The bar you had best have made or buy already made, in which case you can arrange the dimensions and position of the uprights to fit the bar. It can be from 5' in length to perhaps 6' 9" (6' is a good length), and should be not less than 1¾" in diameter, nor over 2". It should be of the best clear, straight-grained white ash or hickory (air-dried, not kiln-dried). One having a steel rod for a core is the best. The ends can be left square and bound with a square ferrule or band of iron of the right size to slip easily up and down in the grooves of the upright guides (Fig. 268). Any blacksmith can arrange this, as well as the pins to hold the bar. This apparatus can be finished in the same way as the parallel bars just described.
A suggestion for a post for outdoor apparatus is given in Fig. 269. The post should be set in the ground at least 3' and the earth well tamped down around it with a pointed bar or stick. The lower ends of the braces can themselves be set in the ground or abut against heavier posts set in the ground. This apparatus should be protected from the weather as in the cases described above.
Vaulting Apparatus.—You can buy iron standards or bases, and of course the whole apparatus, for high jumping and pole vaulting, but it is a simple matter to make a pair of uprights that will answer the purpose satisfactorily (Fig. 270).
Fig. 270.
Fig. 271.
Before beginning work read carefully Marking, Rule, Square, Saw, Plane, in [Part V]., and look up any other references.
Take two straight sticks 10' or 12' long and about 2½" square. Taper each piece with the plane until about 1½" square at one end. Make each base of two pieces of board about 4" wide and perhaps 3' long, as shown in Fig. 270, or halve two pieces of plank (see Halving). Mortise the larger ends of the posts into these bases as shown in Fig. 271 (see Mortising).
Before fastening the posts to the standards, mark a line along the middle of one side of each post. On this line lay off feet and inches from the bottom and carefully bore a quarter-inch hole through the posts at each of these points (except, of course, those near the ground) for the pins which are to support the cross-bar or cord (see Boring). Then fit the posts in the mortises and brace them by three braces each. The ends of the braces can be cut at a mitre and screwed in place, or the blacksmith will make iron braces for a small sum (Fig. 271). Finish like the other apparatus already described.