So we made a start toward locating one that maybe someone had sitting around. Craigs List was my first search area and there were two outfits available on this side of the state. One was a little flimsy looking thing up by Freeland and the other was quite a bit of equipment in Port Huron at an attractive price. I messaged them and then noticed the posting was 29 days old. I did not get an answer. So then we went on over to the Dunhams store and there is so much empty space and three employees wandering around looking kind of dazed. ( Plenty of 22 ammo there by the way ) So when we finally flagged down one of the wanderers to see if there was any hope of buying a rack, bench, and bar with plates he said the truck hadn't been there for three weeks, but he would try the bay City store for us and called them. NADA. Everyone is apparently thinking that Planet Firness is going to be shut down again is the theory that the boy voiced and I think he may be right.
So my thought was how about building a setup ourselves. I can get metal and 2X4 / 4x4 lumber and build a bench that would support an elephant if it needed to and I can cast lead weights with a hole in the middle of any practical weight necessary. I would be lending the boy my lead although he did find it kind of fun to go mining for lead at the range. The idea like the proverbial lead balloon went no where but down. My wife even said " what a cheap skate idea" . I quietly explained that it would not be cheap at all and indeed she was free to look for whatever might still be available. If the boy needs a weight outfit , we can make it ourselves instead of waiting for the Chinees to send some ot the scrap iron we sent to them back to us at retail prices. I was a little disturbed by the response..
Anyway, there was plenty of 22 ammo........ among all that empty floor space.