I've been casually playing the heavy athletics for a couple of years now, and I've developed quite an interest in it. I even joined the throwing team at my college's track & field team.
Anyways, I decided to build some training implements, to familiarize myself with the different throwing events. I've built a distance weight, a hammer and a caber.
This was pretty quick and easy. I took a 1 inch diameter bar and cut about a 1 1/2 foot section. I welded a bolt at the top end to keep the weights from sliding off. On the bolt, I welded the chain and the d-ring handle, which I also made myself. I threaded the bottom end of the bar, so I could slide the barbell plates on and off, thus allowing me to variate the weight of the implement.
This was a pretty interesting project. I don't have access to a smelter that gets hot enough to melt steel. (I know iron or lead are the preferred metals for hammer heads, but I didn't have access to those either.) So here's what I did instead. I took...14 plates I think, of 12 guage mild steel, cut into about 5 inch squares. Then I drilled four holes into each plate, alternating the holes so they didn't line up.
I'd stack one plate on top of the other, and weld them together through the holes I drilled. I kept stacking and welding until I had it all as a solid mass. Next I took a plasma torch and cut the giant steel cube into a roughly spherical shape. Then I welded all of the outside edges together, building the bead in a way that gave it more of a spherical shape.
The last part of this project is where I settled for "Good Enough." I started to grind the giant asteroid-shaped hunk of metal into an even better sphere. After a while, I'd had enough, so I welded a 3/4 inch diameter piece of roundstock on the top of the weight, for something to mount the handle to.
The handle, interestingly enough is grey PVC pipe. I learned that this specific type of PVC pipe is very flexible and holds up almost as well as rattan handles, plus its cheaper to replace. I slid it over the hammer mount and secured it with two cross bolts.
I got a lot of weird looks for making it, and it certainly isn't pretty. But it works like a charm. The only problem is that it weighs about thirty pounds, and I threw my arms out the first time I threw it. So this fall, its back to the shop to shave down to a healthy 20 pounds or so.
But anyways, I got so off track explaining those to you all, I forgot the main reason I was posting. I mentioned above that I had also made a caber. It's a pretty pathetic caber though. I cut down a pecan tree that had a mostly straight trunk all the way up. It was about 18 feet tall, though I could only use about 13 feet of it. While the wood was still wet, it weighed about 70 lbs, but now that its dry, it only weighs about 30. I can pick it and toss it with one hand. Even so, because it was the first (and only!) caber I've ever made, I kept it and affectionately named it "Tyke Shite."
So, my question is, does anyone know of a caber maker anywhere in California, or the surrounding states? Or does anyone know where I can look for suitable caber material? Ive heard cypress makes the best caber, and I've also heard of people using telephone poles, which sounds a little...weird.
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