The upright poles of a stout set for a wall-tent of the United States Army pattern should be round or eight-sided, and about two inches in diameter.[21] If you prefer to have them square, round off the edges, or they will be badly bruised upon handling.  Drive a stout iron pin[22] seven or eight inches long into the centre of the top until it projects only about three and a half or four inches, or enough to go through the ridgepole and an inch beyond.  It will be necessary to bore a hole in the pole before driving in the pin, to prevent splitting.  A ferrule is also serviceable on this end of the pole.

The ridgepole should be well rounded on the edges, and be about two and a half inches wide and two inches thick.  If made of stuff thinner than an inch and a half, it should be wider in the middle than above stated, or the pole will sag.  Bore the holes to receive the pins of the uprights with an auger a size larger than the pins, so that they may go in and out easily:  these holes should be an inch and a half from the ends.  Ferrules or broad bands are desirable on the ends of the ridgepole; but if you cannot afford these you may perhaps be able to put a rivet or two through the pole between the ends and the holes, or, if not rivets, then screws, which are better than nothing to prevent the pin of the upright from splitting the ridgepole.

TENT-PINS.

Tent-pins should be made of sound hard wood; old wheel-spokes are excellent.  Make them pointed at the bottom, so that they will drive easily; and notch them about two inches from the top, so that they will hold the rope.  Cut away the wood from just above the notch towards the back of the head; this will prevent the notch of the pin from splitting off when it is driven.  It is well to have pins differ in length and size:  those for the corners and the stays should be the largest, say fifteen to eighteen inches long; and those for the wall and door may be eight or ten inches.  But pins of these sizes are apt to pull out in a heavy storm; and so when you are to camp in one spot for some time, or when you see a storm brewing, it is well to make pins very stout, and two feet or more long, for the stays and four corner guy-lines, out of such stuff as you find at hand.

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Loosen the pins by striking them on all four sides before you try to pull them up.  A spade is a fine thing to use to pry out a pin that is deep in the ground, and a wooden mallet is better than an axe or hatchet to drive them in with; but, unless you have a large number of pins to drive, it will hardly pay you to get a mallet especially for this business.

Make a stout canvas bag to hold the tent-pins; and do not fold them loose with the tent, as it soils and wears out the cloth.

BEST SIZE OF TENTS.