What you Need

Materials

Materials Required
Item	Amount	Material	Dimensions	Approx. Total Cost GBP
44x44mm wood for leg and leg brace	1	wood, pine	44 ×44 × 2340*	£4.50
90x20mm wood for foot plate and support	1	wood, pine	20 × 90 × 980	£4.50
Carriage Bolts	4	Steel	120mm long × 8mm diameter	£4
Washers	4	Steel	30mm outer diameter, 10mm inner diameter	£1
Screws, counter sunk, wood tapping	~20	Steel	20mm	£1
Grip Tape, as used on skateboards	2	Glass paper	15cm × 23cm	£2
Clips	4	Plastic	2.5cm wide	£2
Ladder locks	2	Plastic	2.5cm wide	£1
Strap	1	Nylon	580cm × 2.5cm	30 - 50p/metre
Kids Welly Boots	1 pair	Rubber	Approx. UK Size 3	£1 - £2
Knee Pads	1 pair	Plastic	To fit your knees	£10
Wood Glue	1	Glue	-	£2 - £3
Paint/Varnish (optional)	300ml	paint	-	£3
			Approximate Total: (this includes kneepads)	£40
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Wood

Cedar can be used instead of pine and is perhaps a better choice as it often weighs less. Pine is however cheaper, easier to come by and perfectly acceptable.

Grip tape

This is the stuff used to coat skate boards. It's a bit like black sticky backed sand paper and provides excellent grip between your foot and the foot plate on the stilts. It cost's approximatley £5 (~ £7.50) for enough to cover one skate board which is enough to cover about three sets of stilts. Ask at your local skateboard shop if they will give you a 23cm × 15cm piece of griptape.

Pop-up Picture: Grip Tape

Carriage Bolts

These are used to hold the stilts together. Normal bolts can also be used but carriage bolts have a rounded end which looks nicer.

Pop-up Picture: Carriage Bolt

Straps

Straps are used to keep the stilts firmly attached to your legs. For this nylon webbing is used, this is the same stuff as they put on the straps of a rucksack. This can be difficult to find but fabric shops and camping/outdoor shops are good places to look, sometimes you also find suitable straps being sold as luggage straps.

Clips

Clips allow the straps to be fastened and adjusted. This can also be a difficult part to find but again try looking in camping and fabric shops. Two types of clip are required, the buckle type where two ends of strap join and ladder locks used to tighten the strap at the foot.

Kids Welly Boots

Not only do these provide grip for the feet of the stilts but they also look really funny; walking along with great long legs and little tiny wellies sticking out the bottom! Go to your local charity shop and pick some up.

Tools

As well as all the bits and pieces of that will one day become your stilts, you also need the equipment to put it all together. Most things here you should be able to find in the average tool box.

Tools
Item	Notes
Tenon Saw	Pretty much any wood saw will do if you don't have a tenon saw.
Drill	A pillar drill would be ideal as it will ensure all holes are drilled at right angles, not many people have these hiding in their cellars though so a normal hand-held electric drill will be fine. Of course a hand powered drill will also work if you are feeling strong
Drill Bits, 10mm and 3mm Wood bits	These are needed to drill the holes for bolting the stilts together and creating pilot holes for screws.
Screw Driver	You need whatever type of screw driver to fit the screws you've bought, be it slotted or cross-head. Make sure the screw driver fits the screws snugly, otherwise you are libel to strip the head off the screw.
Sand Paper	Needed to keep your stilts baby smooth and splinter free! If you have an electric sander then that will save you a lot of effort.
Pencil	Essential for marking the wood before cutting and drilling.
Ruler	Needed for marking the wood before cutting.
Tape Measure*	Useful for measuring longer distances like the stilt legs. You can make do with a ruler if you don't have one.
Sewing Machine/Needle and Thread	The straps need to be attached to the buckles, the best way to do this is by sewing them together.
Scissors	For cutting the straps.
Candle and Matches	Melting the ends of the cut straps will stop them from freying.
Set Square*	To help mark right angles prior to cutting.
Work Bench*	It is much easier to work the wood when it is held in place on a work bench.
Junior Hack Saw and Metal File*	The hack saw is used to cut off the excess bolt and the metal file will smooth off any sharp edges.
Paint Brush*	Used to paint your stilts. You don't need to paint your stilts but they look a lot nicer if you do.
Spanner	Needed to tighten the nuts on the carriage bolts.
*These items are not essential but would make life easier.