Freestanding wooden dummies - your experiences

[darthmaul_wt]

Hi All,

I'm interested in getting a freestanding wooden dummy (as I'm likely to move soon and can't be done with all the bolting to walls/floor etc.).

The only one I can find is this one: http://www.immortal.co.uk/immortal-dummies.asp

I'm also really new to the dummy form and would therefore really value people's experience as to whether you can use this freestanding dummy ok? It looks to me like your feet might need to go where the base is at times?

(oh yeah - and I'm in the UK, so whilst highlighting dummies you can get in USA, Hong Kong etc. will be interesting, I'm particularly interested in UK solutions!)

Many thanks, Luke

[anerlich]

It's hard to tell exactly how good or otherwise this dummy may be without actually trying it ... try to do that if you possibly can.

On the face of it this doesn't look too bad. The dummy appears to be toward the front of the base, and while with some leg movements it still might slightly get in the way, I have a similar arrangement (body and limbs purchased, base self-made) and it's pretty workable.

While it seems pretty well buttressed at back and sides, remember that some moves requyire you to pull on the dummy neck and arms, and it may be possible to off balance the dummy forward - I put a stack of weight plates on mine to stop this, but it's always still possible to unbalance the dummy in several directions of you try hard enough.

I've seen some dummies which look beautiful in photos but fail because the arms have too much movement and give no resistance, the height of the limbs doesn't suit you (you might be able to do something about this with fairly basic carpentry), they aren't strong enough, etc.

Aviod the dummies that have steel legs that fit into holes in the body, unless the leg structure is reinforced somehow. They tend to get knocked off kilter very easily making the dummy useless. Mine was like that and I ended up custom building my own base similar to the one on the web page.

Bear in mind that the suspended, frame-mounted dummy is always going to be a better option. Though a good floor mounted one is certainly workable.

[leejunfan]

I happen to have the Immortal dummy that ws given to me by an Immortal rep when they wanted my school to endorse their product. I can tell you from the start this dummy is flawed in many... MANY ways.

1. For starters the body is too thin.... if memory serves it's only about 7 or 8 inches thick.
2. The base is not nearly as stable as they claim. I added weights and it still moves around alot.
3. The arms are uneven, incorrectly spaced and too short.

The positives? You can't kill it..... we have people hitting the things with sticks and no damage. You can also keep it outside in all kinds of weather.

We still have and use it but plan on getting a few "correct" dummies to go with our single "correct" dummy.

Here's a picture showing the 3 dummies we have.
http://www.syracusemartialarts.com/facility9.jpg


Hope this helps.

[Dan_chi_sau]

a friend had one of those free standing immortal dummies, you're right, you can't kill it. The major prob i had with it (and this may be different due to availability of custom jobs where you are) but I'm 6'3''.....wasn't fun at all with the arms pointing at my hips. Try fuk-ing that....it's all down..although, to precede anyone telling me they're height adjustable, this one wasn't.

[Dan_chi_sau]

I'm particularly interested in UK solutions

Many thanks, Luke

not that i've tried them myself, i have heard good things about these guys

www.woodendummies.co.uk

[Dan_chi_sau]

this wasn't the one i thought of, you were after the free standing one....soz

[k gledhill]

the immortal one has no adjustments for height as mentioned, a guy I know who uses one, broke the leg recently ....the arms are uneven and short as mentioned previously ...he has to keep his gear bag and weights on the back to keep the thing from moving BUT it is pretty heavy otherwise ...its really dense so it takes anything you can throw at it...I dont like them. the arms arent even enough and too short, its critical to get even arms and an adjustable height or you will develop some long levers not acute angles

[drleungjohn]

www.woodendummies.co.uk

This dummy looks great-except-The leg comes out way too far in relation to the arm length-see if they will alter it closer to the body and how much-

They make offset arms so you have your choice of even arms verses uneven arm height-excellent-
critical-you need to find out if there is a slight amount of play between the arm and the arm hole-they should move slightly-not be a tight fit

LeeJunFan-good dummy to have if you have the bank and can fix the leg issue-

[Tom Kagan]

My only thought is some of the freestanding dummies you find have incredibly elaborate and unnecessarily complex stands. It's as if the woodworker didn't understand and adapted a wall dummy to work free standing. A correct stand would just clamp the base of the trunk and be bolted down to the floor or to a larger layer of ply or steel. Alternatively, the trunk could be made long enough and buried in the ground.

I've also played with an immortal dummy and essentially concur with leejunfan's assessment, more or less. However, at least the stand isn't one of the Rube Goldberg types I mentioned above and overall, it's not a bad value for what it is. I didn't find the sliding around all that troublesome and this quirk can be used a bit to your advantage in training. It's a bit of a pain to reset the dummy's location every so often, though.

(BTW, some of the wall dummies you find also have unnecessarily complex stands. But that's more about the skill of the woodworker in designing something simpler, so I don't mind it so much in this instance.)

[viper]

I built my own it saved me a buket of money its suited for me pefectly i mad mine free standing it works well when I move into my own place i will make it to fit a stand so I can issue more power mainly. I find free standing an thats all when u apply real force they begin to move if they were bolted to the ground that b good.

[anerlich]

you need to find out if there is a slight amount of play between the arm and the arm hole-they should move slightly-not be a tight fit


That's definitely true, but you can go too far with it as well. I've seen one which was beautifully built, but the arms had so much play you could move them in a 6" circle with one finger. Might as well doe your dummy form in the air.