DIY strap on steps

[IkemanTX]

Would it be cost effective to fabricate these out of C-channel?

 

[redsquirrel]

Would it be cost effective to fabricate these out of C-channel?

I haven't looked into it yet, but probably. The nice thing about the heliums are that they are already milled which is the toughest DIY part of this IMO. Also the step portion of the helium has a lot of milling in it to save weight. If I was going to make this I would mill the slots for the webbing a lot closer to the part that touches the tree.

 

[IkemanTX]

Unfortunately my sticks were made before Hawk bought the design, so I don't have the holes milled out. With all the other stuff I am trying to get done this year, I might have to go another route.


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[redsquirrel]

Unfortunately my sticks were made before Hawk bought the design, so I don't have the holes milled out. With all the other stuff I am trying to get done this year, I might have to go another route.


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Gotcha.

 

[Cajunyankee]

I got a chance to hunt with these steps tonight. They worked great. While I was setting them up I noticed that they wanted to roll over a little bit but once I got them tightened down with the boat buckle there was no movement or chance of them rolling over. The only minor thing i encountered was at one point the step stuck to the mud in my boot and pulled and made a click when it dropped back down. That happened only once and it could be solved with a piece of stealth strip on the inside.

Red - are you still using these steps? Have you made any changes and do you like them better than the ameristeps?

 

[redsquirrel]

Red - are you still using these steps? Have you made any changes and do you like them better than the ameristeps?

I’m not. Only because I have a set of small aluminum steps I like. If I didn’t have them I probably would have used these more.

 

[Matki15]

Has anyone used these as their climbing system? Bought a bunch of cutoffs for a ring of steps and now I have too many. Thinking 8-10 of these with OCB buckles would work pretty well

 

[gameflogger]

Red.... awesome idea. Leave it to the innovators to stir up the pot. Much more affordable than the squirrel steps ( no offense, machining is expensive).

 

[Matki15]

Red.... awesome idea. Leave it to the innovators to stir up the pot. Much more affordable than the squirrel steps ( no offense, machining is expensive).

Definitely nice to have these diy options. I’m a broke college kid so these have been amazing for me. Bought 3 sets of helium cutoffs for maybe $30 and was able to make a ring of steps and still have 8 steps left over for (hopefully) a decent climbing system

 

[Marc W]

Definitely nice to have these diy options. I’m a broke college kid so these have been amazing for me. Bought 3 sets of helium cutoffs for maybe $30 and was able to make a ring of steps and still have 8 steps left over for (hopefully) a decent climbing system

Have you tried them yet? I am looking to drop the bulk of my ameristeps for climbing without buying more SS.

 

[Matki15]

Have you tried them yet? I am looking to drop the bulk of my ameristeps for climbing without buying more SS.

I’m waiting to order a few more OCB straps to be able to use all 8, but I have 2 straps already and they work well enough that I’ll be using them a lot more than my Cranfords

 

[RRussell]

I used them on a cheap ratchet strap and it didn’t tighten them down good but never tried my OCB on them.I know that will get them tighter better to the tree but not sure how much better

 

[Fl Canopy Stalker]

I think I might have finally come up with a pretty easy DIY to create some strap on steps. For starters I have to say that I do not suggest anyone perform these modifications and if you do you do so at your own risk, and that it is up to every individual to test and evaluate any modifications at ground level to ensure their safety.

I had picked up a set of the Hawk Helium sticks to try out a mod similar to Dave's. When I got the sticks I loved the design of the steps. As I was thinking about cutting the sticks down for the mod I thought that the part of the cutoff portion with a step on it might work well for a strap on step, and there was already slots milled in it to thread the strap through.I had been working on a couple other ideas that inspired this thought. So today I finally got around to making it happen. First I cut the stick down. There is a U channel on both sides of the stick so I decided to cut one of them off to bring the entire step closer to the tree. After that I just drilled a hole where the step portion needed to go, installed it and I was done. I did all of this with a miter saw with a carbide blade and my drill press and it probably took me less than 15 minutes of work. I was so excited about it's potential I took it out back and set it up on a few trees in the dark. The first tree I put it on was a tree with gaps in the bark and it wobbled around a bit just like any other strap on step so I moved over to tree with smoother bark, set it up and it was just as solid as any other step I've used. I jumped up and down on it and stood with one foot on it and it held up.

So all of that being said I am very excited about its potential but I will have to evaluate some more how well it will hold up. It came in just a touch heavier than an ameristep (0.28 lb vs 0.24), but it folds up. I will take some more pics when I make another one but here is the finished product:

Not to rehash super old threads but it appears Hawk took your idea some 6 years later and ran with it as they now created a foldable hang on step using almost the exact same set up. It seems you were lighter as theirs are coming in at 4 oz each. I believe they are calling it the Hawk Helium step? I don’t know if you have seen them or possibly helped with the design? But you were definitely ahead of the curve on these.

 

[redsquirrel]

Not to rehash super old threads but it appears Hawk took your idea some 6 years later and ran with it as they now created a foldable hang on step using almost the exact same set up. It seems you were lighter as theirs are coming in at 4 oz each. I believe they are calling it the Hawk Helium step? I don’t know if you have seen them or possibly helped with the design? But you were definitely ahead of the curve on these.

I saw they came out with them. I never tried them because I've been pretty happy with the squirrel steps and my golden buck steps I had before that.

Probably half the saddle hunting equipment out there was DIY'ed by someone on this site prior to it being commercially made. We went from having 1 saddle manufacturer to everybody and their mother making saddle hunting equipment overnight.

 

[Fl Canopy Stalker]

I saw they came out with them. I never tried them because I've been pretty happy with the squirrel steps and my golden buck steps I had before that.

Probably half the saddle hunting equipment out there was DIY'ed by someone on this site prior to it being commercially made. We went from having 1 saddle manufacturer to everybody and their mother making saddle hunting equipment overnight.

I am a big fan of the squirrel steps as well. I use a couple of the slotted ones on my platform strap so that I can walk the tree as opposed to leaning out or turning on the platform