Have been waiting for the tgoat cf stakes to come back in stock. Have been waiting a long time so I'm thinking about making my own. Any ideas on where to get the shafts and tips. May be an adhesive that will stick to cf. Any help welcome.

Troy, I would think these would be fairly simple to make. But would depend if you have access to a shop really. For the carbon shafts, head to your locl outiftters and get some carbon arrows, cut them to the length you want. You can then machine the 2 ends out of aluminum (or whatever material you want). Bond the parts with JB Weld (cheap option) or see the ice axe article - 3M DP 420 (expensive, but extremely strong).
If you don't have the option of machining the parts, you would have to find parts that fit the shaft. Nothing really comes to mind....browse a junk shop for stuff.

Small parts like the tips can be machined fairly easily with some basic tools like a hand drill. If you can find some aluminum bar stock you can chuck it in the drill and turn it down using even something as simple as a screw driver and sandpaper.

I found these:

http://www.moontrail.com/terra-nova-carbon-fibre-peg.php

I could make these buy the thousands EVERY day ... just by cutting off the scrap pieces of the carbon products we make ... but, I would still use and buy aluminum nails or standard titanium tent stakes over carbon fiber ones used for "most" applications. Or, at least the areas that I hike and use tent stakes. Carbon is great in a lot of applications but fails in compression compared to a lot of other products. Just make sure you think about the ground and conditions that you are driving the carbon stake into. Soft and or sandy soil conditions are probably fine. Anything else and I wouldn't consider it.

Kevin

Kevin, Thanks for putting CF stakes into perspective. I agree. I've found them inadequate except in a few ideal applications. Besides their frequent failure in compression, they abrade quickly - leading to splitting. They are thicker than most other stakes and are harder to get into the ground - and the additional force leads to early failure.

The reason for cf stakes is really the weight. I figure 8" cf stakes will weigh in at about .25oz per stake, about the same as a ti sheperdhook but with better holding power for say sand or loose soil.

Troy,
7 grams for a carbon stake it pretty light. Also depends a lot on the length you want. It might be o.k. in really loose or sandy soil but wouldn't fair well if it ever encounter a rock. Here is a photo of the 14 gram carbon stakes that I built last year. They are 8.0" long and pretty thick carbon walls. They flare up about half way up the stake for additional holding power. They worked pretty well ... but not as well as titanium or alum spikes in my opinion. Note the little brass insert bonded into this one. Screwed a 1/4-20 aluminum stud into the end of it and mounted a camera. Added only 2.2 grams to the weight of the spike for the camera mount. Worked o.k. for the most part. Just push it into the ground, screw on the camera and set the self timer. If you wanted to take a picture at torso level, I had to find a large rock to set it on and then would look for three small rocks to position around the stake to hold it in place.

Edited by kegelhoff on 09/17/2008 15:59:25 MDT.