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DIY Dual texture climbing holds

Original Post
will ar · · Vermont · Joined Jan 2010 · Points: 290

I'm planning to build a home climbing wall after my upcoming move and was thinking about outfitting it with a mix of commercial and homemade holds. I'd really like to have some dual texture holds on it and was wondering if anyone had figured out good techniques for making these or had an idea of how they are made commercially.

Some possible options I was thinking about were:
-sand the finished hold
-use clay instead of foam for the initial model so I can vary the texture more
-paint some kind of coating on the foam model

Or maybe I should just buy commercial dual textured holds?

Ken Noyce · · Layton, UT · Joined Aug 2010 · Points: 2,648
will ar wrote:I'm planning to build a home climbing wall after my upcoming move and was thinking about outfitting it with a mix of commercial and homemade holds. I'd really like to have some dual texture holds on it and was wondering if anyone had figured out good techniques for making these or had an idea of how they are made commercially. Some possible options I was thinking about were: -sand the finished hold -use clay instead of foam for the initial model so I can vary the texture more -paint some kind of coating on the foam model Or maybe I should just buy commercial dual textured holds?
Never done it, but the third option listed is what I would do. Just make your normal foam mold, then paint the parts you want smooth with epoxy. You can thin out the epoxy to make it easy to paint with using acetone. Don't know how they do it commercially, but that method would work well and easily for the DIY.
Steven Groetken · · Durango, CO · Joined Sep 2012 · Points: 390

I'm sure all three of those ideas would work, but it's going to be expensive. The mold rubber is pretty expensive and it takes quite a bit to make a good mold. Once the mold is made, it can only be used to make the same kind of climbing hold. If you want variety, it's going to take a lot of molds. It's generally cheaper to buy holds. If you have good quality, you might be able to trade with your local climbing gym. Otherwise, if you do make your own, go for foot chips and smaller, generic holds that are ok to have redundancy on your wall.

Brendan N · · Salt Lake City, Utah · Joined Oct 2006 · Points: 405
will ar wrote:Or maybe I should just buy commercial dual textured holds?
This will be your cheapest/highest quality option.

kennoyce wrote:foam . . . . acetone.
Melted puddle of foam.
Ken Noyce · · Layton, UT · Joined Aug 2010 · Points: 2,648
Brendan N. (grayhghost) wrote: This will be your cheapest/highest quality option. Melted puddle of foam.
good point, I obviously didn't think that one through too far!
will ar · · Vermont · Joined Jan 2010 · Points: 290

Thanks everyone for the input. As much as I like dual texture holds in the gym I'm starting to think that they may not be the best thing for a home wall, at least starting out, because of the limited options. Since I'm setting the routes for myself I can always limit myself to using one portion of the hold if I want.

Steven Groetken wrote:if you do make your own, go for foot chips and smaller, generic holds that are ok to have redundancy on your wall.
This is my plan right now. I've also got access to various dental impression materials and plan to use that to play around with some prototypes before dropping money on the good mold material.
Tylerpratt · · Litchfield, Connecticut · Joined Feb 2016 · Points: 40

United Climbing is a Connecticut hold making company. They make great holds and are a small shop but distribute to gyms throughout the country. Great customer service and really nice people. Highly recommend their holds! They are really into 3D printing their molds so some of their holds are really really unique and crazy. I assume a lot of people use 3D printing for molds. I just saw their setup one day thought it was really cool.

Matt Stroebel · · Philadelphia, PA · Joined Apr 2011 · Points: 115

Paint the part of the mold that you want shiny with epoxy. Let it get tacky then add the rest of the material for the grippy part of the hold.

Mr. Mix · · Sauk City, WI · Joined Jan 2007 · Points: 395

I own a company that makes polyurethane climbing holds and we coat our prototypes with many coats of brush on polyurethane to make the smooth texture. It's a many step and time conducive procedure. If you just wanted to buy dual texture at a good price we would be happy for the business:
driftlessclimbing.com/dualt…

Chris Rice · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jan 2013 · Points: 55

No idea if this will work but Rustoleum Texture spray paint might work. Hold it back farther for rougher - close for smoother. Any enamel spray paint will be smooth. And either can be removed with paint stripper after the experiment. For even rougher try anti slip or tread paint (just paint with sand in it). These would all wear off eventually but might be worth a try anyway as they are easily reversible.

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

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