I am an old DIY guy too. I used to build all of my ladder stands and lock on stands myself and have even built a climber. You did a fantastic job on the sticks and also producing your video but most of all I appreciate your faith in Jesus Christ. New subscriber here.
Thanks so much for your encouraging words and for subbing! I really appreciate them both. Glad you liked the video and thanks so much for watching as well! Take care an may God bless you richly my brother!
You did great job with this. The claw reversal at 18:00 is an easy fix and I bet only one in a hundred hunters see the error. This will inspire many whose budget isn’t what the store bought sticks go for.
Hey thanks so much for the encouraging words! I see you have a good eye. I did get a little ahead of myself and flipped things around in the assembly LOL! The video seems to have helped some people and that was the goal. Thanks again for sharing and watching! God bless and have a great day!!!
ty 4 ur build make a shoulder harness with ur tie rope wrap . also make it so ech extention locks into the top of each ladder. save u building mat and weight...
Hey thanks so much for sharing! I think the rope might be a good idea and work pretty well, although I use it right now to deaden the noise and prevent the stick from rattling. In reference to the other suggestion you shared if I connect the sticks then I wouldn't have an 18" space between each one and loose over 4' in height. If I go with one ladder I couldn't use it on crooked trees which the single ones work on which is why I made them individually. Great suggestions though and something to keep in mind! Thanks for watching and God bless!
Thank you for the video. These sticks are great, though you could definitely take some weight off of them, aside from the all-aluminum construction you mentioned. 1. The steps can be a bit shorter. You could lose an inch or two off each end. 2. The half-pipes can be smaller (closer to 1/3 pipe). You're not going to climb trees that thin anyway. They won't support an adult. 3. The half-pipes can be a bit thinner, like 1/4" thick (all the force is applied along the vertical plane). 4. You could get rid of the nut and washer by tapping the aluminum directly. Even the softest grade of aluminum will hold a thread. This would allow you to shorten the bolt, too. 5. You could shorten the bolt even further, if you drill the first two walls the bolt goes through, so that the head can "sink" through them. You'll wind up with like a half-inch long bolt. Personally, I'd go with two smaller short bolts instead of one thick one. That way the half-pipe can't spin. 6. You could drill a couple of half-inch holes in the half-pipes. Even if it's only 1/4" wall thickness, there's enough material there to support two of you. 7. Grinding a grip pattern into the working edges of the half-pipes would take a tiny bit of weight off, but mostly it'll increase grip/traction. These are not critiques. This is strictly a "shoulders of giants" situation. Great work and thanks again.
Thanks so much for your encouragement and for sharing your ideas! One of the main goals in posting the DIY videos that I do isn't just to show people how I do something, but hopefully help people think through ideas how they can change something to make it their own or make it better. So I can see that this video helped do that by all the neat modifications you came up with! Those are some well thought out ideas and certainly worth being put to the test! We can all learn from each other, especially me and I picked up some good tips from your comment! Thanks so much too for watching and especially to taking the time to share your ideas with all of us. May God bless you and your season!
I know im late on commenting to this but it just popped up and thank you so very much for this video! Bc I recently just got back in to hunting especially bow hunting and stuff has became extremely expensive so I really appreciate these quality diy project videos
It's never too late to share your thoughts! Thanks so much for taking the time to do so. So glad to here you are getting back out into the woods and so glad you found the video a help. Good luck this coming season. I have some other videos that might be what you are interested in over on my homepage, so I'd encourage you to check them out as well. Thanks again for watching and sharing and may God bless you!
Thanks so much Jim! I've got a lot more DIY projects on my channel so check out my home page when you get a chance! Thanks so much too for watching and sharing and may God bless you richly!
Great vid. Not much Id do different other than use aluminum. Been lookin at buyin a set but the prices these days are ridiculous. I did the cancer thing too so had some years of mostly ground hunting but want to get back to sittin in a tree so lookin at ideas for building some and this was perfect... thanks and God Bless.
So glad you liked the video and even more glad God healed you from your cancer. Hoping to that you are able to get back up in the trees and enjoy your time in the woods. Thanks so much for watching and may God bless you!
Thanks so much for the encouraging words! I like the sticks at 36" instead of the common 32" sticks. It works good for me as I'm 6 foot and it gives me another foot total in height with the 3 sticks. The only addition from weight is an extra 4" piece of the 1" square tubing which is hardly anything. Thanks for watching and God bless!
Thanks so much for your kind words. I hope this was helpful to you and your sticks come out awesome. Have a great week, thanks for watching and God bless!
