So, I’ve been playing volleyball with neighbors every weekend in my backyard, but that bulky net stand kept tripping folks. Got tired of dragging it in and outta the garage. That’s when I figured – why not make a removable pole system outta hard maple? Tough wood, right? Figured it’d hold up to weather and smashes.

Here’s how it went down

Started by grabbing a chunk of 4×4 hard maple timber from the lumber yard. Thing felt heavy as a tree trunk! Measured twice with my rusty tape measure, marked cut lines for two 8-foot poles. Fired up the circular saw – man, maple’s hard. Blade screamed like it owed me money, and wood chips flew everywhere like angry bees.

Next step: carving the base. Grabbed my trusty chisel and mallet. Chipped out two square slots deep in the bases where the poles would slot in. Took forever – maple chewed up my chisel blade like taffy. Kept blowing sawdust off my glasses while sweat dripped on the workbench.

The removable trick

Here’s where the magic happened. Drilled clean holes sideways through pole bottoms with the power drill. Then hammered thick steel pins through those holes. In the bases, I embedded threaded inserts using wood glue and sheer willpower. Now the pins slide snug into those inserts – locking poles upright when twisted. Simple but genius? Tested it by kicking the poles. Didn’t budge!

Final touch: slapped three coats of marine varnish on everything. Figured if boats can handle water, my poles could handle rain and beer spills. Let ’em dry in the sun while I swept up enough maple sawdust to fill a pillow.

Putting it to the test

Set it up Saturday morning. Bases staked solid in grass, poles clicked in with quarter-turn twists. Net hooked on smooth as butter. Game went full chaos mode – people dove, bumped, even body-slammed the poles. Held up like concrete! Afterwards, just pulled the pins, stacked poles in shed. Took less space than a broom.

Lessons learned:

• Hard maple laughs at regular saw blades – invest in carbide teeth.
• Steel pins need bigger washers or they’ll vanish in turf forever.
• Varnishing maple? Takes patience. Watched paint dry faster.

Whole project cost less than buying flimsy store stuff. Now my net setup disappears faster than cold pizza at a party. Solid win! Though my shoulders still ache from wrestling that timber…