Struggling to find free material to make a hammock stand. Any advice?

**lostear** · 09-03-2013, 20:45

Originally Posted by riverjoe

Harbor Freight has a machete for about 5 bucks . Buy that and then look around some overgrown lots or highway medians for saplings or branches . Harbor Freight also has som cheap rope for about 5 bucks with a 300 pound rating you could use for lashings .

I have always thought that it is illegal to 'harvest' from trees along the public road. Can't remember where I heard this but that was what I had always believed.

Originally Posted by Floridahanger

Welcome to the forum. I hope you get what you need out of this. If you were in Florida's East Coast, I would make it for you...

...But, maybe this could help, https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...ad.php?t=27048
This is the member dispersal sheet made by Flatline. Look for "District of Columbia" and add your name. There is one other member listed in DC.

Using the spreadsheet, you can see who else is local to you also and shoot them a PM to see if they may know locally how to help. They may not see this post, but will have a prompt showing your private message to them.

Good luck and show us the pictures when finished.

I'm checking that one person out. Gonna contact him tomorrow (have to complete my assignment tonight first). The nice thing is that he bikes. I am trying to fix up my bike too and have been wanting to bike camp too. Thanks for pointing me that way!

Originally Posted by Gary_R

House or Apartment? If house hang off the house. Apartment.. yeah better have a stand.

An apartment inside a dorm building. So because of the way that this is set up, I have very little resident's rights so I have to be careful to avoid any damages to the wall and anything else. :-/

**Floridahanger** · 09-03-2013, 22:54

Originally Posted by lostear

...I'm checking that one person out. Gonna contact him tomorrow (have to complete my assignment tonight first). The nice thing is that he bikes. I am trying to fix up my bike too and have been wanting to bike camp too. Thanks for pointing me that way!

Your welcome.

Also, don't just go with the one person. Look at your neighboring states and see who is close by.

Good luck and happy hanging.

**Nift** · 09-04-2013, 01:36

You could do something like this: https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...ad.php?t=67360 It sounds like you are on a college campus. Ask a friend that does work study in facilities or maintenance if they can get some "scraps" from work. If not total cost for this build would run something like $30. Other advantage is it is completely collapsible into the one piece of PVC and will fit in trunk of a car so you can stow it for inspection days.

**mudsocks** · 09-04-2013, 07:32

Locate your local transfer station, take a drive over and befriend some of the folks who work there. I'm sure tons of scrap moves through a facility like that in DC each day.

**jbritely** · 09-04-2013, 08:29

I work in DC but I take the train and it would be hard to take something in. But if there is something that I can help you with you can contact me.

**MrClean417** · 09-04-2013, 09:09

If you can find a location with scrub that you could remove 6 7 foot tall, straight, 3 inch sapplings or branches from you can lash thoughs together for your turtle dog stand. Then you need to secure and lash a 13 foot pole (size of hammock dependant) together for the ridgeline. It ALL can be done with rope. Check out the pathfinder school link on youtube, one turtledog stand is basically his basic cook station stand.

For the ease of construction, and durability and portability we use hardware and precut timbers from the lumberyard, but if cost is the issue, resourcefulness comes into play. Heck, makes your stand more special that you've gone out, hunted it down and killed it all yourself.

**TallPaul** · 09-04-2013, 09:14

Craigslist for bamboo then a turtle lady stand?

OK I re-read your post and looks like you've explored this route... Don't give up

**lostear** · 09-04-2013, 09:55

Originally Posted by Floridahanger

Your welcome.

Also, don't just go with the one person. Look at your neighboring states and see who is close by.

Good luck and happy hanging.

seem like I will be meeting a few other hanger from the forum through him as he have been working with them to arrange a carpool to the MAHHA. So I've been chatting with him and it seem likely that I may be joining them

Originally Posted by Nift

You could do something like this: https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...ad.php?t=67360 It sounds like you are on a college campus. Ask a friend that does work study in facilities or maintenance if they can get some "scraps" from work. If not total cost for this build would run something like $30. Other advantage is it is completely collapsible into the one piece of PVC and will fit in trunk of a car so you can stow it for inspection days.

I saw that and I really like the kit. However, i won't be able to pay for anything so I'll have to try for the facilities department here on campus. Also, I don't have to worry about inspection as it is a married housing apartment in the dorm where we bring our own furniture in. So no worried about hiding the hammock stand as long as I don't destroy any part of the wall or floor to hang the hammock.

Originally Posted by octothorpesarus

Locate your local transfer station, take a drive over and befriend some of the folks who work there. I'm sure tons of scrap moves through a facility like that in DC each day.

Found this place, http://goo.gl/maps/TI8UE . Apparently it is the best run government program in DC based on the yelp review :P So I'll try calling them later on via videophone relay to see if they are willing to allow people to take scraps from the place. This place is a very short walking distance from the metro station so that should help a lot.

thank you for the idea!

Originally Posted by jbritely

I work in DC but I take the train and it would be hard to take something in. But if there is something that I can help you with you can contact me.

thank you for the offer :-) I'll keep you in mind if I just cannot get anything else to succeed.

Originally Posted by MrClean417

If you can find a location with scrub that you could remove 6 7 foot tall, straight, 3 inch sapplings or branches from you can lash thoughs together for your turtle dog stand. Then you need to secure and lash a 13 foot pole (size of hammock dependant) together for the ridgeline. It ALL can be done with rope. Check out the pathfinder school link on youtube, one turtledog stand is basically his basic cook station stand.

For the ease of construction, and durability and portability we use hardware and precut timbers from the lumberyard, but if cost is the issue, resourcefulness comes into play. Heck, makes your stand more special that you've gone out, hunted it down and killed it all yourself.

I would love to do that but with this being DC, I don't want to risk getting in trouble over cutting down some woods around here. http://dccode.org/simple/sections/22-3310.html clearly prohibit this kind of thing. So I will have to search for another source material. Thanks.

Small update I forgot to mention: I found a kind of metal post by the curb next to the garbage. Seem like an worn post for satellite dish or something along that line. It is sectional and can be twisted to lock up at a desired length so this suit the ridgeline support very well as long as it does not collapse on me. That pipe should at least last me long enough for me to replace it with a better alternative in a few months. So the only thing I need now is 6 legs. Should be a lot easier to carry through the metro versus the 10 foot long ridgeline support.

**lostear** · 09-08-2013, 15:41

Whoo hoo! I finally lucked out!

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/d...054146378.html
This made me rush over there for the steel pipes. Unfortunately, the steel pipes (except for one 6.5 foot) was gone but the lumbers was there. After putting some of the lumber in the car, I looked toward what seemed to be a trash heap and noticed some metal piping there so I looked closer. Turned out to be an actual hammock stand. A bit rusted but I can work with that. It is a little short and I have not had a chance to actually hang on it yet (just arrived home with the materials about ten minutes ago). The one metal pipe that we did find seem to be just the right diameter to fit within the hammock stand base pipe ends. This mean I can swap out the shorter base pipe with this longer metal pipe should I need it.

I'm just grateful that the owner decided to give it away as I noticed (afterward) that this hammock had a little tape with the price tag on it for $15.

Finally, I can look forward to actually sleeping in my hammock every night. I know that it is not DIY anymore except for improving upon the hammock stand so I will stop posting on this thread and detract from the DIY spirit of the sub forum.

Thank you all for your advices and encouragement.

P.S. if anybody here in or around DC could really use the lumber, please let me know. I may have a couple DIY project with it but I might not. So send me a PM for it if you want. I mainly got five 10 feet long 2x6. The lumber does seem to be a good quality lumber for something picked up off the driveway.