I put these together with some golf shafts I found on ebay, tips from EMS and grips from a local tackle shop. They came in at 42 inches and 3.7 ounces. Cost with shipping, $45.00

Id like to try making some adjustable poles, like the GG LT4 or the Goat Poles. Anyone have the specs on the tubes used for these?

Nice Work!

Thanks Jeremy, my old poles weighed 12 oz, so for an hours work and $45 I got an easy 8 oz reduction.

Great work, Bruce! Please keep us updated on the adjustable poles. I've been thinking about this for a long time but haven't had time to investigate.

Bruce,

Did you have to trim the poles at all to get them to fit into the tips? I F'd up my IT band running this winter and think I'd like to use some poles until I get strength back in my knees.

Specs for pole diameters needed for tips and grips can be found in Jay Ham's MYOG article on MYOG golf shaft poles here...

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/make_your_own_gear_carbon_fiber_trekking_poles.html

Matthew, no trimming was necessary. The tip diameter of the shafts is .370 and I used leki flex tips purchased at EMS. I coated the end of the shaft with epoxy and then used a 4 foot bar clamp to press the shaft into the tip. The shafts are only inserted into the tips about 1 3/4 inches. While tightening the clamp I could feel the shafts sliding into the tips a bit more with each turn. When the shafts stopped moving I stopped tightening. There was a very small, approximately 1/32 inch gap between the tip and the shaft when I was done but the epoxy filled that nicely. I used a Devlin epoxy with a 60 minute cure time.

Edited by brucetbo on 03/12/2012 05:16:26 MDT.

I was looking on ebay the other day for similar shafts to make some poles. I would also be interested to see about teh possibility of making adjustable ones.

I got my shafts from this seller http://www.ebay.com/itm/130662386820?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649 he shipped them very quickly to.

What stiffness for the shafts did you get?

Sorry, just saw trhe link ... regular flex/stiffness.

Edited by MattO on 03/12/2012 06:54:18 MDT.

I will keep everyone posted on the adjustable poles. I'll probably do something similar to the GG LT4 or the Adjustable Ti-Goat poles. I did the fixed height poles in this thread more to get a feel for the materials than anything else. I would prefer adjustables even if it meant accepting a small weight penalty. I will say though, now that I see these completed Im very happy with the results. I'll be leaving my old 12 oz poles at home from now on. (or robbing their parts)

If you use the high strength glue gun glue you can remove the tips to replace them.

I dont have a good answer for that one Matthew. Im not familiar enough with golf shafts to understand how stiffness is rated. I found the shafts cheap enough that I was willing to take a chance that the stiffness would be acceptable. The only info on the shafts is "grafalloy R Flex"

Great tip Ken, thanks. I'll keep that in mind when I make my next set. Being able to replace the tips would be a great improvement.

I did a quick 6 mile hike today with the new trekking poles. I left the poles against a tree to do some off trail exploring, when I returned I had a hard time finding them. When I got home I used some orange paint and foil tape to make the poles a bit easier to see. When I made the poles I used a chrome plated butt cap at the top of the handle. It didnt take much time in the bright sun for me to realize that this was a bad idea. Hot metal, burnt thumbs! I replaced the butt caps with corks that I had laying around in the shop.

Here's an idea for "adjustable" fixed-length trekking poles: Use a long golf driver shaft (46"-47" available) and a long (9"-14" available) fishing pole grip. When you need a long pole you grip higher up, when you need a short pole you grip lower down. Long straps can be added too, so you don't have to rely only on your ability to grip.

Golf shafts are available from numerous sources on the Internet. For trekking poles I would order stiff or extra-stiff. Dallas Golf (http://www.dallasgolf.com/) has great prices, but so do many others. You can spend as little as $12 per new shaft, or as much as $200.

Tips can be found at numerous sources also. Even Amazon has a number of inexpensive replacement tips.

David and others,
Re: http://www.dallasgolf.com/c-23-shafts.aspx?section=35-25-&SearchTerm=&sortBy=relevance&pageSize=60

Besides written inquiries, is there a way to know which if any shafts are not tapered; that is, have a constant diameter. That would be important to know if wishing to cut them and insert ferrules in order to make a mid pole or a trekking pole that separates and folds up to a shorter length.

Thanks.

Edited by scfhome on 01/06/2013 20:16:59 MST.

I don't believe there are any untapered golf shafts. As far as I know, they all have 0.6" O.D. at the handles, and the tips are either .335", .350" or .370". However, the 0.6" O.D. usually extends about 1/2 way down the shaft, so if you're making a slip joint you might be able to locate it near the middle.

For untapered you'll probably need to go with straight tubes from a different kind of source instead of golf shafts.

There are dozens of CF tube sources. Here are a few:

dragonplate.com
www.rockwestcomposites.com
www.clearwatercomposites.com

I would go with woven, braided, wrapped or wound tubes. Straight "pull-truded" and/or unidirectional tubes tend to split lengthwise when over loaded.

David,
Thanks for links and info.

Too bad the golf shafts are all tapered. Don't see how a segmented folding pole could be made very well from the tapered tubes.

Thanks also for the links. The Rockwest link has been often posted here, but the prices are quite high. Had not seen the Clearwater link. The prices are better, but I wonder if they make $ sense if the Italian Gabel Superlite carbon poles are still available from Costco.

If one is looking for tube for mid poles, the same question arises when the Ruta Locura poles are available in the $50-$60 range.

Very much agree regarding pultruded carbon tubes. Working on a CF pack frame, there were repeated breaks with pultruded rod. Finally found a .248" wrapped fiberglass tube that fit tightly over a pultruded carbon rod, both from Goodwinds, that seem so far to have solved the problem. This approach might work with larger diameter pultruded tube, or maybe I just got lucky.

"If one is looking for tube for mid poles, the same question arises when the Ruta Locura poles are available in the $50-$60 range".

Samuel,

Not sure I understand what you're saying here. Could you clarify, please? Thanks.