Real stone climbing holds are designed to give a real stone texture experience to climbing but obviously using natural materials means that every hold is different from the next. For each type of stone we try to create a range of hold shapes such as jugs, crimps and slopers etc, but some stone types suit certain shapes better. This is explained in the product descriptions when purchasing online. To give an example, our Cumbrian Basalt holds come mainly as a selection of crimps, pinches and slopers, making them great for advanced route setting. In orders of multiple holds we try and select differing shapes for you to work when route setting.
The sizes available also vary with the stone types. After intensive testing we have resolved safe minimum sizes for each type of stone. This is determined by the strength of the grain structure within the stone type. So some stone types are restricted as to how small we can produce them for climbing holds.
Our current size scale for bolt on holds works on a 1-5 scale, 1 being the smallest and 5 being the largest. The photo below shows how our current product line up work in our sizing scale. From smallest to largest: Black Cumbrian granite, Welsh Basalt, Leicestershire Granite, Cornish Granite, Derbyshire Limestone, Natural Welsh Basalt, Natural Cumbrian Granite, Derbyshire Sandstone.
To give an example of how our scale works our smallest and most advanced holds are the Cumbrian Black Granite, these are roughly ranging between 30-60mm2 in the cross sectional area of the flat part which sits flush to the wall, these are what we class as size 1 on our hold size scale.