DIY 4.2 oz trekking poles on the cheap

So, after a recent trip, wherein I decided I'd give a pair of hiking sticks a try, though they happened to be the natural, formerly alive (read two sticks I found on the trail) version, I decided trekking poles would be a good investment. Add to that, I just purchased a TT Contrail second hand from the classifieds section on here, so it became even more of a requirement.

Being a frugal person of an engineering background, I figured: why not make my own? I didn't feel like paying a fortune, and didn't feel I absolutely needed telescoping of the poles, so I set off making my own Lightrek 3 ripoffs.

Helpful in this endeavor was that a friend of the family is a former golf-club maker, who sort of owes my dad one. My dad is a retired computer systems programmer and as a hobby, takes care of computer problems for friends. This guy had a few pairs of graphite driver shafts lying around collecting dust that he donated to the cause. FREE!

On to the tips, Leki makes tips sold fairly commonly at many outdoors stores for relatively inexpensive. REI down the street sells them for $13, which seemed reasonable enough. I then realized I had my dividend check available, so $13 bucks gets also reduced to FREE!

Onto the grips. I felt in the spirit of keeping with the free thing, I could make my own, and considered it. I found a writeup from another board describing making grips out of "Floam" a kids modeling clay sort of stuff. I decided to forgo that and just purchase a proven piece of gear from Gossamer. I talked to Grant over at GG about dimensions and attachment of their grips and it appeared that they'd work. He recommended they be attached with Gorilla Glue, but it turned out that they went on so tightly with no adhesive that I've decided to leave them simply pressed on. I'm 99% certain they're not going anywhere with how hard they were to get on. Cost: $25 shipped.

So, all-told, my out of pocket cost was $25 bucks. The poles are 48" tip to top, and weigh in at 4.2 ounces. That's 1.7 oz more than the Lightrek 3's but these things are unbelievably stout, and I'm ok with the weight for the cost.

Final Product:

They look like they came from the taM factory!

They look good. Keep us updated on how you like them. Before I lunge into the trekking pole crowd, I decided to go cheap as well. Those Walmart ones were too expensive for me, so I just went to a thrift store and bought some old ski poles that were the right height for $3.



I haven't weighed them yet, but I am sure yours are way lighter.

I was most certainly skeptical of poles at first, I always thought they looked sort of goofy, and would be a pain to carry, but when you hit big inclines or declines, they're worth their weight in gold, at least my found sticks were, and my initial testing of these indicated the same.

I wish I had done a little more documenting of the assembly process, it really couldn't have been simpler though. Everything is basically interference fit...pressed together with a little bit of elbow grease.

I'm a tinkerer, and get a good deal of fulfillment from using stuff I've made myself, and it's been awhile since I've made something useful. I was long overdue!

taM, they look great!! How'd they end up working for the Contrail?

They seem to work very well, although I've only had the tent up twice, once in the yard outside my apt. and again to run some silicone stripes down the floor to cut down on slippage.

I'm taking it out on a 2-nighter this weekend in the Smokies, so we'll see how I like it after that

Awsome inginuity! I bought a cheap pair of k swiss at the farm ad fleet . so far they are ok but I am sure much heavyer than yours. I machined a monopod adapter on the lathe for my camera to screw to the top when needed. Enjoy the smokies I am going in two weeks as well.

Where are you from in IL?

I'm an illinoisan myself, but transplanted to TN last year for a job...

Slight update:

Took the poles out for a 2-night trip in the Smokies this past weekend. Over 7,000 feet of cumulative elevation gain, and nearly 30 miles over 3 days. These babies really performed nicely, with one exception. Grant at GG was correct in his recommendation that the grips really need to be glued to the pole blanks. By mile 15 I could start feeling the grips sliding down the poles, as evidenced by the top of the grips mushrooming up a bit. Nothing a little bit of constant readjustment every few miles couldn't keep in check.

First order of business when I got home was removing the grips and Gorilla-Gluing them back on. They feel MUCH more solid now, and have no doubt they'll continue to be one of my favorite pieces of gear. I'm left wondering how I lived without poles for so long!

Oh good, someone else from IL is on here! I just joined and was afraid that only people from mountain states were here. Must be N. IL if you're referencing Farm and Fleet (one of my fav stores)!

4.2 is light.
I like Finallyme's approach, thrift store cheap.





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