Next-gen climbing Brush. From the future, for your project.

Check out the Kickstarter Campaign

Hi everyone, I’m Kent – climber, tinkerer, and now first-time Kickstarter creator.

I wanted to share something I’ve been working on for the past few months that was born out of pure climbing frustration: overchalked, slippery holds and the endless brushing that still never seems to cut it.

The Idea

I thought: “Why hasn’t brushing evolved?”

That question led to the ChalkBlaster — the world’s first electric climbing brush with a built-in jet fan that blows away chalk, rubber, and moisture as you brush.

It’s primarily built for bouldering, especially outdoor use where conditions can get humid and holds become polished or caked with dust and old chalk. Of course, it can also be used indoors — though I fully acknowledge that gym environments vary and ventilation matters. I personally see it as an outdoor-focused tool, especially for serious climbers trying to maximize friction when it counts.

Does it suck? (No, literally.)

A few people have already asked: “Why doesn’t it vacuum instead of blow?”

Fair question — and the truth is, it’s a completely different kind of engineering. Suction requires different motor design, larger filters, and has its own pros/cons. It’s something I’m open to exploring in the future, but for this version, I’ve focused on getting a powerful, lightweight blower that actually works in the field.

Why I’m Posting

This isn’t a polished startup. I’m just a climber who quit his job to go all in on an idea I believe could add something useful (and a bit fun) to our climbing lives.

If the idea speaks to you — or you just want to help support innovation in our community — it would mean the world if you check out the project and consider making a pledge:

Every pledge gets us one step closer to making this real. Even sharing it with a friend, gym crew, or bouldering buddy would be huge.

Thanks for reading — and I’d genuinely love to hear what you think. I’m still tweaking things and open to input from the climbing community.

Cheers,
Kent

Let's Get Brushing!

Will this allow me to break through my V3 plateau and finally send v4?

Bug Boywrote:

Will this allow me to break through my V3 plateau and finally send v4?

I can't promise you that. You probably just have to pull harder and go up. 

You probably should have kept your day job. However, nice idea, very nice idea as in the gym chalk is as much an issue as shoe rubber. Though my bouldering days are behind me a couple of observations/suggestions. The connection between the brush attachment and the the blower needs to be well fitting and strong as it is a cantilevered connection. I might suggest  investigating both a soft and hard plastic connection. I see pros and cons to both. I wonder if it would be possible to have a brush attachment that could accept a couple of different width brushes. As opposed to brush attachments with different width brushes built in. I see pros and cons to both. Good luck as the designing is the fun part.

I climb with people who will hold their makita fan on certain holds for better conditions. Could you use this as a pure directed blower as well? Something to think about. 

Spencer Morrisonwrote:

I climb with people who will hold their makita fan on certain holds for better conditions. Could you use this as a pure directed blower as well? Something to think about. 

Yes some of the inspiration came from that. You can take off the brush and just use it as a regular jet-fan. 

Looks like a great idea. 

For serious scrubbing, it is nice if the handle is tilted back from the brush so one doesn't scrape one's knuckles on the rock. Is it possible to have such a bend in your design?

definite clickbait page for the video.

Can it be attached to a drone? I, of course, would never ever do that, asking for a friend

I made a stick brush out of an adjustable aluminum painter pole. The pole is hollow. I put a tube at either end. After you brush you blow into the tube at the bottom and no more chalk and debris in the nooks of your climbing hold. I’ll bet 100% of stick brushes can be modified to do the same.

Jon Hartmannwrote:

I made a stick brush out of a painter pole. The pole is hollow. I put a tube at either end. After you brush you blow into the tube at the bottom and no more chalk and debris in the nooks of your climbing hold. I’ll bet 100% of stick brushes can be modified to do the same. 

Ehh my current stick brush is literally a stick with a brush taped on. It's mostly straight (the stick. The brush is obvs at a cant.)

Painters poles aren't super cheap anymore so if the price of this is competitive with that if a brush + pole + fan I could totally see buying this.  Also, blowing on your holds does not do what a fan does for bouldering conditions. It's just not the same. Go try 606 or Horan Face in Eldo with blowing it manually with moist lips/breath vs. a fan for proof of this. 

Possibly add interchangeable rechargeable batteries for trips, long sessions, extended blowing, additional item to increase revenue without increasing actual sales of the thing.

