Anyone Made there Own Tents

[anglosaxonz]

Hi - Has anyone undertaken the Mammoth task of putting together there own period tents by hand rather then having a canvas company make them ?
And if yes where would we start
Looking at making the Anglo saxon Geteld
Best type of Canvas
Most suitable type of poles
How to stich it together - remember no machine here

[Dreyrugr]

yes we have made all our own.

and yes we even attempted doing it all by hand and it worked out lovely.
poles made by hand carved and out of ash wood. canvas from a store.
we have many pics of our tents so if you wonna get in touch our details are there.
cheers and good luck we are starting our new projects.

[NigelT]

Yep, built a yurt... but that's not quite what you're after.

You'll need to borrow or hire an industrial sewing machine, which is probably going to be the hardest thing to locate.

We used oilskin, which isn't particularly period but we were lucky that we found a one-off supply of it. If you buy canvas make sure it's pre-waterproofed and fire-proofed. I've heard too many horror stories about people trying to waterproof their own canvas.

The poles are dead simple for what you want. Three pieces of wood and a couple of holes.

You'll also need pegs, but they shouldn't be too hard to make or acquire.

You've at least chosen an easy tent to make, relatively speaking.

[quentin]

One of our members stitched up my getald.but yes

Having tried a number of timbers, what worked for me was 60x60mm clean grained macrocarp uprights and ridgepole. Much cheaper here than ash and quite strong enough if clean grained timber.

remember to rounds off the edges which contact the canvas.
mine started to leak after 42 hours of continious heavy downpour - only because the canvas along the ridge pole was saturated. Pretty good I thought.

[Freebooter]

Yep, made a few of 'em.

You want, as Nigel suggests, an industrial walking foot machine, or to borrow time on one.

Making tents is pretty rewarding, and good fun, but can be hard work.

I honestly wouldn't consider hand-stitching unless you have a LOT of time on your hands. If you do go that route, get a couple of ezy stitchers or similar stitching awl. Best invention ever.

Poles will depend a lot on final weight of the tent, whihc is determined by the canvas you use.

Canvas is the most variable part of the recipe. You can get standard cotton duck for a reasonable price, but whatever you choose, make sure you get a clear understanding of the properties of the cloth - stretch, shrinkage, bias, etc, and make a good plan before you cut.

This: http://www.ydalir.co.uk/crafts/tent.htm is generally regarded as one of the better online geteld patterns, and has good supplimental info too.

Best of luck.

Nic

[Aelfwyn Potter]

Yes I did, 4 years ago on an old Elna - and it was very rewarding but very hard work and no I would not do it again.

It lasted quite well until it started to leak, so we painted it and that was not too bad, but then we went on a camp in a torrential down pour and it still leaked, so we traded for a very nice new Geteld which we picked up at Werecewode - and it doesn't leak!!!

[anglosaxonz]

Well yes we did it got the pattern thank you
got an industrial sewing machine at a reasonable price... Yay for trademe
brought canvas..trademe again some seconds painters drop sheets nice and cheap and ended up with the little geteld at taupo

to use a quote from the camp... Sorry didnt see who said this only heard them

It looks like the two big tents had a baby

think the poles cost us the most in the end.. opps brought expensive wood for the top bar and fastenings to make it long enough

Thank you for all your help support suggestions guidence or just letting us know you were mad enough to try this too.

[Effigy]

About the breeding getelds - that was my son, Scott, came up with that.

[Robbo]

Wuzzle has a nice little concoction for waterproofing. Smells yummy. See if I can score you a test pot, see what you think.

Leah and I (ok, mostly Leah...I can't sew) are about to embark on making our too. Joy of the getheld is that they're period for SOOO much. Saxon's, Norse, Norman's as examples.

I may have lost the tent argument, but wait till the love of my life wakes up and see's Norse runes covering the tent poles!!!

[Thys]

I made a spoke wheel pav out of straight 10 oz canvas, I know its not the same style you were after, but I wanted to mention that its very do-able (if i managed it .. anyone can).

my major concern is how to waterproof it, other than that I'm very happy with the result, its surprisingly stable and has a LOT of floor space.

things I would advise,
"- stretch, shrinkage, bias, etc, and make a good plan before you cut"
Words to live by, pre-wet your canvas before you measure and cut, this can be interesting if you have a 50 meter roll of canvas
dont underestimate the importance the material bias, its critical for strength, shape retention and stretch.
have a good plan for your doors - even with a dry run, one unpick and restitch I still set the doors wrong (I guess by that stage I was canvas blind)
Defiantly use an industrial sewing machine, beg borrow or if needed buy one, they Are worth it!.
Use a strong thread (may not be 100% period, but I would prefer my tent staying together)

dont be afraid to have a go, but have a sound plan to work to.

as Nic said, a lot of fun and very rewarding when you are done.

just my 2 cents

[BigMac]

[griff]

measure, measure again, look at it, measure again, think for a while, is it right,measure again, then cut, measure again, discard peice you have just cut.
start again.
measure

[gt1cm2]