Tent poles

Since I am asked again and again how I built the tent poles, here are some instructions. I don't have any proofs for the construction, it is mainly based on practical considerations because especially the A-construction makes it easier to use the space in the tent. For the choice of wood I followed the Osebergfund and I just like ash. For any clarifications about the construction, feel free to write me:

Left: two poles, A-construction
Right: one pole T-construction

The cross-section of all poles is 60 × 40 mm, they are made of ash.
I chose them square, because I can transport them on the car roof easier that way. I also rounded off all the edges with the router. This is gentler on the canvas and nicer when I carry the poles. The poles are always sawed off at a 90° angle so that they dig into the ground a bit during A-construction.

The masses result from the masses of your tent, therefore it is necessary to adapt them to the respective tent.

• The poles for the A-construction are as long as the side of the tent minus the thickness of the ridge and the connecting piece. You can always cut them, but it is not so easy to saw them.
• The individual poles of the T-construction are as long as the height of the tent minus the thickness of the ridge. I use these poles when erecting the A-construction to put up the canopy.
• The ridge length is at least as long as the ridge of the tent. Whether it is split or not depends on your transportation options. My ridge-poles are significantly LONGER than necessary.

The pegs are made of simple mild steel (St37) and have a diameter of 12 mm. Both ends are rounded so that they can be inserted and hammered in more easily.
Their length should be chosen so that they protrude clearly from the wood and go far enough into it. I tested how deep I could drill into the wood with the appropriate drill bit and added how far out of the wood they should protrude. In my case, this resulted in a length of 15 cm.

The hole in the bar where the tenon should go is a little smaller, chosen 11.5 mm. I hammered in the tenon with a hammer so that a clamp connection resulted. Gluing was not necessary. The holes in which the pins are to be inserted movable are larger than the pins chosen 13 mm.

The sleeve is also made of simple structural steel and complies with this standard: EN 10219-1/2.
The sleeve has a length of 50 cm and also has the external dimensions 60 × 40 mm, the wall thickness is 3 mm.

I sawed and sanded the ridge-poles narrower where the sleeve is attached so that the sleeve is easy to slide on. Here I made sure that everything really has enough play because when wet wood expands and would jam so. So, play is important here.

I have drilled holes for small cotter pins in the sleeve to fix the sleeve. However, these cotter pins are not necessary when there are the tent ears. Therefore, I usually do not use them anymore.

The connection of the A-construction must also be adapted to the respective tent, since the angles result from the width and height, respectively the length of the tent. I placed a remaining section of tent poles horizontally and adjusted it.

The easiest way to determine this is to lay the poles on the ground and reproduce the dimensions of the tent, i.e., height and width, and then see how everything fits together. But also a drawing solution or calculated goes, of course. Here are drawings to make it easier for you to imagine how the tent will fit together.

My tent has a hole originally on each side where the ridge should be so that the tent pole pegs can stick out of the tent. This additionally prevents that the tent canvas slips with side wind by the vibration of wind gusts on the ridge-poles. Furthermore, the ridge-poles are also connected in such a way that they can no longer slip out of the sleeve.

Since I do not always place the support poles of the A-construction or A-construction in the same width as the respective holes in the ridge of the tent. I have drilled three holes in each ridge-pole to have different setup options. The respective holes are once oriented to how the holes in the tent tarpaulin are and to the width of the entrance. Especially with the A-construction, it is good to have the pole a little further away from the opening so that it is easier to get in and out of the tent when it is closed. The spacing of the holes is not so essential, I chose this quite arbitrarily and then tried.

I would rather not deprive you of the cat that results when I put the small parts of the tent poles together to transport them.