So you want to be an athlete?

[Alan H]

Training gear...

Stones.

I literally went to the local garden and building supply and went through their collection of smooth river stones until I found a 9 pounder and two 16's. OK, they might be 15.5. I started with the nine, but soon moved on the the 16's. TimC has one of those 16's now and the 9 sits in my garden. They cost about 5 bucks each.

Tim found a big freakin ROCK...it's about 26 pounds and it'll do for us for a Braemer stone. I think he got it for free.

Caber

I went to the local lumberyard and told them I was looking for a 12-14 foot long timber that weighed about 70-90 pounds. I said 12-14, even though that's short because I needed something I could carry, sticking out the back of my small pickup truck bed. The sold me a 12 foot, pressure treated 6x6. Pressure treated is not ideal, 'cause of course what happens is that the mill pressure-injects toxic chemical into the wood and you don't want to get a splinter with that stuff. So anyway, the thing cost me twenty lousy bucks. It has some splits in it, so they gave it to me for cheap.

Home Depot sells a wet Pine/Fir 16 foot 6x6 for $60.

Take your circular saw and trim off the corners, lengthwise so you have an octagon that's 12-16 feet long. Now use a power planer to round it off even more and REALLY go after one end. Taper the bottom 5-6 6 feet of that end, maybe with a surform plane and sandpaper and you'll have a reasonably decent practice caber.

Weights for distance.

I could explain it all, but just go here: http://highland_tools.tripod.com/

The weight you are looking at is just stacked barbell weights on inexpensive plumbing fittings fom the hardware store. I use cheap plated anchor bolts, and go through one pretty much every practice when I'm practicing weight over the bar. The handle in that picture is nice. Personally I have a galvanized ring for a handle, which cost & bucks at Orchard Supply Hardware.

Hammers

You'll also find guides to making those on Bills' site.

Use the same weights you used for the weights for distance. Three 5 pounders is close enough to a 16. Use a mess of duct tape to fuse the three five-pound weights into one unit.

All the above is EXACTLY what TimC and I have been using all season to train for the Games out here.

[PanhandleThrower]

I have a good weight for a hammer, but I can not find any sch. 80 pvc with either a threaded end or a bell end. Are there any nationwide stores that would most likely carry either of these items? I've checked our local Lowes, and it was a scratch.

[o1d_dude]

Schedule 40 PVC (gray electrical conduit) will work just fine. A ten foot length should cost no more than $2 a length so buy several. The do break from time to time.

Use the flared end to hold the weight places in place.

[PanhandleThrower]

I've felt the sch. 40, and am just concerned that it's 'too flimsy'. But, now that I think about it, when centrical force is applied, it won't matter how hard or soft a pipe is, at least it's worth an experiment or two.

[Lockhart]

Reading this just answered every single question and curiosity I ever had about the different events. Thank you to Yaish for starting this and everyone that contributed.

[Alan H]

Here in Nor Cal, essentially all our hammers have sched 40 handles in competition. There might still be one or two with rattan handles on the truck, but I kind of doubt it.

[PanhandleThrower]

I'll give the sch. 40 a try, thanks Allen.

[o1d_dude]

It's been years since I saw a rattan handle at a Games.

At the 2010 Worlds, we threw with PVC handles and taped grips.