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The Rex Bennett Woodie. Unfortunate idiot disclaimer: Do not attempt to do ANYTHING I have written about here. Climbing is dangerous and you could TOTALLY KILL YOURSELF. If you are an idiot it could easily kill you. Please, do not attempt ANYTHING I have done. Please, if you are an idiot, seek help now! The woodie's built of steel, and we've dubbed it "The Rex Bennett Woodie", or Rex for short. The following pictures show the woodie in action, and the steel fabrication that went into it. My father-in-law Pete ("The Cheat") helped with just about every facet of this badboy. Let's call him Mr Overengineer. This thing will be a family heirloom, passed down to my daughter, who will no doubt be a stronger climber than me by the time she's 5. When the holds arrived, we had them spread out in our living room, she collected her favourite ones and made her own little "woodie" on the loungeroom floor. How many 3 year olds have made their own woodie?? So, the main thing Pete is worried about is the 'flex' in the ply (running across 8 feet) - so when we first discussed the build of the woodie he thought of the idea of doing the end frames (because it's freestanding) in steel. Pete also knows a great bloke Rex Bennett, who's a welder (works on contract to the Navy) - and a VERY good one. With Rex's help I have no doubt that the friggates are gonna be just fine!! So, Pete and Rex get the box steel and weld the end frames together - sorted. So all we have to do now is to put the wooden frames and strutts on the ply, then we're in business..... cept Pete has other plans... he reacons we could do the backing frames for the ply in steel too? (pity we didn't do it all together, but that's ok) So Pete and Rex are off again to the steelyard, and we get angle iron this time, so when you tighten the bolts you don't slowly squash the box steel. Then Rex welds all that lot, and also helps Pete do all the drilling on the steel - so 90% of the holes are now drilled. So that's a long day, but once it's all back at Pete's place it's just a matter of putting it all together, and we're rocking. After a bunch of measuring and drilling and banging - the woodie frames are done. One sheet is cut 450 + 450 + 300, lengthwise. On "The Plan" below, the 2 x 450's are the red end sections that attach to the frame, and the 300 is the blue kicker that runs between the frames. The kickboard, incidentially, is also backed with a piece of angle iron - so there's no 'flex'! We attached the kickboard first, then balanced the bottom frame on top of a couple of "packers" to get the right angle (measured and marked already). The bottom frame is the green frame on the plan. Thing is the top frame? (The red one on the plan) - It weighs a ton, so how the hell do we get it in place? - Ah HA! I have a plan! (yes, I actually think up something that works! sweet!) So we drill 2 holes in the top of the top frame, and loop rope through it, then hoist each end into a hanging position on the rope, then tie it off. Then it's "simply" a matter of swinging it into position. After one incident where the top frame came flying out of position, and wildly swinging around in midair, and nearly taking us both with it, we thought that a couple of bolts through the side frames to act as a "safetly" would be a good idea. But, before long... it was put together! Now, to test the 'flex'. So I jumped from the ground, and caught the edge in the middle of the top piece of ply. It didn't budge. Not a single inch. At that point I had memories of a mate Simon's woodie in the UK, which bowed and flexed and moved every time you touched it... eh eh eh. Well, dyno's on this - no sweat. So, then we took it appart because we'de built it in Pete's shed - took it down the opposite way it went up (but with no wild swinging this time). Transports in 5 pieces, and can be constructed by 2 people. Next comes the holds - and I have been looking all about the place for decent climbing holds at "decent" prices! Man - there are some places out there that are WOW expensive! Ken here at woodieworx sorted me out with a great deal. After using the Woodieworx holds now I can say for sure that they get a big thumbs up. I've got the Atomik ones. They have a good texture, not too harsh on the skin, and they seem very solid. I particularly wanted to mention the "Crag X" hold, which is the large cross shaped hold with all different holds around each arm. The cragx is a very good idea indeed, and I can already see that that's gonna get a real workout on the wall - I'll definatly be ordering more of these (my mate Dave got 4, which was a good idea, I think he saw how good they were coz he's already got a woodie of his own). This thing has everything from massive jugs, to pretty damn marginal slopes! At all different angles it's definatly wicked.
All up it's cost about $1100 (with holds), because Rex is a legend and gave us a superb price, and he went with Pete to get the steel at trade - I can't thank him enough - superb work! The price is that low also because Ken gave me a superb price on the holds. It really is the cheapest place to source holds (bar all the work of making your own, of course).
The top frame - Looking up the woodie, you can see the top frame, and the steel backing bolted onto the side ply. Strong! Action shot - Marion doing laps on the circuit. It's a deceptive photo, but it's mighty overhung. Super hard boulderers don't wear shirts! - Del doing "hanging" on the pockets. The Plan - A pretty dodgy paintshop version of a plan for the woodie. As described in the above text.
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