[b]Overview[/b]
The idea of scraping together some wooden grips for my home wall to save money and have a few tendon-friendly holds occurred to me long before these came out. The problem was that I do not have the skills to engineer shapes anywhere nearly as nice as Metolius' wood grips. When these first arrived at the local rock gym, there was a definite novelty to them. They look great and have a smooth finish. Some of them look deceiving from below, apearing more positive than they actually feel. They have been reset at least three times and are at least as durable as their plastic counterparts.
[b]Pros[/b]
- Smooth finish is easy on the skin, good for contact strength training
- Shapes are varied and interesting
- Novelty
[b]Cons[/b]
- Smooth finish does not play well with a liberal coating of chalk and rubber
- Shapes are deceiving (perhaps a pro?)
- Only slightly more expensive than good plastic holds
[b]Value[/b] B-
The typical homewall is too steep for most shapes with these holds' smooth texture. If you are buying for a gym, go nuts, pick up a hundred, they're cool. If you're buying for home, put a five-pack on your holiday wish list, and make sure you get all jugs for your steep homewall. These things are smooth to the touch, and are too pricey to become oversized foot chips.