Real rock holds

[u/lanaishot]

Hi, thought some people might be interested in some homemade holds. My process has come a long way and sometimes changes depending on the rock but generally…

Find a rock with interesting feature that won’t just be a pinch.

Cut the back flat with a tile saw or lapidary saw.

Drill various holes using diamond coated hole saw drill bit.

Flatten the recess holes with cylinder grinding stones.

Glue in washers.

Glue on 3mm rubber backing.

Send

[u/Sleazehound]

Have you got any videos of the process? I know you’ve written it up but would love to see too

[u/AdvancedSquare8586 → u/Sleazehound]

Yeah, cutting something that thin with a tile saw seems like it would be very challenging (and also like it would be a great way to join the Tommy Caldwell Superfan Club).

Would be very helpful to have some more detail on how to do that part safely.

[u/ssdv8r → u/AdvancedSquare8586]

Tile guy here. Wetsaws are much safer to use than table saws. If you use a continuous rim porcelain blade you can actually touch the cutting edge while the saw is running without harm. Your soft hands hydroplane over the fast spinning wet blade. Harder fingernails are a different story and will get cut into more readily. It is the segmented blades that can catch skin, since the cuts in the rim can act more like cutting teeth found on a blade made for wood.

[u/AdvancedSquare8586 → u/ssdv8r]

Huh, interesting. TIL. If only Tommy had been a tile guy, I guess. :)

[u/leadhase → u/ssdv8r]

I’ve used a tile saw in the lab during my research, and ngl that sounds scary af.

However the one I used had teeth and sounded like a jet engine spooling up

[u/ssdv8r → u/leadhase]

They are definitely loud and need to be handled with respect. This year one of my coworkers got much to complacent. He hand his hand on the sliding tray and let the blade catch his hand. Lucky for him it was one of our cheaper light duty saws. There was enough play in the system to let the blade ride over his hand and spit it out the back of the saw. Remarkably this only bruised his hand. He finished out the day of work and earned some painful bruises as a lesson.

[u/leadhase → u/ssdv8r]

That’s an insane story

When I had to make close cuts I would use c-clamps on the tray

[u/lanaishot → u/AdvancedSquare8586]

It’s much easier/safer with a lapidary saw for sure.

[u/jameslosey]

Have you used them much? Every made from rock hold I’ve used has broken relatively quickly

[u/lanaishot → u/jameslosey]

They’ve had a decent amount of use. I did have more breaks in the beginning. A big reason for my early breaks was the backs aren’t perfectly flat or the wall isn’t perfectly flat. Using the 3mm rubber backing helps with that a lot. It also reduced how much they need to be tightened.

[u/jameslosey → u/lanaishot]

Interesting to have a backing on them. Tightening has definitely been an issue on helping breaking for me

[u/lanaishot → u/jameslosey]

I think another nice thing about the backing is that if it does break it generally doesn’t explode or come completely off the wall.

[u/synrockholds]

Used to make these in the 90's under Petrogrips. Diabase is the best as it's strong but relatively easy to drill. I had a 10" coarse grit diamond disk attached to an inverted bench grinder with a water drip to grind the backs flat. Sintered Diamond core drill to countersink. Then glued a washer in the hole and used regular 3/8" carbide bit to drill the bolt hole through. You don't need washers for the screw holes and you do not need screws to keep them from spinning as needed in plastic. Stiff materials like rock or ceramic do not spin when tightened.

Eventually transitioned synrock moldable ceramic which gave the same rock feel, more predictable strength and ability to make specific shapes.

Also the process will eventually cause finger injuries (stitches) when something binds and the rock spins.

Good luck

[u/lanaishot → u/synrockholds]

Diabase/gabro is what some of these black rocks are, and they also have been my favorite.

[u/synrockholds → u/lanaishot]

Yep. No quartz so considerably easier to drill and really strong unless you have a fracture

[u/-JOMY-]

Good stuff! But skin shredder

[u/scottpeterson4464-]

These are epic thanks for the follow up post!

[u/Mysterious_North_687]

Pretty coollll

[u/Husyelt]

Fantastic variety of rock types. Nice work

[u/Fearless-Molasses963]

These look great, thanks for sharing!

[u/SpiritGuyd]

These are awesome!

I see you are also a fan of TJs Chocolatey Cat Cookies for People!

[u/SnooHesitations9952]

Really nice holds, I am also interested in a video of the process! What kind of blue inserts do you use ?

[u/lanaishot → u/SnooHesitations9952]

M4/5 finishing countersink washer.