Homemade Trekking pole

Thanks Jay. I went ahead and purchased materials, so I’m more or less committed now, though. Just for a heads up, there are some good deals on ebay for pole tips. I got mine for $5.40 with shipping instead of the $12 or so other online retailers want. Thanks again -Eric

David,

My poles came out to 45 1/2″ total length with tip, which added about 1 1/2″. I actually had to cut a bit off the pole to get the length I wanted, and I’m 5’11”. Weight came in at 3.95oz per pole. I used full wells flyrod grips from Mudhole.com, which were on sale. Wrist straps are 1/2″ nylon grosgrain ribbon coming out of the top of the shaft, secured with epoxy. Again, I have been super impressed with the toughness of these poles.

For those who don’t have a used golf club store nearby, or need all the length of an unbroken pole, I found these in my research, seems like a good buy.

http://www.diamondtour.com/fgs-wood-p-345.html

Another good source for golf club components is golfsmith.com – look under the clubmaking tab.

I’ve built several sets of golf clubs using components from golfsmith. Note, that shafts come in differenct weights from approximately 50-128 gms. These are 54 gms and are on sale:

http://www.golfsmith.com/products/1906W

You can also buy shaft extenders, epoxy, and grip tape.

Hope this helps.

Great thread, everyone.

I’m not a regular user of trekking poles, however having one with me might be handy in fast streams, etc. I’d like to mainly use it as a tarp pole.

It’d be great if it were two parts screwed together to fit on the pack most of the time. Has anyone done this with a tapered shaft, like a golf shaft? I’ve heard of it being done with straight archery arrow shafts. See:
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?t=5284)

But a tapered shaft might be hard to get a tight fit with.

Thanks for any tips or ideas.

Where did you find the tips on Ebay? I’ve searched all over.

When I bought the tips I got the impression that the seller had a bunch of them to sell. It seemed like it was one of those big ebay retailers so I assumed he would have more. Turns out I was wrong. Next time I’ll check before I post a good deal and get somebody’s hopes up.
-Eric

I recently discovered Titanium Goat poles. Carbon fiber and collapsible. Cool.

And for those who don’t feel like being the ultralight incarnation of Tim Allen in constructing a pair of poles, I found an alternative solution. I went to my local Sporting Goods Store after the ski season and found a pair of 100% carbon fiber poles on sale for $25 and then bought replacement Leki tips and a tube of bondo adhesive. Total cost $40. Cut off the ski tips and slipped on the leki tips. Cut off the straps from the grips which were already properly angled and set and — wallah! I have a pair of 100% carbon fiber poles 48″ in length weighing 9 oz. Took me 20 minutes to make. I have used them for the past two years with nary a problem on every concievable terrain.

After reading from this posting I got so excited and wanted to make my own poles.
Just picked up a couple of GS Hi-Cor for $11 each at 54grs,46″ and some leki flex tips from sport chalet, unfortunately the tips are too big for this shaft and I wonder if other brand might be smaller diameter?.
Any idead will be appreciated.

Thanks

Wolfy

I bought those shafts from Golfsmith… got the stiffer ones.. 52.5 gms each, 46″ long. Seem VERY strong. With the Leki tip it’s 48″ long (122mm) ,64 gms(2.26 oz.) I think I’ll do a prusik knot w/ a small strap. Should get by under 2.5 oz. for around $42 shipped. Thanks guys!

I’ve got the shafts as well, and I am quite pleased with them. The are only slightly more flexible (and I mean slightly) than my Komperdell Peak UL poles.

IMHO, this was a great tip, and one of the reasons why BPL forums are excellent. I find the best content on BPL resides in the forums, and appreciate everyone’s input.

What did you guys use for handles?
I was thinking some EVA 41/2″ and some grosgrain.
Any other ideas?

Well , I finished my poles and they seem pretty cool. I made a grosgrain stap w/ a prusik knot with a cork knob on the end. With the trekking baskets on they came in at 2.75 oz. I’m pleased.

The cork handles on fishing poles are made with cork rings stacked and shaped once they are glued in place.

