Material for High bars and Parallel bars?

[Buffmedic01]

I have been a fly on the wall of this forum for a few months now, thanks to everyone that post on here. I have learned so much, so fast because of the excellent advice on this board. I searched and I could not find any real info on this. I'm looking to build my own high bar and parallel bars and I am looking for that awesome flex just like in gymnastic gyms. What are the dimensions for the bars and what is the best material to make them with. I have heard that some are fiberglass, what is a good wood to use if I go that route and does anybody have advice on where to purchase the dowels/rods? All help is appreciated. I am not poor but I would prefer to build it than pay the crazy prices for actual gymnastic equipment.

[Daniel Burnham]

Yea most have fiberglass in the inside from what I have been told. It is possible to buy the bar separate from the frame.

If you go the wood route I would use a hardwood like oak. I have used poplar for stall bars and they have a lot of flex with just 3 feet of width so they probably aren't suitable for the pbars.

[Blairbob]

Well, the women's rail has a fiberglass core. Just make a men's rail. You can probably get away with just metal piping.

Do you really want to forge and temper a men's bar? Yes, I'm sure you can get stock, grind it down and create a salt bath pot for it to heat treat. Good luck on that.

I'd probably just metal pipe for the PB rails as well. Look online for examples of DIY PB people in CF have made. Some are pretty neat looking (though I've never swung on any).

For the record, plenty of people have done giants on just those playground bars. Crazy russians. There are videos of it. I'm not saying it's safe or probably sensible, but it's doable.

One of my friends has a bar structure hanging down from his ceiling his dojo. Quite fun to play on and I guess his son used to do giants on it and other crazy stuff. I never really wanted to because of a lack of a good landing area but I was okay with just swinging turns and pullovers or kips or circles. It's probably as high or higher than a standard Men's bar. Can't be too high as I jump to get onto it.