Hangboard

I wanted to make a birthday gift for one of my friend, who likes outdoor activities, cycling, running, skiing, caving and especially rock climbing. I saw on the internet a hangboard. After I consulted another friend who knows much better the climbing equipments, I drew my idea in sketchup.

For my hangboard I have choosed a laminated pine wood panel, for some practical reason: it's cheap and easy to work with it. I've calculated the dimensions, 80 x 20 x 5 cm, and cutted two piece, because just one layer was not thick enough.

For each hold I calculated 10 x 3 cm space, and 5 cm between the holds. My specialist friend said that is better to make them not horizontal, but a little bit askew. This way, one can obtain more natural position for hands. Using these dimensions for the hand holds, you can obtain a medium difficulty training board.

The next step was cutting both panels to correct dimension. I fixed them together with some screws (3.5 x 40 mm) on the back side. After marking the positions of the holds on first panel, I used my 35 mm hole drill bit to make the ends of each holds. The holds have different deepness: one for harder exercises 25mm deep and the other 35mm for warmup.

After having the holes and separating the two panels, I have cutted in straight line between the holes on first panel with jigsaw, to obtain the form of the holds. On the second panel I used my router.

Next, screwing again together the wood panels, I've cut the holds on the upper side of the hanging board with a circular saw. Finally, with the router rounded all the edges of the hangboard.

Now the woodwork was finished, remained just to apply a nice texture for the surface, to have better grip.

For the surface of the hangboard I've used the same technology what I have developed some years ago for climbing holds: it's really easy, cheap, non toxic, and even if it's not for professional use, i think it's good enough for home training.

0) first, prepare around 3-4 kg sand: clean from organic particles, screen it (optionally you can apply some water based pigment), and let it dry very well on a large tray.

1) clean thoroughly the wood surface from dust and loose particles

2) apply a layer of varnish (any color you like), and let it dry

3) apply a second layer of varnish, but this time immediately push the whole hangboard into the sand. Let the sand bond to the varnish. Apply some extra pressure to the holds, to ensure the sand is evenly glued to the surface of the holds. Let it completely dry.

4) remove the excess sand from the surface and clean it thoroughly from the holds.

5) apply the last layer of varnish, to stabilize the sand. At this step you have to use a lots of varnish, because the sand will absorb a generous amount!

6) again, let it dry for several days

Now, the hangboard is ready to use by my happy friend :)