Here’s one supplier– they have EVA foam handles too.

http://www.jannsnetcraft.com/rod-building-grips/

Check their butt caps and plugs stuff too– very handy for making your own poles:

http://www.jannsnetcraft.com/butt-caps/

Thanks to all – great ideas! Yesterday, my father and I took one of his old, unused carbon fiber golf shafts and made a trekking pole for me. It is about 4 oz, even using half of an older golf grip. My question is this: what is the general accepted appropriate height for a pole? If I use this for general hiking, to what part of my body do I measure? I know that this varies person to person, but feedback would be great. Thanks, and lets see when I can get that next pole for my set!

when holding the pole with the tip on the ground, your elbow should be at a 90 degree angle. fixed length poles have the disadvantage of not being able to shorten for steep ascents, or lengthen for steep descents, but with the pole the length at where when holding the grip and the tip is on flat ground and your elbow makes a right angle, it works for everything but the steepest angles, where you probably shouldent be hiking anyway :-)

Does anyone know if the BMW Stix, Gossamer Gear Lightrek Poles or Titanium Goat Poles are stiff enough to support an ~ 200-pound person/pack during a pole aided creek jump?

If none of them can, what are the lightest poles that can take this type of load?

Mark
Do you plan to post some pics?

Casey, my GG Lightrek Poles have been great so far. Unfortunately, I can say that they do just fine in supporting a 205 pound fella and his pack for a pole-aided creek jump. I just shouldn’t weigh that much.
Phil

I have no idea how to post pics on the website !

robert.dell@us.army.mil

If you have one sling the photo to this address.

Thanks

> I’ve found a weakness in the carbon kite rod material that wasn’t apparent upon first inspection. While they are reasonably stiff, they are very brittle when stepped on. I stepped on one of the cut off scraps laying on the floor and it crushed easily. I tried the same with a piece of carbon fiber from a Stix and it did not.

Most kite tubing is pultruded. This means the carbon fibres run ENTIRELY down the length of the tube. This does make them very stiff, which suits kite builders. The pultrusion process is quite cheap too.

But all that holds them together around the circumference is the epoxy or polyester. They have very little crush strength. They are literally just a stack of parallel fibres glued side by side. What’s more, if you over-bend a pultruded tube, it will split lengthwise very abruptly, the full length. The glue fails.

The ‘radial wrapped’ tubing is either made by manual layup of 2-D fabric around a mandrel, which is very expensive (eg Fibraplex), or it is made in huge volume on a very large winding machine (eg one in Korea). The latter runs a layer lengthwise, then winds the next layer of CF yarn around the tube, then another lengthwisde layer, then another wrap around, then another lengthwise layer. This latter stuff is fantasticly strong against crushing. It does not split. It is cheaper, but only available in volume…

So pultruded poles will be fine, and stiff, and cheap, until they suddenly fail. But then, I have snapped the Korean stuff too – although it took a BIG effort.

I was looking at the replacement tips from current pole manufacturers and I wonder– coul da tip be glued into an appropriately sized piece fo bamboo and a hand grip added to it? You would get the bite of the carbide tip and the warmth and natural shock absorption of the bamboo shaft…..add a foam grip or whipping.

Hey Dale, WalMart sells everything you need to do this in their Craft’s Dept. I even think it is called the “Dale Tip Kit”.

Fun aside, try a piece of dowel rod the size of the ID of the Tip you have. Then find a bamboo pole that is about the same size as the dowel rod on the small end. You can drill out the bamboo to fit the Dowel Rod. Find old bamboo as bamboo get thicker inside as it gets older, 3 or 4 year old bamboo should work. I have spliced 6′ bamboo poles to 3′ bamboo poles for the ceiling of my Tea House. You can glue the Dowel Rod to the bamboo and I would get the dowel just a little larger than the “Tip” ID and carve it down a little. This should let you pound the Dowel into the Tip so it will hold better. The longer you can get the dowel rod into the bamboo the stronger it will be.

I can post a few pictures of what I am talking about if necessary.