How to Make an Ancient Tent Pin
- 1). Strip the bark from a greenwood oak stick roughly 14 inches long and about 2 inches wide. Examine the bare wood for areas of damage, rot or splitting. If the wood is not solid, discard it in favor of a stronger piece.
- 2). Trim the length to match the size of a typical Roman tent pin, between 12 and 8 inches long. The larger the tent, the longer the pin needs to be.
- 3). Flatten opposite sides of the stick to produce a rectangular profile about 3/4 inch thick along the entire length. The result has the shape of a small rectangular block 3/4 inch thick and as wide as the original stick.
- 4). Trim the width to roughly 1 inch along the entire length to produce a rectangle 3/4 inch thick and 1 inch wide. Rest the wood on its wider side, and make a mark approximately 1/4 of the way down the length of the pin.
Mark a line from this location to the base, angled across the face of the wood and stopping about 1/4 inch away from the opposite side. Remove the wood on the outside of the line. The result is a dagger-like shape tapering to the base of the pin. - 5). Shape the top inch of the tent pin by cutting a diagonal slope from the front of the pin to the straight back edge. The result is a pin head resembling a right-angled triangle. Round off the tip.
- 6). Complete the pin by carving the notch to hold the guy rope. Start where the tent pin head begins to slope, and cut straight into the wood at 90 degrees towards the back edge. Stop when you are just less than half way across the pin.
Move to the point at which the taper to the base begins and cut a diagonal notch into the wood, ending at the back of the cut made under the pin head. The result is a gently sloping triangular notch, starting when the pin blade is at its widest, and ending below the head of the pin.
Source...