Making A Bondage Board

Introduction

So, back to ropes. The problem with tying someone down is that you always run out of places to tie them to. Beds are great but they really only give you options for wrists and ankles (unless you want to start rigging up ropes across the bed itself). That kind of brings us to bondage boards - a large board with as many points to secure ropes [and willing subs] as possible.

Essentially, what I am describing is a large board - large enough for a submissive to lie comfortably on it, with ring eye screws forming a human outline so every single part of the body can be bound securely. The end result is a board that can leave a submissive unable to do much more than wriggle his or her fingers and toes (and you can even prevent that, but more on that later).

What You Will Need

The Wood

As for thickness, it depends what you want to use the board for. At half an inch thick, the board will be light enough that you can move it relatively easily. Going to an inch thick will make it twice as heavy, and so quite a pain to move around, but ensures that it will take the weight of two people moving around on top of it. The half inch board will do just fine on a flat, stable surface. If you intend to rest the board on top of a bed, the mattress will not support it too well so going to the inch is recommended. If you have any plans to be able to stand the board up, again, go for the inch thick - it will handle the shearing stresses much better.

The final consideration on thickness is the screws you are going to put in to it. If the screws you buy have half inch long threaded sections, they'll actually probably be closer to 5/8ths of an inch by the time you include the point. This may seem trivial but if you are not careful you will end up with a lot of points sticking out of the bottom of the board. You can remedy this by either: not screwing the screws all the way in; using shorter screws, or moving to a thicker board. I personally went with the first option which works fine.

The Accessories

The only other thing you may want to buy is paint and or varnish. The board will work just fine without them but they will help protect it if you intend to use it for anything like wax play that might spill things on it.

Tools

A tape measure and pencil are needed for marking out your holes. A straight edged traditional rule will help here too as tape measures are generally fairly hard to draw straight lines with.

Finally a braddle (Americans call it an awl) and hammer are well worth using to mark any holes to be drilled as they ensure the drill bit stays on target when you start drilling.

Marking The Board

A Four Inch Grid

Mark The Intended User's Outline

You will probably want to keep their body in one position but get them to lie with their legs both together and apart and their arms flat by their sides and also held out with their forearms up. Doing this allows you to put rings in places that will give you several different options.

Mark The Points You Intend To Use

Stay just outside the outline. Putting screws where they are going to be lying is going to make things uncomfortable.

Consider different positions. While some outlines will cross over each other, it is easy enough to remove and replace screws later, so mark points for a variety of poses. That way you will have the options available when you come to play.

Keep the points symmetrical. While the intended user no doubt did not lie perfectly centrally, try and keep the points you choose in a symmetrical pattern. When you come to use it, shuffling position slightly is easy enough to do and symmetry will just make the whole thing look more professional.

Once you have chosen the points you intend to use and marked them in pencil, it is time to make indentations in the wood in all of those points. Use the braddle, with a sharp tap or two from the hammer to create a point in the wood. When you come to drill, doing this will ensure the drill bit does not slip around when you first start.

Drill The Holes

You should have already marked the points you intend to use with the braddle. Take the drill and rest the end of the bit in the indentation left by the braddle. Now, when you start to drill, the drill will not bounce around and so you can be sure you will drill exactly where you intended to.

Drill the holes all the way through but do not push too much while you are doing so. If you push, as you get almost all the way through, you will force the drill out of the other side rather than actually drilling through. Pushing through will splinter the wood on the far side, leaving a mess. Once you have drilled through from one side, turn the board over and quickly run the drill through the holes from the other. This is just another precaution to ensure the wood does not split when you put the screws in.

Paint And Or Varnish

Any painting or varnishing you intend to do is going to be much easier before you add the screws, so do so now rather than later.

Add The Screws

A good trick for screwing ring eye screws in faster is to start them off by hand then use a screwdriver, pushed through the hole, to turn them faster.

If your board is about the same thickness as the screw threads are long, keep checking the underside to make sure you are not pushing any sharp points through and out the other side.

Playing With The Board

If you secure one end of a section of rope to a wrist or ankle, then run the rest through the holes over that limb (much like lacing a shoe), any movement from the wrist or ankle will actually pull the rope on that limb tighter. They can loosen it by simply relaxing the wrist or ankle but it creates the great effect that the more they struggle, the tighter they are held.

If you have the knees wide apart, do not try tying them down too tightly. Not many people have the flexibility to turn their knees right out from their bodies and doing so will put too much pressure on their hip joints and make the whole thing uncomfortable.

If you want to secure their heads, try using an old leather belt. By tying rope through two holes about six inches apart, you have a short strap that can go across their forehead, holding their head in place, yet easily ties to the ring eye screws.

While you can bind the head, torso and limbs and you no doubt have gags that can control the jaw, what about fingers and toes? Toes are actually really easy to imobilise. All you need to use are the foam toe separators for applying nail varnish. They will stay in place pretty well and limit movement a lot. As for fingers, Popsicle sticks as splints and a quick wrapping with skin safe tape will imobilise them too.

Be prepared to move screws around. The screws should be easy to take out and replace. Being able to do so, and having additional holes drilled in advance, gives you a wide variety of positions you can bind someone in on a single board.

Safety Considerations

Protect The Airways

Keep Heavy Scissors To Hand

Never Leave Someone Unattended

Tight Enough

Conclusion

Finally, lying on their front or back is not the only position possible. Using the off cut, I made a second board designed to hold someone on all fours. But then that is a different piece all together.

SoulThief