Tent pole build session

[kirkpoore1]

My medieval group owns an enclosed trailer which we use to store and transport a 30 foot diameter round pavilion and other gear. Last month the trailer was stolen out of a storage facility near Kansas City. Although the trailer was recovered, all the gear had been dumped someplace and we've never found it. So now we are in high gear, rebuilding the tent and buying the support equipment we've lost. We need to get this done before a big event in March, presuming Omicron has faded enough by then. The silver lining in this is that the stolen tent was only 3 years old, so the corporate knowledge on how to build it is still in place. My part in this was to build the side poles.

There are 18 side poles on this tent, all 7-1/2' long and 1-5/8" square cross section. The top end is rounded with a steel ferrule and 6" of 3/8" steel rod sticking out as a point. I'd bought the wood last week, 60 board feet of 8/4 poplar planks between 8 and 12 inches wide. So the process was to rip the planks down to 1-3/4" width, plane them down to 1-5/8" square, round the edges on the shaper and the butt ends on the sander, make a round section on the end with a hole saw and trim off the waste on the bandsaw, add the ferrule and the point, then paint with preservative. Four friends came over on Saturday afternoon and we got to work.












We drilled the holes a little too large so the points are epoxied and wedged in place. The ferrules have a screw for insurance, though the poplar is kiln dried so is more likely to expand and trap the ferrules than shrink so they slide off.





Overall time to make the poles was about 4 hours. My shop is set up so that several stations can be used at one time, and I was able to keep everyone busy almost all the time. A few steps didn't make the pics, mostly because I was doing them and didn't take pictures.

Kirk

 

[fiveeyes]

Kirk..nice job on the poles....damn thieves

 

[AndyP]

That’s not a workshop, it's a factory. :mrgreen:

Must be great fun to be able to work on a team project like that.

 

[kirkpoore1]

That’s not a workshop, it's a factory. :mrgreen:

Must be great fun to be able to work on a team project like that.

Yes and yes.
First, it is something of a side business for me, so it's set up to be efficient and be able to handle large pieces of wood. But I like having my friends over and working with them. Everybody feels a great sense of accomplishment at the end of the day, and even though it's often too noisy to talk it's a great social occasion. And these machines are made to be used like this. Most are factory-size machines which are built to run all day long. A day like this justifies me having them.

Kirk

 

[Cabinetman]

Nice set up Kirk, just as well you had it – I loathe thieves!
What’s the machine behind the younger woman, the one near the door with a belt sander on it, looks like it does all sorts of jobs. Ian

 

[kirkpoore1]

Nice set up Kirk, just as well you had it – I loathe thieves!
What’s the machine behind the younger woman, the one near the door with a belt sander on it, looks like it does all sorts of jobs. Ian

Assuming you mean this:

That's a tenoner. It's the oldest machine in my shop, dating to between 1880 and 1890. It's driven by a 4" wide flat belt, so I think that's why you saw a sander. The workpiece gets clamped to the table on the right, and then the whole table slides straight back to take the workpiece through the cutterheads.

Kirk

 

[Robert]

I've done jobs for non practical friends and had them come in to my small workshop to help out. Having run a factory in the past and knowing what unbelievably stupid things some people can do, I do go on at them about safety and stress what for example a bandsaw could do to them. Also have to check their work as they don't understand what could go wrong. still better than doing it all myself.

Hope your staff were more competent

 

[kirkpoore1]

Hope your staff were more competent

I would say yes. I handled the most problematic tasks (feeding the table saw, shaper, and cutting on the bandsaw), and made sure everyone had eye protection while using power tools and ear protection until we were down to hand tools. And one of my friends is a chemical technician who works with radioactive isotopes every day--nothing gets past her.

Kirk

 

[novocaine]

I was about to make comment on the first picture and the location of the person behind the work peice, then I saw the cut line, I need a facepalm emoji for that one.

fantastic bit of work and a good pace, one pole every 15 (ish) minutes isn't to bad going for unskilled labour. :lol:

I trust there were flagons of mead for all involved?