If you wish to make your own tipi poles this is a relatively simple process but quite time consuming.
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The wood you can use is:
Pine, Larch, Spruce, Fir,
(There are many other straight, soft woods you can use but the four above tend to be the most common)
You will find a lot of debate as to which wood is best but of the top four they all work great so more than likely it will come down to which tree is most abundant that you have access to. (For our tipi hire business we use pine and fir) MBT shoes
A good idea when finding tepee poles is to find work being done on managed woodland areas (National trust, forestry commission etc - listen out for the sound of chainsaws on your walks) and ask who you can contact to purchase or, if your lucky, charming or beautiful have the wood from. The smaller trees used to make the tipi poles are usually made into fencing rather than sold commercially so hopefully you will have no trouble in acquiring a handful.
When you choose, or cut your poles, make sure they are considerably wider at the base than the tip.
It is very important that you get the diameter correct at the point of crossing (where the poles are lashed together to form the tripod) the diameter you should aim for is 1.75 - 2 inches: this is a good size as any wider you will have a very large opening at the top.
For the correct size of tipi poles you can use the following formula.
Short poles:
Tipi size * 1.2
E.g: 4 metre tipi * 1.2 = 4.8 metre poles
Medium:
Tipi size * 1.3
Large
Tipi size * 1.4
Very large * 1.5/1.6
What size poles you choose to have is down to personal preference and how you would like the tipi to look. If you are constantly transporting your tipi poles it is easier and safer to go for shorter poles (traditionally tipi poles were short as they were easier to transport - the tipi poles twice the size of the tipi serves no purpose and is done only for asthetics)
Your tipi poles should taper to a fine point a 1/2 inch diameter is a good size.
Make your tipi poles MBT shoes
Once you have your poles, with a hand axe remove all the the outer branches making sure you cut the pole as finely as possible.
