So the down side to my homemade weight plates is that I didn’t have any that where the right diameter to do deadlifting. The diameter of the typical 45lb plate, and thus all the lower weight “bumper plates” is ~17.5 inches. None of my brake disk weights met this and I didn’t have a mold for concrete weights that size. Nor do I want to be dropping concrete weights on the ground like that. So I made these bad boys. I took four 18 inch diameter pine rounds. Glued them together in pairs using a generous amount of wood glue and having the grain perpendicular as to add strength. Then drilled a hole in the center and smaller holes around that. Filled the smaller holes with concrete to even the weight out for each pair. Got them both to equal 10lbs each. They give me the proper height for deadlifting (ok so like .25 inches higher but I don’t think that’s hurting anything) and are fairly durable. The wood absorbed more impact and I’m also lifting on a rubber mat now so it’s less impact on it. They are basically permanent additions to my bar cause they fit tight and are hard to remove. They are also my most expensive set of weights because I had to actually buy the pine rounds and while not super expensive they aren’t “$2 for a 60lb bag of concrete” cheap. About $40 for the set I think? It’s been a while since I made them.

Also I hit them with a torch to darken them and sealed them with a few coats of water based polyurethane cause why not?

Lifters… Uhhhh… Finds a way