I was wondering if you was gonna dry crack that round stock,lol😂 I got all the materials to make some of these, I been wanting to for a few yrs now, think I will now, I also have some thin wall pipe, I thought about making some out of that, I was gonna pick up one of those hole saw presses to join the round pipe and just stagger the steps but I may just mimic these, the 1" square is not cheap these days but I have pipe galore from a tent and it's free
I picked up all my materials from a scrap yard (think it was like .45 cents a pound) that does salvage work so that had just what I needed for my design. I don't see at all why pipe would not work, it is just going to be a little harder attaching the steps to the stick. What ever route you go just make sure you are safe. That is foremost. Make sure to enjoy the build and I'm sure it will turn out great! Thanks so much for watching and may God bless you!
Thanks Chuck I appreciate it. Please feel free to check out my channel as I've got many how to and DIY projects videos listed that might be helpful and enjoyable for you to watch and and many more planned! Thanks for watching, and subscribing and may God bless you!
Thanks! The sticks are 36" so the steps are 18" apart which works good for me as I'm 6 foot. If you put the bottom of the first stick 18" from the ground the top of the stick will be 4' 6" from the ground. Multiply that distance times three and the top of the top stick will be 14' 6". If you use a climbing step aider on the bottom stick only you can easily add another 3 feet or more to the total distance putting you around 17 to 18 feet to the platform. If you haven't seen aiders used with climbing sticks before there are plenty of TH-cam videos on it. G2 Outdoors has a good one on it! I hope that helps. God bless!
Hi Jennifer, I'm sorry about that. I checked and the video on how to make the loop isn't in the description so thanks for letting me know. I've since added it, but here it is so you can just click on it: th-cam.com/video/dqhRint-doE/w-d-xo.html Thanks so much for watching! I hoped the video helped and God bless!
Aluminum would be almost twice as light as the steel, but there are a couple of factors you need to consider. First the aluminum is more costly by quite a bit to purchase. Second you would need to have someone engineer the components for you as aluminum is has a lot less strength than steel and you don't want to be unsafe. That is why I put a disclaimer in my video that building a set like I have is done at your own risk. Third unless you are bolting the entire system together, welding of the stick would require either a TIG welder with A/C current or a MIG welder with a spool gun. Unless you have those it just doesn't pay. I built these because they were cheap and easy and as I said in the video they aren't made for a run and gun set up. If you are thinking of a set of aluminum sticks that are highly rated at a reasonable price check out the Hawk Helium sticks for $98 on Amazon. Here is the link. www.amazon.com/Hawk-Climbing-Treestand-Grabbing-Grooves/dp/B013C0FW3Y/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2K49HTV6ASHWA&dchild=1&keywords=hawk%2Bhelium%2Bclimbing%2Bstick&qid=1626991865&sprefix=hawk%2Bheliu%2Caps%2C173&sr=8-2&th=1&psc=1 I hope that helps. Thanks so much for watching and God bless you and your day!
@@thefrugalsportsman Ok .. thanks for the reply... I work as a laser tech and I cut all sorts of metal all day. It doesn't cost me as much to buy metal as it does the common lay man. The one thing that does concern me .... is I know that aluminum has a tendency to crack and break under stress when it is welded. That's why I like the bolt going through the square tubing.
@@cliffy7595 I do think bolting is better also, of course you'll need some kind of stop swivel system like using two bolts or machine notching the aluminum to fit around the square tubing. I would definitely want someone to size the aluminum for me though just to be safe. Have a great day and thanks for your comment! Blessings!
@@thefrugalsportsman I might just try to machine some solid aluminum bar on the bridgeport to make them. But I think I am going to wait until the price of metal comes down. But you have a very good video for people who don't have the resources that I do. Keep up the good work.👍
Hi Donnie, first let me say thanks for watching! I agree, safety absolutely needs to come first so let me just say that I'm not an engineer so I can't speak to weight or safety ratings or anyone's welding ability or anything else like that and so anyone using or applying some or all the ideas from this build need to assume all risk. With that said, I don't know how much you weigh, but I can tell you that I'm around 230 pounds and the set I built seem solid to me and don't flex or bend at all that I can feel. I trust mine completely or I wouldn't use them. Just remember that no matter what sticks you use though to always wear a lineman's belt or safety line from the ground up, because I'm a big believer that anything can fail at anytime and so there always needs to be redundancy in our safety. I hope that helps! Thanks for watching and for subscribing too! God bless!
Great video I'm new to using tree stands and was looking for an easy way to build some climbing sticks for myself. Only question I have would grinding or cutting teeth into the aluminum pipe be beneficial to help lock in onto the tree better? Or in your opinion would that not be a good idea so it can slip more at first to allow the rope to get proper tension?
