HORSESHOE STAKE MOUNTING BRACKETS
Designs are patent pending.
I grew up pitching horseshoes at my grandparent's house on a makeshift court. So, a good many years ago now, I decided to put a horsehoe court in my back yard. It was nothing special, just a starter set I purchased locally at a big box store. I measured everything out correctly, installed boxes around the sand pits and anchored the stakes into blocks of pressure treated wood and buried them as suggested in the instructions. It was a pretty good court for a first time effort, much better than the one at my grandparents' house, but one of the stakes finally sank into the block of wood so that only about 4" was left protruding out of the ground. I also did not achieve the proper 12 degree angle of forward tilt, so the 3/4" stakes that came with the set were always bad about bouncing the ringers off. So a few years later, I decided to upgrade my heavily used court with some regulation sized stakes and fabricated steel horseshoe stake mounting brackets that would easily produce the 12 degree forward tilt and not allow the stakes to sink over time. I run a welding shop, and I figured that I could come up with and produce something that was unlike any of the so-so horseshoe stake mounting products that I was finding online. I wanted an exceptionally strong, 12 degree angled metal bracket that I could mount to a length of pressure treated 6x6 as an anchor, and then bury in my pits. And so I made a set. My horseshoe stake mounting brackets have since been a huge success, and I am now offering five models for sale: four models for 1" sized stakes and one model for the smaller 3/4" stakes that are usually included with back yard horseshoe kits sold at big box stores. When you're ready to install a nice set of horseshoe pitching pits and you want an easy to use product that will give you good results, we have the solution for you. Design is patent pending.
3/4" BACKYARD MODEL
Our smaller economy stake holders, The BACKYARD models, are geared toward the casual backyard pitcher on a budget. They are sized for the 3/4" diameter stakes that are commonly included with "backyard" horseshoe sets sold at big box stores and online. I know that there are thousands of those sets out there. My first set was a Royal set from Walmart. And if you have a set of those and you've pitched very much at all, the stakes are probably leaned over backward from a lack of proper anchoring and support. These stake holders will fix that. They're smaller sized to fit the smaller 3/4" stakes, but they're still built plenty tough with 3/8" thick bases and 1/8" wall thickness on the column. They are tilted forward at the proper 12 dergee angle and the stakes are held in place with a 7/16" stainless steel hex bolt with loctite. They attach to a length of pressure treated 6 x 6 with two 3/8" x 3" lag bolts. Or to save money, all you really need for these smaller versions is a pressure treated 2 x 6 (or even a 2 x 4 as shown below) that is 8 feet long. Cut the board into four 24" pieces and double two pieces together with deck screws like I did here in the photo. Bury that 15" deep in your pit and you're good to go.
3/4" "Backyard" model stake holders are $97.99 per set of two. Free shipping.
3/4" "Backyard" model stake holders are $97.99 per set of two. Painted with rust preventive white paint. Free shipping.
3/4" "Backyard" model stake holder mounted to a doubled up piece of pressure treated 2 x 4. This would be a bare minimum anchoring method for "doing it on the cheap".
Attention: The Backyard model has an inside dimension of .775". So a true 3/4" stake, one with an outside dimension of .750", will easily slide right in with about .025" of extra wiggle room. Since all of you who buy the Backyard model mounting brackets already have the stakes, (WE NO LONGER SELL 3/4" STAKES) whether or not the stakes will fit is completely out of my control. Combine this with folks telling me they are using "pins", "pipes", "rods", "poles", "posts", "steaks" (Mmmm.... make mine a sirloin, well done)... You get the picture. So please measure your stakes accurately before ordering and make sure that what you have is truly a 3/4" stake, one with a .750" outside diameter. "They're about as big around as my thumb" isn't a good enough measurement.
Look here, see...
Please be aware that we do not sell 3/4" stakes. Back when we did sell them, it took, on average, about 18 months to sell 5 sets, which is what one 20' stick of the 3/4" material rendered. By contrast, the 1" stakes sell so fast I can hardly keep the material in stock. So that 3/4" stuff was some slow moving inventory that wasn't worthwhile to keep in stock. Almost every customer who purchases the 3/4" mounting brackets already has a set of 3/4" stakes that were included in a horseshoe pitching kit, and all they need at this point is a good way to mount them. So while the 3/4" mounting brackets sell fairly well, the 3/4" stakes never sold well at all. 3/4" stakes = not good business. And honestly, if you are going to go to the trouble of putting in a nice set of horseshoe pits, I would strongly recommend you upgrade to at least a set of our Leaner models with 1" stakes. You'll have pits with regulation sized stakes to show for your effort and those 1" stakes are much more enjoyable to pitch on.
