Tipi Poles

[nit wit]

cut a dozen the other day, peeled and smoothed 1o so far. Nice and easy this time of year in Maine. When they dry you scra0pe every inch. Black spruce. These came of the Ancient Ones Of Maine rendezvous site. The poles are under our covered range!
Nit Wit

 

[nhmoose]

Bwahahaha east to get hard to transport. Just funning ya!

 

[tenngun]

cut a dozen the other day, peeled and smoothed 1o so far. Nice and easy this time of year in Maine. When they dry you scra0pe every inch. Black spruce. These came of the Ancient Ones Of Maine rendezvous site. The poles are under our covered range!
Nit Wit

Are you making a true ( although canvas) tipi, or the Eastern style conical lodge such as used by the Abenaki ( again canvas in this cave vs birch bark )

 

[Dismount]

cut a dozen the other day, peeled and smoothed 1o so far. Nice and easy this time of year in Maine. When they dry you scra0pe every inch. Black spruce. These came of the Ancient Ones Of Maine rendezvous site. The poles are under our covered range!
Nit Wit

Gonna bundle them during drying??

 

[andy52]

About the only trees suited for that purpose in my neck of the woods are young sycamore trees growing in the open.

 

[BillinOregon]

Yeah, wondering what species they used for poles on the Llano Estacado in Tejas.
Back home in Oregon, I had a Forest Service permit to cut lodgepole pine up around Crater Lake, but found the process mighty hard work. Never did buy the tipi.

 

[Red Owl]

Yeah-I always heard pine was the choice for poles. I think Francis Parkman in one of his books- when he was traveling with the Sioux, said they headed east to the black hills to cut new poles. On a large teepee the diameter of the poles at the base is fairly thick. I heard that years ago poles were left stacked at certain locations that would be revisited rather than taking all of them on a trip. BUT- that might have been later on- closer to 1900.

 

[Phil Coffins]

The first time I lived in Colorado I had a set of poles at home and cut a set on Piney peak that I left there for hunting camps. Then cut another set on Mill creek at a favorite spot for summer camping. The home set got hauled all over on top of my Jeep which is half the length of the poles, must of looked funny to some. We painted the teepee when we moved to Washington. Lodge pole pine drys to very light pole and is strong enough for heavy snow or wind.
IMG_20201112_0001 by Oliver Sudden, on Flickr

 

[Red Owl]

One other thing, a teepee is probably the BEST tent for a semi-permanent camp but since it takes a while to set up and represents a lot of bulk to move around, not the best if you are "on the trail".

 

[tenngun]

Yeah-I always heard pine was the choice for poles. I think Francis Parkman in one of his books- when he was traveling with the Sioux, said they headed east to the black hills to cut new poles. On a large teepee the diameter of the poles at the base is fairly thick. I heard that years ago poles were left stacked at certain locations that would be revisited rather than taking all of them on a trip. BUT- that might have been later on- closer to 1900.

Lodgepole pine was preferred. A look at old photos seem to show some remarkably tiny poles.
The classic set for a tripod two poles west, one pole east, four on the north four on the south, three in the circle of the north then lift pole….. a four pole is similar. However photos from the old west show many times less polos. Instead of fourteen maybe as few as nine or ten.

 

[Polecat_Tom]

The classic set for a tripod two poles west, one pole east, four on the north four on the south, three in the circle of the north then lift pole….. a four pole is similar. However photos from the old west show many times less polos. Instead of fourteen maybe as few as nine or ten.

Plus your two poles for the smoke flaps.

When I would sit mine up for demonstrations I would get asked how long it takes to sit up. I would tell them 1/2 hour by myself, one hour with help.

 

[tenngun]

The hard part is the try or quadpod base. As you have to lift the three at once every thing else is pretty easy
I had a friend who had the quad pod Blackfoots lodge. The quad seems easier to st up the the tripod