Make travois poles from any straight, strong wood, ideally ash, hickory, birch, spruce or pine, and use it green, since live wood is more flexible and less likely to snap than dry, then lash the cross-members with wet rawhide, cordage, wire or zip ties. A 4 cm pole carrying a 40 kg load over a 3.5 m span sees about 22 MPa in bending, twice the stress of a 5 cm pole, so do not let the poles thin below 5 cm where the load sits.
Part of Sled & Travois Construction
Travois materials are the poles, cross-members, platform and lashings from which the frame is built and held together.
Thin Poles Fail Under The Load
A travois pole is a beam supported at the puller’s end and, in effect, at the ground end, with the load pushing down between them. Take the 40 kg human travois of Travois Design: poles 3.5 m long, the load centred 1.0 m from the ground ends, half of the load on each pole.
- Load per pole = 20 kg × 9.81 = 196 N
- Maximum bending moment M = 196 × 1.0 × (3.5 - 1.0) / 3.5 = 140 N·m
- Stress = M / Z, with Z = π d³ / 32 for a round pole
| Pole diameter at the load | Z | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| 4 cm | 6.28 × 10⁻⁶ m³ | 140 / 6.28 × 10⁻⁶ = 22 MPa |
| 5 cm | 1.23 × 10⁻⁵ m³ | 11 MPa |
| 6 cm | 2.12 × 10⁻⁵ m³ | 6.6 MPa |
The 4 cm pole sees about twice the stress of the 5 cm one, because stress falls with the cube of the diameter. Green softwoods such as spruce and pine break in bending at very roughly 35-50 MPa, and green ash, hickory and birch at higher values (recalled handbook figures, not measured here). A bump can double the load for an instant, so 22 MPa doubles to 44 MPa, at the breaking range of green softwood. Hence the parent article’s poles of 5-7 cm at the butt, and the advice to check them where they thin.
What To Use
Poles. Any straight, strong wood works. Ideal species: ash, hickory, birch, spruce, pine. Green (live) wood is more flexible and less likely to snap than dry wood.
Lashings.
| Material | Notes |
|---|---|
| Wet rawhide | strongest when dry; shrinks drum-tight |
| Cordage or paracord | reliable but may need retying |
| Wire | salvaged baling or fencing wire, twisted tight |
| Zip ties | surprisingly strong for light travois, but one-use |
See Lashing Techniques and Square Lashing for the crossing-pole lashings, and Hide Preparation for rawhide.
What You Need
- Two straight poles and cross-members
- Lashing material from the table
- An axe or saw, and a knife
- Spare lashing, 10 m of cord weighs almost nothing
Method: Choose, Cut, Lash
Step 1: Choose poles. Select straight, sound poles without large knots in the middle third.
Step 2: Cut and trim. Trim the poles but leave the butt end thick.
Step 3: Lash the cross-members with square lashing, finishing with tight turns between the poles.
Step 4: Wet the rawhide before lashing so it can be pulled tight, then let it dry. It shrinks as it dries.
Step 5: Check after the first hour, since new lashing stretches.
Common Mistakes
- Dry, brittle poles — they snap; use green wood where possible.
- Rawhide left wet in cold wet weather — it loosens when wet and tightens when dry, so re-tighten it after it dries.
- Wire ends left sticking out — they cut hands and animals; bend them in.
- Zip ties on a heavy load — one-use ties that fail leave no spare.
Safety
Snapping poles and cut wire
A pole that snaps under load drops the cargo and can whip the puller. Test a new frame with half the load, and carry the spare lashing. Wire lashing can slice hands and animal skin: twist ends flat and wear gloves.
What’s Next
- Learn next: Hand-Pulled Sled — a frame with runners
- Combine with: Rope Care — keeping cordage serviceable