1" LEANER MODEL
The LEANER MODEL is our standard duty 1" stake mounting bracket. While the Leaners are our economy model 1" mounting brackets, they are still built tough to last with a 3/8" thick base and 1/8" column wall thickness. They mount to your 6 x 6 with two 3/8 lag screws, and the stake is held in place with a 1/2" stainless hex bolt with Loctite.
Leaner model brackets alone are $113.99 per set. Free shipping.
Leaner Kit with 1" hot rolled stakes - $159.99. Free Shipping.
Leaner Kit with 1" cold rolled stakes - $174.99. Free Shipping.
We can paint the stakes white with red tops for $12.00 extra.
Leaner model brackets alone are $113.99 per set, shipped. Painted with rust preventive yellow paint.
1" DEAD RINGER MODEL
The DEAD RINGER MODEL is our heavy duty 1" stake mounting bracket, and are our number one best seller. They are built very tough to last with a 3/8" thick base that's 2.5" wide and extra thick 1/4" column wall thickness. They mount to your 6 x 6 with two 1/2" lag screws, and the stake is held in place with a 5/8" stainless hex bolt with Loctite. In a world of planned obsolescence where many consumer products are purposely engineered using nondurable materials to last for a short time and then fail, just beyond warranty expiration, it's refreshing to see things like this that are truly built to last a lifetime.
Dead Ringer brackets alone are $134.99 per set, shipped.
Dead Ringer Kit with 1" hot rolled stakes - $179.99, shipped.
Dead Ringer Kit with 1" cold rolled stakes - $194.99, shipped.
We can paint the stakes white with red tops for $12.00 extra.
Dead Ringer mounting brackets alone are $134.99 per set, shipped. Painted with rust preventive red paint.
I work a non stop back order list for horseshoe stake holders from March through September. Normal lead times are typically 7 to 10 days, but can be longer during peak periods. Know this in advance and order ahead accordingly.
Quality craftsmanship is evident in everything we do at Knight Mfg. It's almost a shame to hide welds this nice underground.
The Dead Ringer mounting brackets are our number one best seller. We've sold many, many sets of these since 2015.
The Dead Ringer mounting brackets are built rock solid. You'll know you've got your money's worth when you pull a set of these puppies out of the box.
1" RINGER DLX MODEL
The RINGER DLX MODEL is our extra heavy duty 1" stake mounting bracket. Built tough to last like our Dead Ringer models with a 3/8" thick base and extra thick 1/4" column wall thickness, but with a wider base that is 3" wide and taller 5" twin bolt column. Two 1/2" hex bolts to give two points of holding contact for securing the stake in the bracket, so very little chance of the stake working loose, especially when using Loctite on the threads as recommended. They mount to the 6 x 6 with two larger 5/8" lag screws. These are especially useful to those who (for whatever reason) insist on using stakes longer than 24". Super heavy duty twin bolt mounting brackets here.
Ringer DLX brackets alone are $169.99 per set, shipped.
Ringer DLX Kit with 1" hot rolled stakes - $209.99, shipped.
Ringer DLX Kit with 1" cold rolled stakes - $224.99, shipped.
We can paint the stakes white with red tops for $12.00 extra.
Ringer DLX mounting brackets alone are $169.99 per set, shipped. Painted with rust preventive blue paint.
1" RINGER HD MODEL
The RINGER HD MODEL is our extremely heavy duty 1" stake mounting bracket. There's no doubt that these hefty hunks of steel are built tough to last. In fact, they are probably overkill, but when you encounter someone who asks, "Are you sure two lag screws are enough to hold those brackets down to the "railroad tie"? I'd like to see them have four screws, one in each corner, to hold them down. I think that would be better". When you run into somebody like that, it's much easier just to sell them what they think they need, and charge them for it, than to argue with them. So, these models have four 3/8 lag screws in the base plate. And, of course, four will hold better than two, whether they're really needed or not. And like our Ringer DLX models, they have the same 5" tall, 1/4" thick column with twin 1/2" bolts. And the 3/8" thick base on these is 4" wide, wider than the 3" base plate on the Ringer DLX models. Use Loctite on the two 1/2" hex bolts and there will be no chance of the stake working loose. Extremely heavy duty, overkill twin bolt mounting brackets. Painted with rust preventive orange paint.
Ringer HD brackets alone are $184.99 per set, shipped.
Ringer HD Kit with 1" hot rolled stakes - $224.99, shipped.
Ringer HD Kit with 1" cold rolled stakes - $239.99, shipped.
We can paint the stakes white with red tops for $12.00 extra.
If the Ringer HD mounting brackets were a toilet paper holder, they would be this... Strong enough yet, or should I keep going?