After spending five days in chains waiting for the mail to show-up, I had a lot of time to think.  I have always been excited with the thought of being locked in a head and hand stock.  The main problem was not construction, but escape.  I finally hit upon what I thought at the time was a good idea.  The stock was to be constructed from two 2x8 pieces of board 4 feet long.  The lower part was bolted to two 15-inch 2x4 on both sides.  This would enable the upper part to slide down on the lower piece.  The upper part had a bolt in place that enabled the upper piece pivot.  The lock was a door hinge lock, with a place for a pad lock.  Once the sections were in place the lock was added and locked in place and I would be stuck in the stock.  The lock was placed close to the left hand hole, so it could be reached and unlocked.  I practiced unlocking the pad lock with my left hand locked in place.  It took some work, but was easily managed with some practice.  The major mistake was that only the left hand was in the stock and after locking I would place the key into my hand.  Anyway, I was ready to begin.

 I put the key in a cup of water and froze it with a string hanging out of the cup to hang it out of my reach. I figure that a 14 oz. Cup of ice takes about 3 to 4 hours to melt before the key will fall.  This should be enough time for the first adventure.  As I mentioned before I also love chains, so I attached ringbolts for some chains.  I was now ready to start.  I striped and let my hair down.  Hair hang in front of the stock is exciting, and mine is heavy and reaches almost to my knees. I locked chains on my ankles and attached the chains to the ringbolts.  I had my feet chained about a foot apart and the chain to the stock was about two feet.  This would prevent me from walking or standing up.  Sitting down I put my hair in a loose bun, knowing that it would come down with very little movement, but would be out of the way to start with. Then I placed my hands and head in the stock and lowered the upper part into place. 

 Now the moment of truth, the lock hung from the stock on a string, reaching for the hinge, I placed the lock in the ring.  I thought if I think or wait I might back out, so I locked it in place and finally I was locked in the stock.  The feeling was indescribable, better then I could have imagined.  I tried to move over by a mirror to see how I looked but realized that any movement was going to be difficult.  It took some time to move the 20 or so feet, and I got quite a dose of carpet burn on my ass.  During trip to the mirror my hair started to fall.  This created some problems seeing where I was going.  After getting to the mirror and spending some time just looking and really enjoying what I saw, I decided to move to the bathroom where the key hung.  During this trip I had to move backwards since my hair would get caught under my ass if I went forward, since it was hanging down in front.  After reaching the bathroom the first problem was trying to see through all this hair and find the key.  A lot of head turning and twisting the stock finally opened the curtain of hair enough to see that I had a long wait.

 There was nowhere to go and I just sat and waited.  It seemed to take forever but finally the key fell.  Now the unforeseen problems began.  The key was on the floor just to my right.  So I moved around to pick it up with my left hand.  After getting into position I found out there was no way I could bend over to reach the key.  The boards of the stock were 8 inches wide and four feet long.  With my feet chained only a foot apart I could not spread my legs far enough to get the stock between my feet.  I figured that if I got on my knees I could bend over and pick up the key.  The problem was trying to stand.  I had no leverage and could not push with my hands since they were locked in the stock.  I pushed my self against the wall and tried to stand.  I stood on my hair and could not go anywhere.  I finally tilted my head to the right and began to gather as much hair as I could and then tried to push up.  The bathroom proved to be a good choice.  The wall method was a flop, but moving over to the tub I was able to get the right side of the stock on the edge and pull myself up.  Of course up meant being bent over since my stock was attached to my feet only two feet away.  But I was able to move in this position. 

 Duck-walking over to the key I was ready to end this ordeal.  However the next problem was that I had to get down on my knees to bend over to pick up the key.  This meant duck-walking back over to the tub and using it to get on my knees.  Once in this position I went on my knees over to the key. I kept stepping on my hair with my knees, but I was getting desperate to get out.  The next problem was bending over to reach the key.  The lower edge of the stock would hit my legs and I could not get my hand low enough.  Finally after much trial and error I was able to move my left leg back far enough to get the stock down to where I was able to reach the key.  Thank goodness for the practice, it took only three or four tries to get the key in the lock and turn it for freedom.

 All told I was in the stock for almost six hours.  It was heavy and I was sore.  After a shower and a drink, I sat down and took stock (so to speak) of the last six hours.  It was great and I would do it again, real soon.  But I also thought that I could build a cage and that should be the next project.  More thought better go into the cage, or what goes into the cage might not come out of the cage.
mck 

03/04/02