On the steps I built the aluminum cleats really lock onto the tree and there is really no side to side movement for me if I lock them in properly. In my opinion the ability for the cleats to slide down some give the proper angle for the rope to lock things in place. I hope that help! Thanks for watching and God bless!
You have good eyes! That wasn't a deer thought, that's my dog Daisie. She was hanging out with me while I was doing the video. But we are on my back property and less than a 100 yards from where I set up my blind and regularly shoot deer with my crossbow though. Thanks for watching and God bless!
I didn't call it a ladder because a ladder is all one piece or sections that become one piece. These are called climbing sticks because each of them operates separately allowing you to place them at different angles which is great for working with crooked trees. I hope that makes things a bit clearer. Thanks for watching and God bless!
I am an old DIY guy too. I used to build all of my ladder stands and lock on stands myself and have even built a climber. You did a fantastic job on the sticks and also producing your video but most of all I appreciate your faith in Jesus Christ. New subscriber here.
Thanks so much for your encouraging words and for subbing! I really appreciate them both. Glad you liked the video and thanks so much for watching as well! Take care an may God bless you richly my brother!
God first. You are quite the craftsman.
Amen and thank you so much for your encouragement! May God bless you richly!
I'm 16 and I'm going to make a few of these, they look great! So do you for having had cancer, God bless!
Thanks so much! I hope the video was helpful and that you steps turn our great! Thanks for watching and God bless you as well!
You did great job with this. The claw reversal at 18:00 is an easy fix and I bet only one in a hundred hunters see the error. This will inspire many whose budget isn’t what the store bought sticks go for.
Hey thanks so much for the encouraging words! I see you have a good eye. I did get a little ahead of myself and flipped things around in the assembly LOL! The video seems to have helped some people and that was the goal. Thanks again for sharing and watching! God bless and have a great day!!!
Love your faith, and stance on it
Thanks so much Scott! I appreciate the encouragement. It means a lot! Thanks for watching and God bless!
ty 4 ur build
make a shoulder harness with ur tie rope wrap . also make it so ech extention locks into the top of each ladder. save u building mat and weight...
Hey thanks so much for sharing! I think the rope might be a good idea and work pretty well, although I use it right now to deaden the noise and prevent the stick from rattling. In reference to the other suggestion you shared if I connect the sticks then I wouldn't have an 18" space between each one and loose over 4' in height. If I go with one ladder I couldn't use it on crooked trees which the single ones work on which is why I made them individually. Great suggestions though and something to keep in mind! Thanks for watching and God bless!
Pretty cool. It was great to meet you today!
Thanks brother it was really nice to finally meet you the other day as well! Keep up the great work!
Thank you for the video. These sticks are great, though you could definitely take some weight off of them, aside from the all-aluminum construction you mentioned.
1. The steps can be a bit shorter. You could lose an inch or two off each end.
2. The half-pipes can be smaller (closer to 1/3 pipe). You're not going to climb trees that thin anyway. They won't support an adult.
3. The half-pipes can be a bit thinner, like 1/4" thick (all the force is applied along the vertical plane).
4. You could get rid of the nut and washer by tapping the aluminum directly. Even the softest grade of aluminum will hold a thread. This would allow you to shorten the bolt, too.
5. You could shorten the bolt even further, if you drill the first two walls the bolt goes through, so that the head can "sink" through them. You'll wind up with like a half-inch long bolt. Personally, I'd go with two smaller short bolts instead of one thick one. That way the half-pipe can't spin.
6. You could drill a couple of half-inch holes in the half-pipes. Even if it's only 1/4" wall thickness, there's enough material there to support two of you.
7. Grinding a grip pattern into the working edges of the half-pipes would take a tiny bit of weight off, but mostly it'll increase grip/traction.
These are not critiques. This is strictly a "shoulders of giants" situation. Great work and thanks again.
Thanks so much for your encouragement and for sharing your ideas! One of the main goals in posting the DIY videos that I do isn't just to show people how I do something, but hopefully help people think through ideas how they can change something to make it their own or make it better. So I can see that this video helped do that by all the neat modifications you came up with! Those are some well thought out ideas and certainly worth being put to the test! We can all learn from each other, especially me and I picked up some good tips from your comment! Thanks so much too for watching and especially to taking the time to share your ideas with all of us. May God bless you and your season!
