I left a PhD program at Columbia University to start Hogtied.com, which would later become the flagship site for KINK.com. In 1997, I moved to San Francisco and the first order of business was to create a dungeon with the ability to create elaborate scenes in a rented apartment.
I couldn't exactly drill into the walls, so to get started I built a self standing wooden bondage frame. My first trips were to Home Depot and local BDSM gear suppliers for 4x4 lumber, bondage gear and tools that I needed. I asked allot of questions at local suppliers and got geared up with the kinds of items that spoke to me and would meet my goals.
Cuffs that work
It was my firm goal to produce scenes that were not faked. I was bored by much of the material out there, but at the same time, I did not yet possess advanced rope skills. I focused instead on leather and metal items I could use for real bondage, such as suspension cuffs, sturdy suspension bars and leather gear that would not let me down.
Here you see simple, rough-cut style locking restraints featured already in early Hogtied.com content. I still consider these to be the best form of cuff for inescapable, highly restrictive leather bondage.
The first rope ties I learned were a basic wrap and single column ties. In my opinion, this is all you need to learn in the early stages of bondage, as it can be applied in so many ways: wrists, ankles and thighs. With this tie alone, you have a whole range of positions at your fingertips.
Here is a good video on how to tie limbs together, and here is a single column tie, which is really all you need to start with.
The impact play tools I used, and indeed still do use, are not the type that cost hundreds of dollars. My toy bag to this day still consists of some basic and affordable floggers and toys we carry at Kink Store.
My one exception to this is a really good single-tail or cat-o'-nine-tails. For this, I would venture further afield and look to spend $300-400 per item from an expert in the USA. Making these items well is a craft not understood by many.
I then acquired speedrail, which was much more easily configurable. Later this style of metal bondage would grow to become DeviceBondage.com, KINK’s all metal bondage site.
As time went on, our activities outgrew the dungeon room and I began using every square inch of my rented apartment. I had a bondage-friendly couch, bed, and every conceivable chair was used at some stage. Nevertheless, the dungeon was still my favored spot, much to the chagrin of my immediate neighbor!
The business grew quickly and I soon moved to a terrace house nearby where I put this same frame up in my garage. Neighbors were still a consideration however. I recall bondage gear was visible via the living room windows, and we had to tell the neighbors I was a fitness fanatic!
Shortly later, I acquired our first commercial space. This space would later become the first location of the SF Citadel, a cherished San Francisco long-standing dungeon that stayed open until 2025.
I would still build a frame with gear from Home Depot, and I would have acquired things like ass hooks sooner (although at the time it was considered a faux pas to use any insertables during a bondage scene). I would have gotten into e-stim sooner.
What started as a DIY suspension frame in a San Francisco apartment grew into Kink.com. The same principles that guided those early scenes—authenticity, quality gear, and safety—became the foundation of our brand. Whether you're building your first dungeon or you've been in the scene for years, the basics matter: get equipment that works, prioritize consent, and focus on what's real rather than what looks good. That approach took us from a rented apartment to the SF Armory and it's what Kink.com continues to stand for today.
Peter Acworth, founder, Kink.com
The collections of items below are those items I would collect now, were I starting out from scratch:
$21.99
$39.99
$74.99
$38.99
$96.99
$324.99
Over $119
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