Anchor building practice at home

Does anyone have a set up for practicing anchor building at home?  Maybe some bolts attached to a wall somehow?  I’d like to get some practice at home for top rope anchors and possibly multi pitch belay anchors down the road.
Thanks 

I built this last weekend. I installed hangers where you can see the pilot holes. The mock crack was pretty fun to make. Pretty diverse spacing to simulate different angles etc.

I used furniture legs at first. Heavier is better, so you can pull a bit to equalize your knots without moving the furniture.

Now I use one of those pull-up bars you can put on any door frame. It's nice because you can weight it, hang in your harness, even practice a couple steps of prusikking, etc. Just be aware that you could weight it in such a way that you'd exceed its max load (e.g., bouncing on it, or lowering and stopping abruptly).

I've used one of those door frame pull-up bars with some success for testing different styles of anchors, but I don't hang on them for fear of damaging the door frame. Combined with some tied webbing and some quick links, I was able to practice different setups of bolted anchors.

Edit: like Andy, I do weight the front side and body weight hang/ultra-short rappel on it. But I also use the back edge (that rests above the door frame) for 3- and 4-point anchors, and these I don't weight because they would pull on the bar/frame in an unsafe way.

 

I have some spare time at work sometimes, So I use one of our storage shelves with a backing board. Drill three holes and bolt three hangers and you're set.  

I put eye bolts in the board that my hangboard is mounted to.

I clipped some carabiners to wired shelves in a closet and used them as if they were bolts. Worked well and allowed different configurations. 

I like to use chairs, sometimes you need to add weight, so they don't tip over, but you can place them wherever you like and attach carabiners in different configurations and practice building different systems. I needed heavier chairs, which I bought here nyfurnitureoutlets.com/livi…

TBH, how many times you gonna do it?  I think there's enough stuff laying around me that if I get creative I can usually try out whatever I'm thinking of, so having something purpose built doesn't seem all that useful for me.

Building an anchor on 2 or 3 evenly spaced bolts is basic enough that it should generally not merit much practice... go outside and sling a couple branches on a tree, use some chairs, the ladder rack on my pickup, whatever... to me that's a lot more interesting and fun.  Fire escapes and stairwells are the best.  Go find a fire escape and build an anchor.  Prussik up, rappel off, haul, whatever...

Anchors in the wild have infinite configurations. Anchor on your board might have a few dozen. It’s good practice but you’ll get bored of it quickly. 

Mark Hudon wrote:

Anchors in the wild have infinite configurations. Anchor on your board might have a few dozen. It’s good practice but you’ll get bored of it quickly. 

It can be useful for trying other skills, though, such as escaping belay, passing a knot, etc. 

Agreed that it gets old quick, but I'd always rather have a little more practice before heading to the crag than a little less. Besides, what else am I going to do in the winter?

Isaac Mann-Silverman wrote:

It can be useful for trying other skills, though, such as escaping belay, passing a knot, etc. 

Agreed that it gets old quick, but I'd always rather have a little more practice before heading to the crag than a little less. Besides, what else am I going to do in the winter?

Yup, good on you for that! 

Peter Herman wrote: Does anyone have a set up for practicing anchor building at home? Maybe some bolts attached to a wall somehow? I’d like to get some practice at home for top rope anchors and possibly multi pitch belay anchors down the road.
Thanks 

If you want something nicely made for you, there are two options I'm aware of...

https://freestoneequipment.com/product/the-remsboard/

https://skillzboard.com/

The nice thing about a board (as opposed to something attached to the wall/etc.) is that you can take it with you, hang on drywall anchors, rafters, chainlink fence, a tree, etc. I've also seen people screw bolts into concrete walls, brick walls, fence posts, etc. Other good ideas up thread. If you google and search MP for anchor boards you can find some ideas for DIY inspiration. Good luck...share a pic of what you come up with!

Actual retired anchors from the local crag. Just open the door. Having this hanging in the hall, visible often, just makes me happier. 

Just tie knots in various length slings, drape them over a door and close the door. Knots will jam and you can change configurations pretty easily. Just don’t weight them too much.