I know im late on commenting to this but it just popped up and thank you so very much for this video! Bc I recently just got back in to hunting especially bow hunting and stuff has became extremely expensive so I really appreciate these quality diy project videos
It's never too late to share your thoughts! Thanks so much for taking the time to do so. So glad to here you are getting back out into the woods and so glad you found the video a help. Good luck this coming season. I have some other videos that might be what you are interested in over on my homepage, so I'd encourage you to check them out as well. Thanks again for watching and sharing and may God bless you!
Sweet job, I love DIY projects like this!
Jim
Thanks so much Jim! I've got a lot more DIY projects on my channel so check out my home page when you get a chance! Thanks so much too for watching and sharing and may God bless you richly!
@@thefrugalsportsman New sub, I need to check out your excellent vids!
Jim
Thank you Jim and welcome aboard! Take care and God bless!
Great vid. Not much Id do different other than use aluminum. Been lookin at buyin a set but the prices these days are ridiculous. I did the cancer thing too so had some years of mostly ground hunting but want to get back to sittin in a tree so lookin at ideas for building some and this was perfect... thanks and God Bless.
So glad you liked the video and even more glad God healed you from your cancer. Hoping to that you are able to get back up in the trees and enjoy your time in the woods. Thanks so much for watching and may God bless you!
nice build and great haul at the scrap yard!
Thanks so much and hope you found the video a help! Thanks too for watching and may God bless you!
@@thefrugalsportsman i wish you the best!, thank you very much.
Thanks for the video and the message at the end! I think 36 inches is perfect 👍
Thanks so much for the encouraging words! I like the sticks at 36" instead of the common 32" sticks. It works good for me as I'm 6 foot and it gives me another foot total in height with the 3 sticks. The only addition from weight is an extra 4" piece of the 1" square tubing which is hardly anything. Thanks for watching and God bless!
Great job . God bless you
Thanks so much Greg! I appreciate it! Thanks for watching and may God bless you as well!
Thank you so much for the know how to make this god bless you now iv got to try and make me some
Thanks so much for your kind words. I hope this was helpful to you and your sticks come out awesome. Have a great week, thanks for watching and God bless!
Another great build buddy!!
Thanks so much. I appreciate it! Blessings!
Great video, Great message!
Thanks so much! I really appreciate the kind words! Thanks too for watching and God bless!
Great video, I cannot wait to build my own!!
Thanks so much! Good luck with your build and have a great season! Thanks too for watching and sharing and God bless!
Love the video! Also love that you make safety #1
So glad you loved the video and I appreciate the encouraging words! Thanks also for watching and God bless!
I was wondering if you was gonna dry crack that round stock,lol😂
I got all the materials to make some of these, I been wanting to for a few yrs now, think I will now, I also have some thin wall pipe, I thought about making some out of that, I was gonna pick up one of those hole saw presses to join the round pipe and just stagger the steps but I may just mimic these, the 1" square is not cheap these days but I have pipe galore from a tent and it's free
I picked up all my materials from a scrap yard (think it was like .45 cents a pound) that does salvage work so that had just what I needed for my design. I don't see at all why pipe would not work, it is just going to be a little harder attaching the steps to the stick. What ever route you go just make sure you are safe. That is foremost. Make sure to enjoy the build and I'm sure it will turn out great! Thanks so much for watching and may God bless you!
Great job
Thanks so much. I appreciate you kind words! May God bless you!
👍Cool. Thank you!
Thank you for your encouragement and for watching! God bless!
Nice job!
Thanks so much! Thanks too for watching and God bless!
Enjoyed it . Subbed to see what else you have .
Thanks Chuck I appreciate it. Please feel free to check out my channel as I've got many how to and DIY projects videos listed that might be helpful and enjoyable for you to watch and and many more planned! Thanks for watching, and subscribing and may God bless you!
Nice work
Thanks so much! Thanks too for watching it means a lot! God bless!
I made 2 sets of sticks my self along with 2 stands last year sticks are 12 pounds and the stand is 16
That's awesome! Great job! Thanks so much for watching, have a great season and God bless!
Awesome
Thanks for the encouragement Joe! I hope it helped you and thanks for watching! God bless!
Nice work. It makes some safe and effective steps. How high does these 3 sticks get you from the ground to the teestand platform?
Thanks! The sticks are 36" so the steps are 18" apart which works good for me as I'm 6 foot. If you put the bottom of the first stick 18" from the ground the top of the stick will be 4' 6" from the ground. Multiply that distance times three and the top of the top stick will be 14' 6". If you use a climbing step aider on the bottom stick only you can easily add another 3 feet or more to the total distance putting you around 17 to 18 feet to the platform. If you haven't seen aiders used with climbing sticks before there are plenty of TH-cam videos on it. G2 Outdoors has a good one on it! I hope that helps. God bless!
is the video for the loop in the description? I was not able to find it.
