Re: Signal Tower Plans
Michael A. Golrick (mgolrick@SCLC.ORG)
Wed, 31 Dec 1997 10:56:07 -0500
Ginny Gillam wrote:
>Needed: plans for building a signal tower.
>
>The boys in the local troop want to build this tower at an upcoming scouting
>event. Does anyone know where various plans and methods can be located?
>One of materials being considered for construct assembly is bamboo. If
>anyone can offer suggestions or where plans can be found please post here or
>email me at:
Hi Ginny -
You do not note where you are, but I assume it must be somewhere south of
me (bamboo does not grow very tall here).
At our December camping trip some of our troop made a signal tower from
local black birch saplings which we were clearing (and collecting some
material for *our* Klondike). They basically used the "H" lashing as
illustrated in the Pioneering MB book (a good resource for this kind of
project). Our tower was 17.5 feet tall [height determined by the length of
the saplings]. They used the four straightest and did two identical sides
with cross supports before joining them together one at a time. They lashed
a pole across the top support to hang a lantern from which helped
illuminate our campfire that night.
OTOH, at Wood Badge, my patrol built the tower (opposite the ballista) and
we used a similar method, except that the supports were much heavier (3
inch diameter), the tower was shorter (top was 6 feet off the ground) and
we had a platform for someone to sit on about 5 feet off the ground. This
was done in about an hour with all seven of us working hard at it!
Good luck, and get that Pioneering MB book
Michael Golrick
...and a good old Buffalo, too
WB NE-2-90
T68, Trumbull CT, Fairfield County Council until midnight tonight
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