Perusing youtube recently and came across a freestanding hammock stand. Sounded like a fun project for my new hammock and the first ones I saw were made of lumber and hardware from store but then I found one made out of bamboo. My aunt and uncle have a forest in their backyard and when I asked if I could use some for this project my parents came back with numerous 20 foot-ish pieces, AWESOME!! Here’s a link to the first vid I found and saved for reference: http://youtu.be/yU-0GQKpd_M.
Full photo album with short descriptions is at https://picasaweb.google.com/114575782978731528380/20120819_FreestandingHammockStand or read below for details.
The bamboo was so long, I was able to get 2 legs out of each piece!!
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| From 20120819_FreestandingHammockStand |
I lashed the 3 legs together with 10 feet of paracord. Started with a loop around an end piece then over under most of the time. Towards the end I wrapped the paracord around the cord joints between the bamboo to hold them tight.
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The legs ended up feeling very solid when I stood em up. I took an uncut piece about 12-15 feet long and laid it on top for a center support and lashed it to the leg stands.
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I attached the hammock temporarily with “plant holder” chain so no way it will hold my weight for a test but planning on buying some heavy duty chain to use later. Also, had some hooks I bought on the clearance rack that work perfectly for attaching hammock to stand! Connection picture is a little sloppy but seemed to work.
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| From 20120819_FreestandingHammockStand |
All in all it was a fun, quick project but not complete. Need tougher chain to hold my weight and have seen some people tie rope around legs to stop them from separating under a load so might do that too depending on how the tests go. Thought about cutting the bottom of the leg on a slant to be able to spear them into the ground and hold steady.