Hi Jennifer, I'm sorry about that. I checked and the video on how to make the loop isn't in the description so thanks for letting me know. I've since added it, but here it is so you can just click on it: th-cam.com/video/dqhRint-doE/w-d-xo.html Thanks so much for watching! I hoped the video helped and God bless!
Would aluminum work? It is a little lighter.
Aluminum would be almost twice as light as the steel, but there are a couple of factors you need to consider. First the aluminum is more costly by quite a bit to purchase. Second you would need to have someone engineer the components for you as aluminum is has a lot less strength than steel and you don't want to be unsafe. That is why I put a disclaimer in my video that building a set like I have is done at your own risk. Third unless you are bolting the entire system together, welding of the stick would require either a TIG welder with A/C current or a MIG welder with a spool gun. Unless you have those it just doesn't pay. I built these because they were cheap and easy and as I said in the video they aren't made for a run and gun set up. If you are thinking of a set of aluminum sticks that are highly rated at a reasonable price check out the Hawk Helium sticks for $98 on Amazon. Here is the link. www.amazon.com/Hawk-Climbing-Treestand-Grabbing-Grooves/dp/B013C0FW3Y/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2K49HTV6ASHWA&dchild=1&keywords=hawk%2Bhelium%2Bclimbing%2Bstick&qid=1626991865&sprefix=hawk%2Bheliu%2Caps%2C173&sr=8-2&th=1&psc=1 I hope that helps. Thanks so much for watching and God bless you and your day!
@@thefrugalsportsman Ok .. thanks for the reply...
I work as a laser tech and I cut all sorts of metal all day. It doesn't cost me as much to buy metal as it does the common lay man. The one thing that does concern me .... is I know that aluminum has a tendency to crack and break under stress when it is welded. That's why I like the bolt going through the square tubing.
@@cliffy7595 I do think bolting is better also, of course you'll need some kind of stop swivel system like using two bolts or machine notching the aluminum to fit
around the square tubing. I would definitely want someone to size the aluminum for me though just to be safe. Have a great day and thanks for your comment! Blessings!
@@thefrugalsportsman I might just try to machine some solid aluminum bar on the bridgeport to make them. But I think I am going to wait until the price of metal comes down. But you have a very good video for people who don't have the resources that I do. Keep up the good work.👍
@@cliffy7595 Sounds like a plan and thanks for your encouraging words. I appreciate it a lot! God bless and have a great day!
How strong are they? I am a big man and want safety first.
Hi Donnie, first let me say thanks for watching! I agree, safety absolutely needs to come first so let me just say that I'm not an engineer so I can't speak to weight or safety ratings or anyone's welding ability or anything else like that and so anyone using or applying some or all the ideas from this build need to assume all risk. With that said, I don't know how much you weigh, but I can tell you that I'm around 230 pounds and the set I built seem solid to me and don't flex or bend at all that I can feel. I trust mine completely or I wouldn't use them. Just remember that no matter what sticks you use though to always wear a lineman's belt or safety line from the ground up, because I'm a big believer that anything can fail at anytime and so there always needs to be redundancy in our safety. I hope that helps! Thanks for watching and for subscribing too! God bless!
Great video I'm new to using tree stands and was looking for an easy way to build some climbing sticks for myself. Only question I have would grinding or cutting teeth into the aluminum pipe be beneficial to help lock in onto the tree better? Or in your opinion would that not be a good idea so it can slip more at first to allow the rope to get proper tension?
On the steps I built the aluminum cleats really lock onto the tree and there is really no side to side movement for me if I lock them in properly. In my opinion the ability for the cleats to slide down some give the proper angle for the rope to lock things in place. I hope that help! Thanks for watching and God bless!
25:00 is that a deer or dog in the back?
You have good eyes! That wasn't a deer thought, that's my dog Daisie. She was hanging out with me while I was doing the video. But we are on my back property and less than a 100 yards from where I set up my blind and regularly shoot deer with my crossbow though. Thanks for watching and God bless!
Over 2k in tools and equipment to build steps that would of cost under 200 bucks 😂
Thanks for watching and God bless!
Thats the whole point in having 2k in tools, so you can build your own stuff instead of putting money in someone elses pocket...
Why didn’t you just come out and tell us - a portable tree climbing ladder! Poo poo on tree climbing sticks!
I didn't call it a ladder because a ladder is all one piece or sections that become one piece. These are called climbing sticks because each of them operates separately allowing you to place them at different angles which is great for working with crooked trees. I hope that makes things a bit clearer. Thanks for watching and God bless!