We would love this here in Boulder. Come out with a beany and some white-labeled chalk if you really want to infiltrate the Boulder boulder bros here. 

This is clever, but what do you provide over one of the $25 electronics dusters with built in brushes? I suppose your boar brush is stiffer than their cheap nylon ones and it looks like you have an easy way to attach it to a pole which is nice.
There’s definitely opportunity in the premium product for climbers market - Rocky talkies are pretty successful even though they are a polished and branded version of a $10 Chinese radio. I wish you success.

Allen Sandersonwrote:

You probably should have kept your day job. However, nice idea, very nice idea as in the gym chalk is as much an issue as shoe rubber. Though my bouldering days are behind me a couple of observations/suggestions. The connection between the brush attachment and the the blower needs to be well fitting and strong as it is a cantilevered connection. I might suggest  investigating both a soft and hard plastic connection. I see pros and cons to both. I wonder if it would be possible to have a brush attachment that could accept a couple of different width brushes. As opposed to brush attachments with different width brushes built in. I see pros and cons to both. Good luck as the designing is the fun part.

Hey Allen — really appreciate you taking the time to share such honest and thoughtful feedback.

Giving up the day job was definitely a leap, but this has been one of the most exciting and creatively fulfilling things I’ve done — so fingers crossed it sticks the landing

Can you add an attachment for this type of brush?

Kent Eskildsenwrote:

Giving up the day job was definitely a leap, but this has been one of the most exciting and creatively fulfilling things I’ve done — so fingers crossed it sticks the landing

I think your brush is a really cool idea, kudos for trying to make this work. If you feel like making this even more complicated - perhaps making the head oscillating would be more effective at removing chalk. 

Kent Eskildsenwrote:

Hey Allen — really appreciate you taking the time to share such honest and thoughtful feedback.

Giving up the day job was definitely a leap, but this has been one of the most exciting and creatively fulfilling things I’ve done — so fingers crossed it sticks the landing

You are welcome. Another random thought on the brush and air flow. Currently airflow is across the bristles (more or less as there appears to be a diverter). What if the airflow was in line with the bristles? That is think a bout the brush attachment being hollow with a series of holes between the bristles. That would direct the air directly down on to the rock surface thus hopefully blasting out any material. Hopefully that makes sense.

I have taped a long tube to my brush so I can blow on the hold through the tube.
Cost to performance ratio is excellent.
Could probably drill a hole thought the brush and make a nice interference fit for the tube if I were to make any simple upgrades to it.

Jon Nelsonwrote:

Looks like a great idea. 

For serious scrubbing, it is nice if the handle is tilted back from the brush so one doesn't scrape one's knuckles on the rock. Is it possible to have such a bend in your design?

Great idea Jon, we've not settled on the final design yet and exploring various design. By the time our kickstarter campaign ends we will have a more refined prototype to show. There might be a slight bend to increase usability.

Allen Sandersonwrote:

You are welcome. Another random thought on the brush and air flow. Currently airflow is across the bristles (more or less as there appears to be a diverter). What if the airflow was in line with the bristles? That is think a bout the brush attachment being hollow with a series of holes between the bristles. That would direct the air directly down on to the rock surface thus hopefully blasting out any material. Hopefully that makes sense.

Spot on, it is also a design I wanted to explore further. We wanted to keep it simple in the testing phase, but in our next design phase we will go through multiple iteration of the brushhead to see what gives the most effective results=. 

Daniel Mwrote:

This is clever, but what do you provide over one of the $25 electronics dusters with built in brushes? I suppose your boar brush is stiffer than their cheap nylon ones and it looks like you have an easy way to attach it to a pole which is nice.
There’s definitely opportunity in the premium product for climbers market - Rocky talkies are pretty successful even though they are a polished and branded version of a $10 Chinese radio. I wish you success.

Yes indeed, you could just buy a good handheld blower, all though the price range is a bit higher closer to 50 ish, as the cheap one is not near as powerfull. The motor I use can even blow up ballon to give you some context.

My initial though was climbers are buying handheld blower for 50ish and brushes for 20-30USD, so maybe there might be a small but dedicated market for a combined tool for efficiency as you can use it one handed. Now, imagine this as a extendable version ;) 

Make it vibrate