What does your Woody look like???

I've used a similar product. Really toxic to apply, and the substrate must be really well prepped or it peels. As in roughed up (60 grit paper) and primed.
Notice the price? $30 a QUART. $120 a gallon. Ouch.

I prefer real rock or cultured stone for a crack:

Crack simulator

My son (2 1/2) asked for his own climbing wall for Christmas. As soon as my wife gave me the ok to build it, I immediately began trying to figure out how to make it functional for me as well. Unfortunately I built the panel first so he could have it by Christmas and hadn't decided quite how to anchor it yet. I think I've figured it out. Need to add a couple of braces to eliminate the flexing, but it climbs, the angle is adjustable, and can be stored out of the way.

Adjustable Wall

Currently the rope that you see coming through the top is anchored to a portable door frame pull-up bar. This is fine as long as I keep wall angle is pretty steep. The more shallow the angle, the more the wall pulls upward on the bar instead of outward and downward. In the near future I'll set a couple of eye-bolts in the studs on the the backside of the door frame and use those instead.
I'll add a similar anchor on my back porch so that it can be used indoors or out.

Pullup Bar Anchor

For my son, I just set the top against the wall and move the base outward to provide a toddler-friendly angle. The carpet provides enough friction to keep it from sliding anywhere.

KevinCO wrote:I prefer real rock or cultured stone for a crack

Hi Kevin nice crack, have a two questions

How do you avoid the sides from expanding when you jam?

does it still bend a little?

I've got a 16' long horizontal roof crack (hand crack and hand stack). I was going to use that Boat Deck stuff, but instead I found the most amazing stuff for decks/pools. Restore 10x resurfacing ($25/gallon at Home Depot).

This stuff is amazing. Goes on with the consistency of chocolate pudding. Hardens rock hard and bone dry grit. Looks and feels exactly like sandstone.

I'll get some photos when it dries and I've got the roof crack back together.

First we were talking about a woody now we are talking about cracks. An outsider would feel uncomfortable in this conversation.

Check all the forum, cracks have been discussed before. i think this has trend in to try and failure community of woody builders which is great.

its the wikipedia for woodys.

Ray Lovestead wrote:I've got a 16' long horizontal roof crack (hand crack and hand stack). I was going to use that Boat Deck stuff, but instead I found the most amazing stuff for decks/pools. Restore 10x resurfacing ($25/gallon at Home Depot). This stuff is amazing. Goes on with the consistency of chocolate pudding. Hardens rock hard and bone dry grit. Looks and feels exactly like sandstone. I'll get some photos when it dries and I've got the roof crack back together.

Oh do report....one is quite curious. Feel, texture, endurance (your skin and the wear and tear on the woodie), coverage (i see that it covers 40sq'/g.) !!Ouch!! That's 1/g per sheet on a woodie. I'll still use paint and sand....but....on the crack machine, this stuff sounds awesome.
Oh, and how happy are you with the horizontal crack? I know you are training for the veda, I am torn as to it's benefits (i seldom climb cracks past 20º past vert.) ?

OK I finally got this torture device (roof crack) finished!

The texture is amazing. No question that this is what you need for horizontal cracks. Without it, you'd just slip out. I highly suggest 2x12 and 3 of them. When bolted as a group it is bomber. The calculated sag is 0.5", but I think it is less (with me on it).

Some details:
16' long run. 2" wide hand crack. 4.25" wide fist-stack that allows you to get your feet inside it. I put 1/2" all thread every 2' on the top and every 4' on the bottom. That way there really are only 3 total bolts in your way as your traverse.

Making it 'easier' so you can actually exercise: You must set the gap to fit your hand or hand stack. If you don't, good luck with that. Also, I found that tilting the crack to be slightly wider at the top (basically cheating) allows you to stay in the crack. Otherwise your hands fail before you do..

WARNING (to myself really): This thing will likely cause a hernia if you don't ease into it. After just a couple 'work outs' my stomach muscles feel.. ugh.

