How to Make Stilts

Making stilts is a moderately easy task. All that is needed is a little know-how and some woodworking skills. With these abilities, anyone can make stilts.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• 2 pieces of soft wood, 1-½ inch by 1-½ inch by 55-inches
• 2 pieces of hardwood, 1-½ inch by 2-½ inch by 5-½ inches
• 4 carriage bolts, approximately ¼ inch by 4-½ inches
• Coping saw
• Drill
• Sandpaper
• 1-inch nails
• Pencil
• Wire cutters
• Wood glue

1. Position 2 pieces of soft wood on a workbench. These will be the stilt poles. Mark a line across one side of both poles in pencil about 12 inches from the bottom ends. This pencil mark shows where the top of the stilt footrests will go.
2. Take 2 pieces of hardwood for the footrests and draw a curve on the bottom end of each piece. Use a coping saw to cut along the curved marks.
3. Hammer 2 one-inch nails into the side of the soft wood stilt poles going almost all the way through. Use wire cutters to cut off the flat top of the nails leaving little pointed tips above the surface of the stilt poles.
4. Apply glue to the longest edge of the hardwood footrests and fasten them to the stilt poles, using the pencil lines drawn earlier as a guide. Once the glue has dried for 1 hour, scratch off the excess glue and let the stilts dry overnight. After the stilts are completely dry, drill 2 holes through the stilt poles and footrests and put in quarter-inch carriage bolts to add strength.
5. Use sandpaper to get rid of all sharp edges. Round the bottom ends of the stilts to prevent them from splintering during use.

Tips & Warnings

• Pull the stilt poles with the hands when taking steps to keep the footrests under the feet.
• Always exercise caution when using a coping saw.
• Be careful when walking on stilts. Test them first to make sure they can bear your weight.