I’ve been doing a bit of basic gymnastics lately (really basic). My interest in gymnastics is really just for basic strength and flexibility, and to keep things interesting as I try to improve my overall fitness. Some of the basic equipment needed is fairly easy to make. The first thing I made was a pair of PVC pipe parallettes – these are good for L-sits and handstands, and (eventually) handstand pushups. To do pullups, dips, and (eventually) muscle-ups, you need rings. I found a great post about making home-made wooden rings on the Crossfit forum, and I figured I could easily do that.
The rings are made up of three layers of plywood: a 1/4″ sheet sandwiched between two 1/2″ sheets yields blanks that are about 1-3/16″ thick – just the right thickness for a comfortable grip. I cut the sheets into 9-1/4″ squares and glued them up with wood glue (TB-III) and really good clamp pressure. After that I found the center point and drew two concentric circles – the outer circle has a radius of 4-5/8″, and the inner circle radius is 3-7/16″. This yields a ring that is 1-3/16″ wide – exactly the same as the thickness of my plywood blanks.
Then I cut the rings out with a jigsaw (inner ring) and bandsaw (outer ring), and smoothed the cuts with the oscillating spindle sander (inner) & disk sander (outer). Once I had a nice smooth round ring, I rounded over the edges with a 5/8″ roundover bit on the router table. This resulted in a nearly perfectly round grip – very comfortable.
I sanded the rings smooth and finished them with several layers of wipe-on finish I had on hand – a mix of tung oil, mineral spirits, and spar varnish. After several coats, the rings feel smooth as silk. They are suspended with a pair of lashing straps (1″ x 12′) I picked up from Harbor Freight.
That was easy. The hard part is actually USING them! I will be following some of the progressions on Drills & Skills web site – here’s a link to a good article: Got Rings?
15 responses so far ↓
1 Laramy // Jun 30, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Nice looking rings! I don’t have the wood tools to do that. I think I am going to try bending the PVC. Excellent job though!
2 Monty // Jun 30, 2008 at 8:49 pm
Thanks for the feedback. The PVC option looks good too, but getting the pipes to bend without kinking looks tricky.
3 Nick // Dec 16, 2008 at 11:29 am
Are these rings still in use? Have they held up well. Anything you would do different if you were to make them again?
4 nick // Dec 16, 2008 at 6:36 pm
Can you glue 2 pieces of 3/4 in plywood instead?
5 Monty // Dec 19, 2008 at 10:35 pm
They are still in use – holding up just fine. I have actually made 3 pairs of these – one I gave to a friend and another I still use. The 3rd pair I forgot and left outside once, hanging on the swingset… needless to say, it rained. Not good for plywood, even with the spar varnish.
You could glue up two pieces of 3/4″ plywood – that would just make the grip a little thicker. The best pair I made were done using 1/2″ & 1/4″ baltic birch plywood… looks nice, but that doesn’t make them any easier to use!
6 jim // Mar 17, 2009 at 3:24 pm
Great looking rings! How are those lashing straps holding up?
7 Monty // May 7, 2009 at 5:36 am
They’re holding up just fine, although they are not quite as comfortable as the 2″ straps they have at my local CrossFit affiliate. The smaller straps seem to scrape your upper arms more when you’re doing ring dips.
8 Jono // May 29, 2009 at 1:55 am
Is there any way to round the rings without a round over bit? I have everything else cut out but the roundover bits are insanely expensive here
9 Rob // Oct 12, 2009 at 5:49 am
I don’t think the measurements are right… If you have 4-5/8″ minus 3-7/16″, that leaves you just under an inch….right?
10 Rob // Oct 14, 2009 at 5:31 pm
Disregard; I suck at life again. I didn’t realize you used two 1/2″ sheets. No wonder my rings didn’t come out symmetrical… I’ll get it right next time!!
11 Bushido Code // Oct 15, 2009 at 2:43 pm
They look awesome! I’m into crossfit as well and Do you have any plans to make any more gear. I was admiring the picture from the September 29th WOD from Crossfit (http://www.crossfit.com/mt-archive2/2009_09.html).
I think you appreciate it more when you make it yourself. Don’t you?
12 Matthew Jones // Jan 30, 2010 at 3:13 pm
This was SO helpful, I’m so glad I found this page. GREAT pictures, super helpful hints. I’m finishing mine up today!
13 Monty // Jan 31, 2010 at 7:06 am
I’m happy to help – hope you enjoy your rings!
14 STEFAN // Apr 22, 2010 at 6:38 am
HI MONTY
WE DONT GET BIRCH PLYWOOD HERE IN SOUTH AFRICA SO WICH PLYWOOD WOOD BE HARD AND STRONG ENOUGH TO USE FOE A SECOND OPTION
15 Don Kueneke // May 6, 2010 at 11:09 am
Monty, I recently built a pair of parallets but based my dimensions on memory per experience at our local CF box. Used 1.25 inch pvc but made them a bit too high and perhaps a tad too long (heeight approx 16″, length approx 18 “). What dims did you use for yours? BTW – those rings are fantastic looking – never thought do-abel w/plywood. Nicely done artwork. Agree tho – the usage is the hard part.
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