Texture from Restore 10X

Roof Crack

I can vouch for the restore paint, it holds up well on old decks in marine environments.

How is the texture feel? not like sand paper?

and you don´t need primer?

It feels exactly like it looks. It has a dry flat paint feel. Like sandstone really. But bumpy.

Oh and no primer is required. Just a clean surface. I used 40 grit sandpaper.

Sanllan wrote: Hi Kevin nice crack, have a two questions How do you avoid the sides from expanding when you jam? does it still bend a little?

It is a standard Crack Machine with 2x10s and all thread for adjustability. The all thread keeps it rigid, and I screwed angle iron to both sides to improve rigidity.

I glued cultured stone (L shaped so that it wraps around the boards) onto the 2x10s with PL Premium. The cultured stone also contributes to rigidity. The different thicknesses of the stone present different size jams. Also, the edges of the stone can be used for face climbing.

Ray, that is a great idea to use that product. I probably would have used that instead, since my crack weighs over 400 pounds and if I move, I am not looking forward to relocating it.

Having had a brutal first go at it, I have to point out that it is TOO gritty. I'll be sanding it down a little in areas where my hands go vs. where my shoes go.

Also, don't expect your shoes to be very happy with this. My precious TC Pros won't be used, I'll use my old stuff for sure. I'll probably be gluing on additional rubber as the shoes get scuffed to death.

For the crack guys, I have found that the really fine grained hobby sand mixed into a good flat exterior acrylic latex paint produces a very nice fine-grained texture reminiscent of very fine-grained sandstone. Its mild enough to go tapeless, and not too hard on shoes and other equipment, especially when compared to the larger grained hobby sand or other larger grained sands.

Also, Shoe Goo is a wonderful thing to have around for repairing holes in shoes from crack training, which will likely happen every session or every other session, especially if you are using a gritty surface texture. Just put a piece of tape on one side of the hole and fill it in with shoe goo, making sure to overlap the leather around the hole. Get it nice and thick and let it dry at least overnight. Since your shoes will keep blowing out in the same place, you can just keep fixing them again and again.

This thread is awesome!

I'm planning to start on my woodie this month, just trying to nail down the final design first. I have 10' width and the ceiling is 9' high. I'm trying to decide if I should do a straight wall somewhere between 35 and 45 degrees or if I should do a multi angled wall. Something with a bulge like 60 to 30 to vert or the opposite with a roof. I'm thinking a straight wall would end up more versatile in the end as I could just add volumes to spice it up but the multi angled walls I see on here look like lots of fun

Anyone with a multi angle wish they would have just done one angle or vice versa?

Mine is currently just flat, and I wish I had some variety to it. I'll add a good-sized volume to accomplish it instead of rebuilding, but I'll add it on there. Hope that helps.

I have a lot of home wall, my suggestion is go with one angle. If you mix it in so small a space you really end up with 2 narrow walls, fewer problems within that confine. I would also, if you are asking, go with the steeper wall. Gives you a little more length (another row of t-nuts?) and as you get stronger, and the holds feel larger, you will be glad. I have over the last 2 years increased the pitch on most of my sections.
That said, if you are doing the Anderson bros system, and you want to ARC....your call. ARCing at 45º...?

Thanks for the info, I think I will just stick to a single angle for now and add volumes down the road for more variety. Plus, that should be much easier to build.

Keep the pics coming, this thread is a great motivator!

What's going on fellow climbers, first time poster here. Looking forward to going back and reading this entire thread but just got the first stage of my cave finished and looking for a little feedback. It's in a 16x12 storage shed and the goal is have the whole thing climbable. Couple before and after pics. Left side, 18 inch kicker to 35 degrees 6 ft across back wall, 8 ft of angle, right 15 degrees 5 ft across front to edge of door, 8 ft of angle. Next will be a 4 ft roof (approx. 75 degrees) coming off 35 then small transition back down to 15. And at least a volume or 2 will be added soon. Will post pics as it progresses.

Before

Before

Before

After

Big Hit