Wooden Rings Instructional

[Thomas White]

I love wooden rings, here is how I made mine.
I used a 3/4 inch and a 1/2 inch piece of birch plywood. I gorilla glued the wood together and let it sit for 2 days with all of my dumbbells on top of it. After 2 days I traced the rings on the birch, 9 inch outer circle and 6.5 inch inner circle. I then used a wood bit and drilled a hole straight through the wood so I could cut the inner circle first. I made sure I didn't drill the hole close to the line of the inner circle because the wood can splinter on the underside. I then cut out the inner circle, staying on the inside of the line. Make sure you take your time, there's not much you can do with a bad cut. Also when cutting out the rings, make sure the opposite edge of the wood is secured with clamps or a dead weight, and always cut in one direction.

[Thomas White]

The rings are cut out

[Thomas White]

I then use a router with a 1/2 inch roundover bit, and route the inside, outside, top and bottom (everywhere). The pictures are not uploading. The rings will be rough after the routing, so I start sanding with 60 grit sandpaper, then I move on to 120 grit, the lastly 220 grit. By the time I'm done sanding my hands and forearms and pretty tired (I sand them alot). When they are nice and smooth, I wet a towel and wipe off all sawdust to get them ready to fill in imperfections. I use wood filler and plug all chips or gouges on the rings. I usually let them sit over night before I then sand them with 220 grit to a smooth finish. Regular plywood is going to chip and splinter more then oak or birch plywood.

[Thomas White]

After filling in the chips and sanding them smooth I wipe them down with a towel. I then put on a coat of stain and polyurethane all in one. I let them dry as per the manufacturers directions then lightly sanded them with steel wool and wipe them off. I then apply a second coat. I do not sand the rings with steel wool after the second coat because it left scratches in the finish of another pair I made. After the second coat I let them dry for a full day, then apply a coat of polycrylic. I let them dry, then sand them with 220 grit sandpaper, wipe them off, the apply a final coat of polycrylic. So all together I put 4 coats of poly and 2 coats of stain. I then wait a day before using them. It takes me about 3 hours to cut, route, sand. Then overnight to plug in chips, and then 2-3 days to stain and or poly.

[Thomas White]

The more i make them the better I get at cutting them out. The unstained rings were my fourth pair, you can see the shape isn't as good. I made the white ones next and they have a much better shape. The dark rings came out really good.

[Jonathan Gaffney]

Tom,

Those look awesome, better than some of the other homemade one's I have seen around. What sort of buckle are you using on the straps? Any how is the grip on them? Do they hold chalk at all?

[Skylar Cook]

Those look REALLY nice. Wish I had the cash for birch plywood; now I'm feeling inferior with my $2 ply rings . God I bet those are ROCK SOLID.... Major ring envy.

[Thomas White]

thanks, the straps I have come from
http://www.strapworks.com/ (WFS)
They are 1 inch nylon (resistant to abrasion) and have stainless steel cam buckles (really easy to use). The blue straps are 1 1/2 nylon. On strapsworks it says nylon is not good for water, polypro is good with water but is not abrasion resistant. The wood rings hold chalk great, and the poly coats make it very grippy. I've was able to do muscle ups without chalk on the wood rings immediately. I had bought elite rings and put tennis overgrip on them for a better grip, but soon after I made wood rings and i like the grip on the wood much better. I haven't picked up the elite rings since.

[Thomas White]

Also, I think the elite rings are great, i just like my wood rings more.

[Jeff Riegler]

Tom,

Great job on the rings! I actually came here looking for an instructional on how to make some, and blam, here it is.

Can you let me know the product numbers of the straps and buckles that you use from strapworks? Thanks so much.