Pegboard for climbing

[yorick]

Anybody have suggestions for a good way to make one of these?

Don't worry, I'm still googling it, but I want to hear what you guys and gals say.

Or, a good place for buying one fairly cheap?

If you don't know what I'm talking about, here's Jim from beastskills doing it:

[FKYT]

We had one of those things in my high school gym. I always wondered what the hell it was for.

[jgalak]

My HS had it as well. The first time we were allowed on it, the gym teachers tried to demonstrate it. They carefully explained how the figure 8 device allowed a lighter person belay a heavier person.

To demonstrate, a male gym teacher climbed up the ladder (like in this video, the board started about 8' above the floor) to climb, and a a female gym teacher set up to belay him. The male teacher was a ~300lb ex-NFL player. The female was about 125lb pilates-type.

The guy made it about two "steps" up the board before slipping off the handholds, and we all got to watch the woman slowly rise into the air as the guy came down...

No point here, just an episode that make me crack up to this day, almost 20 years later...

[Dillman]

If you make it use hardwood (maple, oak, hickory) not pine or alder. The soft woods will result in crushed hole edges and just not hold up very well. find hardwood dowels about 1.5 inches in diameter then a hole saw or spade bit slightly bigger than that (maybe 1/8 inch bigger than the dowel). Elitefts sells one for nearly 400 bucks so you can probably make one for cheaper than that. Theirs in 1.5 inches thick so that would be an appropriate thickness.

[yorick]

If you make it use hardwood (maple, oak, hickory) not pine or alder. The soft woods will result in crushed hole edges and just not hold up very well. find hardwood dowels about 1.5 inches in diameter then a hole saw or spade bit slightly bigger than that (maybe 1/8 inch bigger than the dowel). Elitefts sells one for nearly 400 bucks so you can probably make one for cheaper than that. Theirs in 1.5 inches thick so that would be an appropriate thickness.

Thanks! That's exactly the info I was looking for.

I've seen 3'x3' for about $300 at the cheapest, and the longer but not as wide ones for $250 or so. Do you think I can build one for significantly less than that, or would it maybe be worth the money buying one in the $300 range after time and labor is factored in? I'm not sure how much maple, oak, and hickory would run for the size I need (and perhaps doubled or tripled for thickness by gluing multiple pieces together).

[Dillman]

I like building things like this so I don't count the labor as part of the cost.

Thick pieces of hardwood are hard to find. The easiest place to start looking at pricing would be Lowes, Home Depot or some place like that. I think you are right in laminating some pieces together. If you go that route you could use 3/4 inch of cheap plywood sandwiched between two slabs of maple or oak. I think that would work pretty well (just don't use particle-board or wafer-board. the resins they have in them might interfere with the bond between the filler piece and the solid wood). If you decide to laminate them without fasteners smear a good layer of glue down on all the faces then stack a couple hundred pounds of weight on top of it and leave it for a 3-7 days. Wood to wood bonding is pretty strong if you use "Titebond" or some other good glue.

If you can find a local cabinet shop they might be able to get you a deal on some hardwood that isn't as marked up as the big box stores.

[Dastardly]

I like building things like this so I don't count the labor as part of the cost.

Thick pieces of hardwood are hard to find.

In the UK old mahogany tables are very easy to find for next to nothing.

[John Bono]

You could probably get away building this pretty quickly with getting a couple of sheets of this, glued and bolted together before you drill the holes.

[yorick]

Awesome, John.

At 4'X8', I could cut it in half and have approximately the size I need.

Now I'll have to look to see why that piece of wood only had a 3 star rating.

[Dillman]

This would be the coolest pegboard ever!

In the UK old mahogany tables are very easy to find for next to nothing.

The plywood idea would probably work. The only problem is it is hardwood is only veneer (very thin layer of actual hardwood). The edges of the holes will likely be crushed a bit when you climb around on them with your dowels. Then the pegs might have a lot of slop in them and that wouldn't be as fun or possibly as safe to climb on. This is why the commercial ones are made out of solid hardwood and why I suggested the laminate system with the plywood serving as the core (spacer) and the hardwood (preferably 0.25-0.5 inches thick) would be on the outside and prevent the edges of the holes dulling/rounding.

Plywood idea may work and it really isn't more than $50 to try out.