Adding more Pioneering to the Troop Program

[ScruffyJake]

Our troop is looking to add more pioneering to our annual program, we feel it reinforces basic scout skills (rope work, sharp tools, etc) while really honing leadership and communication skills of the boys.

 

Anyway, the most difficult obstacle to this has been sourcing materials for this effort. I would like to know how other troops are building their inventory of poles and staves. What are good sources for these materials? Are their alternatives to materials from the forest?

 

Any feedback will be helpful.

[Twocubdad]

We have a stack of 1-1/4 closet rod at the Scout house we can use for boys to practice and demonstrate their ability to tie lashings. It's too smooth for real projects, but it is neat, clean and stacks easily indoors. In a pinch we've bought pressure-treated fence posts at either the blue or orange big box. I think they're either 4- or 6-feet long and 3- or 4 inches in diameter (the small is fine).

 

Like you, we have a hard time keeping real timbers for pioneering projects. No easy source and we don't really have anywhere to store them. They sit out in the weather behind the church maintenance shed and rot after a few years.

 

Mostly, when we want to do "real" pioneering, we do it at the scout camp which has an assortment of nice, solid timbers at the scoutcraft area.(This message has been edited by Twocubdad)

[Eagle92]

LOWES IS YOUR FRIEND! You will be surprised at what you can do with closet rods.

 

I've also seen bamboo used, although you may need to learn some additional lashings. Regular square i snot as good as a Japanese Square on bamboo, for whatever reason.

[boomerscout]

A district in South Florida used to get cut trees donated to them by road crews removing invsive species. Don't how where/how they stored the poles, but they used a flatbed trailer to bring the poles to district camporees. Their website is no longer up.

 

Other than that, if you could find someone doing forest or woodlot thinning (timber stand improvement), you'd be all set. Put the word out to your local Forest Service, state foresters, urban foresters, Soil & Water Conservation agencies, county parks & recreation groups.

 

I imagine a school bus would be the most practical for transport. Open the back door, and load 'em in.

[Reasonable Rascal]

Try Lowes for 2' dia. tree stakes, 6 feet long and pointed on one end. I had the boys sand them down because they tend to shed splinters otherwise, but they are rough enough to hold the rope and to allow semi-scale model towers and such. They learn lashing basics on the 6' models and then can move up from there.

 

RR

[Kudu]

When our Scout camp near Niagara Falls extended the camping area, we asked for all the straight saplings in the path of the new road. We stored them on our own Troop camping property until they rotted.

 

Indoor Lashing Practice Box:

 

http://inquiry.net/outdoor/skills/practice_boxes.htm

 

Pioneering Models of different scales can be fun in the winter months. Also useful for visualizing large projects:

 

http://inquiry.net/outdoor/skills/b-p/models.htm

 

(This message has been edited by kudu)

[boomerscout]

I've read that if you peel the bark off, they won't rot

[Twocubdad]

That helps. Crawlies don't have a place to hide and the wood doesn't hold moisture as well. Species of tree makes a big difference too. Around here, white oak would be the best choice; poplar the worst. Pine is easy to come by, but won't last long is messy to handle, especially if you peel the bark.

 

Best method is to have some place covered to store the poles out of the weather.