to make the cast for the holds. Then you mix the bondo and fill the casts. When the bondo is dry sand off one side until it is flat, drill a hole and walla you got a new hold.

You can mix in sand or concrete to give your holds texture since bondo by itself can be kinda slimy.

I have also had some success with rocks. The key is to find rocks with a flat back and use a rubber matting between the rock and the climbing wall.
Have fun.
Matt

Rocks are nice, IF you have a great drill press to drill the holes. So many times the bits wear out or the rock cracks from the pressure. I am not a fan of homemade holds...there are SO many cheap ones on ebay to buy that can't be any worse than the ones you make. Sometimes about a buck per hold, often including bolts. Ugly stuff, but affordable, especially for footholds. Try to budget at least a couple hundred bucks for quality holds from somebody. Atomik has excellent stuff, and affordable prices. I'd use the cheap stuff for lower footholds at the best.

I found that a drill press isn't really necessary to drill real rock, if you have a mason bit.

If I would build a hangboard again I would just make a campus board with 3 different sized rungs. Then I could start on the large rung and use however many fingers and add weight. When I felt like I was reaching the weight I could safely handle, I would go to the smaller rung and begin process again. Then to the smallest rung. Then subtract fingers.

Maybe I'm not very advanced, but I find all I do on hangboard is hang open-handed with two to four fingers on each hand contacting the edge.

Real rocks are kindof cool for route setting, it would be hard to get symmetrical ones to build a hangboard with though. And they tend to fracture easily-but I guess they're basically free after you get a nice drill bit.

5.samadhi- it works for these guys, maybe unless you're above climbing 5.14s.

powercompanyclimbing.com/20…

sonnietrotter.com/the-v-board/

I've had success with different sized pieces of wood. I have used 1x2s and 1x3s to make smaller crimpy holds, and foot chips. I've glued together 2x4s, then cut them down with a sawzall and shaped with a belt sander to make larger holds. It helps to have a table saw which you can use to cut the strips of wood to make them incut. I'm traveling, otherwise I'd post some pics.

Last winter I made a few poly climbing holds and this winter I've been working on a System/Hangboard. If anyone is interested I can post a pic of what it looks like so far.

jonathan.lipkin wrote:I've had success with different sized pieces of wood. I have used 1x2s and 1x3s to make smaller crimpy holds, and foot chips. I've glued together 2x4s, then cut them down with a sawzall and shaped with a belt sander to make larger holds. It helps to have a table saw which you can use to cut the strips of wood to make them incut. I'm traveling, otherwise I'd post some pics.