How to Install Dowel Rods on a Campus Board?

I want to put the dowel rods in between each Metolius rung to work on half steps. Do I need to cut maybe 1/3 or 1/4 of the back, so it's flush to the plywood? What nails should I use? Should I attach some 2 x 4 scrap wood, so the nail goes through? I just want to prevent the dowels from splintering.

PlanchePRO wrote:I want to put the dowel rods in between each Metolius rung to work on half steps. Do I need to cut maybe 1/3 or 1/4 of the back, so it's flush to the plywood? What nails should I use? Should I attach some 2 x 4 scrap wood, so the nail goes through? I just want to prevent the dowels from splintering.

If you're using round dowels I'd shave some off the back to get a stable interface since you're exerting a lot of force on them while campusing and because you don't want the hold to seem super incut, which it will if you just stick the round dowel agains the board. I probably wouldn't use round dowels at all. On my board I wanted rungs smaller than the smallest metolius rungs so I bough hardwood oak strips from Lowe's and sanded edge to a radius that doesn't hurt my skin too much.

To prevent splitting you should pre drill some pilot holes.

I wouldn't use nails on something I was going to be exerting my max force on, Definitely use screws. If the back board is a fairly think plywood (mine is 22/32"), you shouldnt need to reenforce the backing.

Adam Leedy wrote: If you're using round dowels I'd shave some off the back to get a stable interface since you're exerting a lot of force on them while campusing and because you don't want the hold to seem super incut, which it will if you just stick the round dowel agains the board. I probably wouldn't use round dowels at all. On my board I wanted rungs smaller than the smallest metolius rungs so I bough hardwood oak strips from Lowe's and sanded edge to a radius that doesn't hurt my skin too much. To prevent splitting you should pre drill some pilot holes. I wouldn't use nails on something I was going to be exerting my max force on, Definitely use screws. If the back board is a fairly think plywood (mine is 22/32"), you shouldnt need to reenforce the backing.

Sorry I meant screws. How long/thick should the nails be? I have .75", 1", and 1.25" dowels.

Home Depot sells square dowels. Just round the edges and make sure you drill a pilot hole. I used the .5 inch and .75 inch dowels and drilled 1.5" screws into them. I haven't had any problems.

PlanchePRO wrote: Sorry I meant screws. How long/thick should the nails be? I have .75", 1", and 1.25" dowels.

how thick is your backing board? I used 2 inch screws. My backboard is 22/32" thick plus a rung that is anywhere from 1.5" to .5" thick that means that the tip of the screw sticks out the back side but since it is against the wall this isn't a problem. I'd rather the screws be a tad too long than be too short and rip out.

these are my favorite screws for building training stuff because the torx head is not likely to strip and it comes with the correct driver bit in the box. homedepot.com/p/Deck-Mate-1…

I found some 1" dowels with about 1/4 to 1/3 cut off the back, giving a nice flat surface to mount them. They have just enough of a positive edge to get a half digit behind. I predrilled holes and mounted them with small wood screws to a 20 degree overhang.
This is an older pic but you can see the first 4 I hung on the right side of my wall.

Adam Leedy wrote:... my favorite screws for building training stuff because the torx head is not likely to strip and it comes with the correct driver bit in the box. homedepot.com/p/Deck-Mate-1…

I use lots of those too.
I believe it's actually a Star drive head (? or is that just one form of Torx ?) ... anyway Yes the correct bit comes in the box. If that bit were somehow missing, my own screwdriver set has the correct size Star bit.

by the way ... for half-cylindrical holds, some climbing gyms use PVC pipe with some "no slip" stuff (like sandpaper) glued onto it. Which perhaps addresses the problem of wood splitting. One gym uses two sizes of half-sliced PVC, another gym I know uses three sizes on its campus board (in addition to Metolius wood rungs).

Ken

Steven Groetken wrote:I used the .5 inch and .75 inch square dowels

Wow.
You can do no-feet campus moves on holds only 0.5 inch (13 mm) deep?

I had not before heard of anyone doing campus moves (as opposed to static hangs) on holds less 18mm deep. Though I can see that thinner edge holds could be useful for uneven hangs and uneven-grip muscle-ups.

The small Metolius rungs are about .75 inch / 19 mm deep. With the nice smoothing they put on it, I guess the "effective" edge depth is a bit less than 19mm.

I've seen gyms which do not include the Small rungs in their campus board, because they figure no one will use them. And in my experience most of the time that's correct. At my home gym, I was using the campus for months and months before I ever saw anybody try anything on the small Metolius rungs.

When I travel, I'm prepared to use shims and duct tape to get a thinner edge depth at gyms which only have the Medium size (approx 25 mm).

Ken

I've been campusing up the .75, but I put in two small foot chips below the .5 inch. I hope to get to that point within the next year, but I probably should have thought that one through a little bit better.

Foot jibs are a great idea. Many of the recent English-language training books and videos recommend having footholds available as a stage of progressing in campusing.

A popular Euro design is to have long thin wood rungs for the feet, set back behind the lowest hand rung at least half a meter from the lowest hand rung, so you simulate reaching over a roof edge. Usually three foot rungs at different vertical levels. The higher the rung the harder the roof move.
Then after you grab the hand hold(s) above the simulated roof edge you can cut away your feet (with more or less aggression?) and practice controlling the swing.

My thought is that a truly complete campus-board layout would have a removable vertical kick-board which could optionally be attached directly under the lowest hand rung. So you could choose to make moves with foot touching the kick-board to stabilize the body (like many real climbing situations), or choose to "cheat" by pressing on foot jibs on the kick-board. Or choose to simulate a roof by removing the kick-board to reveal the three foot-rungs set behind. Or choose the "macho" campus style of no feet touching anything, so no stabilization of the body after latching a deadpoint.

Note that even super-mutant boulderer Jan Hojer in that recent training video
. . . www.youtube.com/watch?v=igYhX5xyprw
is not showing any no-feet moves on rungs thinner than 18 mm. Instead he makes ridiculous no-feet moves with only 2 fingertips per hand on the Small rungs.

Ken

I campus on the small metolius rung though I'm not very strong on it at all. I also do min edge dead hangs down to a 9mm edge (that's my min at the moment). Having done a lot of dead hanging on a 12mm (~.5") and smaller rung, I don't feel like campusing on a rung that small is anything I'll try to do anytime soon. Mostly because throwing to an edge that small with no feet seems like asking for some really torn up skin. Hanging on a 12mm and smaller edge is tough on my tips already. Throwing to it just sounds like torture.

I do however, think that once I'm feeling strong on the 18mm, I'll start doing teams of finger pairs on the large rungs.