I need to use two trekking poles together for a 6' tent pole.

The grips on our poles have a plastic cap over the top thats somewhat oval shaped, and the round edge makes the combined poles not rigid. IE they can move relative to each other, and the poles end up at slight angle.

I have some velcro straps that I really like to use to hook the poles together, works great, weighs fraction of an ounce.

What I am considering doing, is sanding an indention on the side edge of the plastic top caps , which will "lock" the poles into position better as a straight pole. Just maybe 1/8" would be all it takes.

But, Im worried about that possibly irritating my hands under some circumstances using poles. Just thought Id check here first and see if anyone else had tried the same thing.

I have not tried that, but I know how sensitive my hands are to roughness in the pole grips - and I am a guy who works with his hands, so mine are not the most delicate hands. I'd guess that if I made an indentation I'd have to round it off so much in order to be comfortable for my hands that it would not function effectively in terms of helping to align/interlock the poles in tent pole mode.
Have you considered, instead, mounting something on the shaft of the poles that would cradle the handle in pole mode? that would not affect the grip at all.

have a look at this ready made converter :


http://www.blackdiamondequipment.com/en-us/shop/mountain/shelters/pole-link-converter

Edited by Franco on 11/25/2012 13:50:59 MST.

Willy did a post using tubular webbing and Velcro straps to connect two poles together-- genius:

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/xdpy/forum_thread/17864

I use rubber bike inner tube cut to length needed, stretchy, holds like a rock, and very adapatable to any dual pole combination you want to put together.