Someone start a new tent thread please

[cowboysteve]

Another thumbs up for RK Lodges. I bought my first Wedge with a bell from them 25 years ago. I recently sent the same Wedge back to them after a family of mice made swiss cheese out of it over the winter. I personally didn't think it was salvageable, but they patched every hole for $100 bucks! They definitely have my continued business!

PS: You know, that patched up ol' Wedge looks much more authentic now.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Track of the Wolf simply drop ship's tents from RK Lodge. You can get the very same tent with warranty and up-grade going directly to the source..

I'll also thumbs up RK but they don't seem to list that exact tent....Although they have one similar....
is track offering tents from another supplier?

 

[necchi]

These; https://www.trackofthewolf.com/Categories/TentKit.aspx/1130/1/MINER-12-M
And these; http://www.rklodges.com/Lodges/Tents/onepole.html
Are the exact same thing.
If this comment from Track is noted;

Loops for mounting this awning are on all our Miner’s tents purchased during 1996 or later.

And some our local history is noted here from RK;

R.K. Lodges began making lodges and primitive shelters commercially in 1971. It was started by my parents, Dick and Katie Kop,,,
,We remain a family-run business with a commitment to our customers.
Sincerely,
Paul and Cherrie Bargman

Cherrie Kop married Paul,, Dick and Katie retired in 1996 selling to Cherrie and Paul.
Track and RK are still using/honoring their original contract, description and photo's from prior to 96`,,
It's all good :wink:

There are 3-4 top market brand name tent makers out there today,, bottom line, all of them are good.
RK Lodges has been and is still one of them.
TOW doesn't make tents.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Thanks, :thumbsup:
I wondered if they were the same tent....

Having owned RK tents before, It's hard to imagine not buying another one.....
I can't think of a single bad thing to say about them.....and I can be very critical... :wink:

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I've had my eye on the Gold Rush Miner's Pyramid tent from Track of The Wolf. 12'X12' with a small wood stove would be just right.

They are pretty easy to erect, that's for sure, but alas for myself, I attend too many events where such are not allowed.

LD

 

[Rifleman1776]

I attend too many events where such are not allowed.

I understand period correct juried events. But to not allow pyramid lodges is, in my opinion, wrong. Even though some artist never portrayed them, I cannot conceive that over the centuries skins or canvas was never tossed over a pole for a shelter.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

That's one of those things...., for example, in England they had Lemons, and tea, but it appears from the diaries and journals of the time that it took more than a century of tea being well known in Europe and England, before Catherine the Great of Russia introduced the idea of adding lemon juice to tea.

Contact with China was made by the Portuguese in 1517, YET as late as the 18th century, with the British trading in Canton without interruption for the whole century, after all of that contact..., nobody ever wrote about Europeans adopting what we call today "stir fry" or the Wok as a cooking tool. The sailors and their officers HAD to have seen them used..... they also had to have seen a Chinese box bellows...not a European thing, however.

All of the technology to create a "reflex" style recurve bow (often today called the Mongol Bow) existed in England and Europe, but even after the Mongol invasion as far as Hungary, Romania, and Poland.., where the Europeans learned first hand about the effectiveness of that bow, and its use on horseback....Europeans never adopted that style of bow. I mean, they saw it, AND at least a few of the Mongols had to have been killed carrying that style bow, so they had to have had examples to study, right? However, by Agincourt, more than two centuries after contact with the Mongols, neither side was using it, nor were they using mounted archers....

Nicholas Appert took 14 years from 1795 -1810 to put together a glass container, with a cork held in place with a wire cage (the Champagne bottle with the same system was invented in 1632) so that when heated in boiling water for a certain period of time, the contents would not spoil...., and canning was invented. 178 years from when the elements of the technology existed to when it was finally put together. Now Appert was a chef, not a scientist, so what kept the scientists from doing it sooner???

History is rife with examples of stuff that could have been, but for other reasons, simply was not developed from what we today think is "obvious". So while I think such a shelter is "obvious", and simple, it's just not recorded as existing. Could've... sure... so what?

LD

 

[cowboysteve]

Very well said sir. The debate on whether something could have existed during a certain time period vs was it common place will go on and on around the re-enactment campfire.

 

[BillinOregon]

Dave, did someone say "diamond shelter"?

:wink:

 

[coloradoclyde]

Dave, did someone say "diamond shelter"?

:wink:

I wonder if anyone has made a privacy front/sides for a diamond shelter?

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Dave, did someone say "diamond shelter"?

Nope, and the first Baker is documented in 1840 (so are prohibited in some events), while one can assemble two or three tarps into what is in effect a "Baker" tent (and thus not run foul of the event rules)... and said Baker circa 1840, is in effect merely a cloth copy of what is described as a half-faced camp by Doddridge. ODD that the name of what we call a "Pyramid Tent" is only documented to 1846, when the pyramids were well known to the people of the 18th century. Although lack of documentation is not necessarily proof of lack of existence, it does beg the question if it was such an old tent design, why the lack of mention prior to the 19th century?? In fact the British Army Bell of Arms is a very tiny single pole tent. Why not expand it to man sized before 1846?

:idunno:

LD

 

[crockett]

I've never used a wood stove in a tent. If any of you have done BOTH- a lean to with a reflector fire in front AND a tent with a stove- which is warmer?

 

[coloradoclyde]

A tent is far more comfortable...

No swirling smoke
No wind
Much warmer
Better rain protection.
No dew or frost creeping in
No popping embers flying at you.
And a tent and stove requires far less wood.....
A tent on it's own (without a stove) creates a small micro-climate and is warmer from solar radiation and human body heat.

Etc...etc.....

 

[Crewdawg445]

I like my tent... however I'm finding it hate dragging it and my fly... I bought a panther ground tarp that doubles as a leanto. I personally have built a fire in front and have stayed toasty warm. With my tent and no stove... I can't say it's that warm! The leanto hands down wins for warmth coupled by a closely tendered fire.

However, I'm not a big fan of ran and a leanto... That's were the tent comes in handy. Heck, even in the rain I usually sleep under my fly and allow my older Shawnee mentor and his wife to sleep in my bellback.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Both have their advantages and disadvantages....

In winter a tent is better....in summer a tarp might be better, but if the bugs get really bad..... :shocked2: you'll wish you had that tent....
Tents offer more privacy at events....

One has to figure out their needs and then choose accordingly.. :grin:

 

[crockett]

Thanks- I was wondering if smoke was bad in a tent or condensation on the roof, etc.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Thanks- I was wondering if smoke was bad in a tent or condensation on the roof, etc.

if you get smoke in the tent, then you have a problem somewhere...something is wrong or not right.

Wood heat from a stove removes moisture from the tent, (Canvas is also "breathable") that why they are so great for winter and wet weather...Propane heaters will add moisture to the air and cause condensation....

 

[tenngun]

I have taken a wedge and tied doors open. Then put a braizer inside near the door. Full of coals it will stay toasty inside and draw fairly well, but there will be smoke in the tent, that does give it a nice color.

 

[coloradoclyde]

I've seen too many people die or sickened by carbon monoxide poisoning to have un-vented heat in a tent...

My dad wound up in the hospital because of a leaky exhaust manifold on a Sno-Cat, A friend of mine was sick for a month thought he had the flu....discovered his house furnace was bad.....A girl tried to heat her apartment with a charcoal grill....she died....The list goes on......I don't take CO poisoning lightly...

 

[Loyalist Dave]

What about one of the Little Buddy propane heaters? The website says for use in tents. Not HC but beats a bad night.

LD