Step 1: Get yourself
a log for the body.
I looked in the Yellow pages for a rough cut lumber yard. The log needs
to be about 5 feet tall with an approximate 9 inch diameter. Total
cost was $38.00
Step 2: Download the plans.
Download plans here: WOODEN DUMMY PLANS DOWNLOAD PAGE
Step
3: Prepare the body.
The log I purchased was very rough so I had to sand it A LOT. After
sanding, I filled in any cracks with wood putty and then sanded the
putty smooth when it was dry.
Cost of sand paper and putty: approx. $15.00
Total cost so far: $53.00
Step
4: Transfer your measurements to the body.
This was a little tricky but I soon figured it out. The first thing
you need to do here is draw a straight center line down the length of
the body. You will then use this center line as a guide for your other
measurements. Make marks for the center arm hole, the leg and the holes
in the back where the supports will go. Locating the correct position
of the top arm holes was a little more complicated. I ended up having
to make an adjustable protractor to find the correct position. Download
a PDF of how I did all of this here.
Step
5: Build the leg.
The reason you build the leg first is so you can use it as guide when
cutting out the leg hole. Use the plans in the above PDF to make an
overlapping joint for the leg. To build the leg you will need a 2x3
that is eight feet long, two 1x3's that are also 8 feet long, some wood
glue and some drywall screws.
Step
6: Cut out the hole for the leg.
I used a 1 inch spade bit to drill the holes. Actually I had two spade
bits. The first is about 6 inches long to get my holes started. I finished
the holes with an 18 inch long spade bit. The leg hole is at a 15 degree
angle so I used a scrap piece of wood with a 15 degree angle on one
end as a guide for my drill as I was drilling. After I had the holes
drilled out, I started chiseling. I would chisel down about an inch
and then check to see how my leg fit. I used this process the whole
way down to make sure that I kept the leg at the correct angle.
Step 7: Cut the hole for the lower straight arm.
This is the same process as the leg hole but this one is easier because
the hole is straight. use your spade bits to drill down through the
body. Then chisel out the square hole for the arm.
Step 8: Have the arms made by a professional.
After I downloaded the plans, I faxed the dimensions off to a wood worker
to make the arms. I don't have the proper equipment to build them and
i wanted them made from oak. The woodworker took about 3 weeks to make
the arms and they turned out great.
Cost for the arms: $112.00
Total cost so far: $167.00
Step 9: Cut the holes for the braces in the back.
These holes are pretty basic after you've already done the leg and arm
holes. Just take your time and make sure that they are straight so your
dummy doesn't hang at an angle.
Step 10: Cut the holes for the top arms.
Cutting these holes really freaked me out but if you take your time
there is nothing to worry about. I rotated the body so I would be drilling
straight down and I drilled the first hole. I then chiseled it out square.
For the second hole I rotated the body in the other direction so I could
drill straight down and I made sure to take extra care when chiseling
the hole out square. The holes actually overlap in the middle of the
dummy and if you're not careful you can remove more wood than you want
to.
Step
11: Mount your dummy.
I mounted my dummy directly to the wall but you can also make a stand
so your dummy is a little more portable. I'll be adding plans on how
to make a stand in the future. I'll cover how to mount your dummy to
wall here.
The first thing I did was mount 2 2x4's with lag bolts horizontally
to the exposed studs in my garage. These 2x4's spanned 4 studs each
so they were 54 inches long.
I then mounted 2 4x4's vertically to the horizontal 2x4's. The smaller,
more flexible cross braces were then mounted through the dummy and horizontally
across the 4x4s.
You can actually adjust the height of your dummy based on where you
mount the cross braces to the 4x4s.
One thing that I learned here is to put soap on your lag bolts before
you screw them into the wood. When screwing in those bolts, you build
up a lot of friction and the bolts can snap.
Cost of wood for the wall mount and hardware: approx. $30.00
Total cost of wooden dummy: approx. $197.00
Well
there you have it.
Go start building your own wooden dummy. I discovered that if you
have some basic carpentry skills building one isn't hard and is actually
kinda fun.
Good luck!
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