You know the saying if you want something done right, do it yourself? Well, I don't like any climbing stand on the market completely. I always find something wrong with each one I own orlook at. Therefore...

Ah reckon I'm is fenna builds mah own. I don't care if I have to buy a tig welder in order to do it. Heck, I welded my own bow press, I can try a stand as well. First thing I gotta do is figure out what materials to use. I have a Lone Wolf alpha hand climber now and was wonderingwhat the platforms are made of. From what I can discern, it is some sort of aluminum alloy.

If this is correct, next thing would be to figure out where I can get similar stock and of course if it is weldable. Any insight or guesses on what the LW is made of would be appreciated. Also, if anyone has a suggestion on where I can get aluminum or aluminum alloy stock that would be nice too.

When I get it together, I'll make sure you guys get plenty of pix.

hth

Good luck, and be able to confidently trust your life with your welding abilities...I know I wouldn't mine, but then again..I am terrible at welding.

Im interested to see where you take this.

A friend of mine makes his own stands. He usually makes ladder stands, but he has made a few climbers. His were very heavy and the ended up being left up as permanent stands. He uses 1 inch quare tubing, solid, but way too heavy IMO.

I don't see why anyone couldn't do it. However, I would do a lot of research on this before tackling it. For one, in order to make a stand safe and also lightweight, you need to use the correct material in the correct places. I'll use Summit as an example here. They use computers to design the stands. The computer can calculate how much stress would be put on a stand ifa hunter was standing on the platform. The computer will let them know right away if there is potential for failure because too much stress was placed on a certain part of the stand by the weight of a person.

I'm not saying you can't build a stand. I've always had the old motto of "what one man can do, another can do". Just becareful. Who knows, you just might end up designing the next big thing.

aluminum is not like welding regular cold or hot rolled steel. I would find a welder that specializes in aluminum welding unless you have been trained in it. You can get the aluminum 6061 square tubing from http://www.alro.com or from central steel & wire http://www.centralsteel.com/............there may be local places cheaper for you but those are some of the big names out there. You will also need someone with a tube bender to form your tubes for you, if not bent properly you will stress the material and could cause failures that you dont want to be a victim of. You are going to spend alot more in materials and fabrication than you would if you were to buy one. Dont get me wrong with what im telling you here, Im not saying dont do it.....im saying do it right so you dont get hurt.

Get out of my body. If you aint saying and thinking just like me I'm a monkeys uncle.

I'm absolutly positive I can build a better one.

Keep this in mind. Your starting from what you know based on what you see; think outside of the box. Nobodys made a rule it has to be like all of them are.

Suppose you could make it so you could walk up a tree with a platform on your back. No gouging into the tree with spikes.

I'd say don't listen to the negitive waves, but your already like me.

For me, there is no way that it would be worth my time. Maybe to you it is, and maybe you'll end up with what you want! Good luck...

Pretty sure the Lone Wolf platform is made of cast aluminum. Not an expert, but I don't think you can weld to that.

Good luck with whatever you come up with. Stress analysis should be a big concern, especially if you are trying to go the lightweight route.

I'm with you though. Every climber I've used has some good points and bad.

Should be interesting, you should do a build along with pics etc....

I have been in the steel industry for all of my working life, and the quality of steel right now is horrible. We have issues daily with our tolerence and we own the steel mills and the coaters (NCI). I hope you build the best climber ever and sell me one at a good price one day...with that said please be aware that if a company our size with our connections,R&D, etc is having a hard time getting good steel, I would be leary of a regular Joe building something that will keep them 20' from death 30/40 times a year. I know many do it, but you are the first to askour (my)opinion and I like reading your posts to much to read one stating local hunter falls............