DIY Tepee Poles

Last November Lauren and I helped take down the 24 foot family tepee which permanently lives on my in-laws ranch. Per usual, the inner structure of the tepee was left standing through the winter, but after a few gnarly storms the poles were unfortunately wiped out and destroyed. So having finally found some warm weather, it was time to cut and peel new tepee poles! With 4 strong boys and 2 eager-to-help girls, 19 slender pine trees were cut, hauled, and peeled. Soon enough, the poles will dry and the tepee will be up just in time for summer!

(all images by Honestly…WTF)

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28 Comments

  1. love love love! my family and i camp in our tepees every year and one day it would be great to make one!!

    http://www.simplyrosepetal.blogspot.com

    5.31.11
    Reply
  2. love this…..I am so getting my husband and mates onto this for our teepee this summer.
    thank u

    5.31.11
    Reply
  3. çiğdem wrote:

    great. I liked it a lot.

    xoxo

    http://prisonerofashion.blogspot.com/

    5.31.11
    Reply
  4. Jessie wrote:

    wouldn’t be able to do this one by myself. need to find some men to help but its definitely a fantastic idea. thank you for sharing it.
    xx, http://wordbyjessie.com/

    5.31.11
    Reply
  5. wow!! i’m very impressed, looks like a lot of hard work 😉 beautiful photography!!!

    xo~ kristina

    5.31.11
    Reply
  6. Nomadic D wrote:

    Words cannot describe how inspired and joyous I feel just knowing that you and your family do this, and on such a large scale! I absolutely love it.

    http://nomadic-d.blogspot.com/

    5.31.11
    Reply
  7. Bec wrote:

    omg i seriously want a summer teepee now. what a great tradition.

    5.31.11
    Reply
  8. lauren wrote:

    WHOOOA!

    that is seriously a lot of work!

    i am looking to buy a house and want a space in my yard where i can build a little tepee

    thanks for the post!
    -L
    http://www.thesphinxandthemilkyway.com

    5.31.11
    Reply
  9. dawn wrote:

    wow, that is super ambitious!! what an incredible endeavor though 😀 can’t wait to see the results!

    5.31.11
    Reply
  10. Betty wrote:

    i was just looking at teepees yesterday… i wish i lived in a more wooded / suburban area to make one as big as yours… the kids will half to settle for a small one in the living room 🙂

    5.31.11
    Reply
  11. zee wrote:

    sounds like alot of hard work! but worth the effort 😀

    5.31.11
    Reply
  12. I beyond LOVE this site… I’ve never been a big blog reader but this one had me going through practically all the archives and posts, it’s addictive, lol, so much great information..
    Ever since I discovered it last week I’ve been back like a million times, LoL.. So glad I found Honestly WTF!
    Great job ladies!
    –Lorena

    5.31.11
    Reply
  13. Tammy wrote:

    What an awesome thing for a laaarge family or group of friends to do together. Wish I had the space for something like this. Quite an unusual DIY.

    6.1.11
    Reply
  14. Anna Strid wrote:

    Honestly, are you from Sweden or what?
    Husqvarna is a company in only Sweden, right? And you sure do write alot about Sweden…
    🙂 just wondering

    6.1.11
    Reply
    • erica wrote:

      @Anna, haha, no we aren’t! I guess it’s just a wonderful coincidence . . . we do love Sweden, though! 😉

      6.1.11
  15. Naomi wrote:

    Yay!! This makes me very happy to see!!

    6.1.11
    Reply
  16. libby wrote:

    thanks so much for posting this! i have been dying to make a teepee and was having a hard time figuring out the poles, now i know what i need to do!

    6.1.11
    Reply
  17. Coulter wrote:

    Wow that looks like soooooo much fun
    I mean how hard can peeling a couple of poles be ?

    7.13.11
    Reply
  18. michelle wrote:

    Thanks so much for sharing your incredible DIY projects and pics.
    Great inspiration!

    7.15.11
    Reply
  19. michelle wrote:

    has the tepee gone up yet? i’d love to see the progress. post some new pics!

    7.21.11
    Reply
  20. Kam wrote:

    Are you guys Native American (or First Nations if you’re in Canada)? What tribal nation are you?

    9.22.11
    Reply
  21. Danielle wrote:

    Love it, what is the name of the tool used in peeling the bark off of the poles?

    6.24.12
    Reply
  22. defencely wrote:

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    5.30.15
    Reply
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    6.8.15
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    6.8.15
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  25. Darrel wrote:

    Nice pictures, but some text along with them would be very helpful.

    8.21.20
    Reply