I spent a really long time looking at the various companies that make the Viking style A-Frame tents. Each had its own pros and cons. In making my decision, I took into account size, color, type of canvas, weight (of the canvas, not of the tent), price, and the reputation of the company itself. I read up on Panther Primitives, Armstreet, Tentsmiths, and LARP Tents.
From what I can tell, the absolute best tent will be the Panther Primitives one. Panther has one hell of a reputation, and has been around for a long time. However, their price was prohibitive from my point of view, mostly because of the shipping. I don't normally go for "cheapest" as my choice, but I had a very strict budget with no wiggle room for this tent, and I wanted it in time for the New Hampshire Renaissance Faire in mid-May, so I was pressed for time.
ArmStreet has excellent reviews, and a great set up video (which is useful no matter which tent you buy, by the way). Their overall prices aren't bad at all, but shipping is a killer again, if you happen to be on a really tight budget. Tentsmiths took a long time to respond to my queries (though in their defense, I did contact them during Gulf Wars, apparently, and they were not at home, understandably), and their price was almost $200 higher than LARP Tents.
LARP Tents isn't a huge company, and they aren't as well known as the others. When I looked at their products, though, I saw that they used the same weight and type of canvas as all the others (though not the brand name stuff). I don't mind off-brand, if it's good. I decided that budget demanded the lowest price right now, and went with the LARP Tents "Norseman" A-frame, and I am not disappointed.
I purchased the canvas only, as frames are easy to make and very expensive to ship. My canvas arrived a couple of weeks ago, and this past weekend, I went out with my husband to pick up the lumber for making the frame for my tent. The price on the lumber was larger than I thought, but not out of my range, and so we started making the tent this weekend.
The first part to be made was the ridge pole. This goes through a sleeve in the top of the tent, and has a peg on either end. We shaved the corners off the 2x4s we used, so that they would not pull or tear at the canvas. Then we started making the pegs.
The process of making pegs by hand is lengthy, but rather artistic. First, you notch the wood to "close to" the depth of what you want to remove. We wanted a 2" diameter peg, roughly, to match the 2" hole that we made in the upright boards. Each notch was then knocked out with a chisel and wooden mallet. Then, judicious use of the draw knife smoothed it out and took it down in size until it was just right to fit through the hole snugly but smoothly. Sandpaper was used to take off the last little bit, and to even it out neatly.
The process isn't all that difficult or complex, but it becomes lengthy and somewhat physically taxing when you run into knots. As we were using cheap pine, there were lots of knots. It makes the work longer, but isn't terrible. We used a shave horse to help the process along, but even then, it required a second person to hold the long pole steady sometimes.
Once the pegs on the ridge pole were done, we slid the four uprights into place, and scissored the entire tent upward, slowly. The canvas hung from the ridge pole, up off the ground (we didn't size the bottom of the uprights until the very end of the build process). Next, we created the long side poles (essentially the same as the ridge pole, though somewhat less bulky) with two pegs on each. We slid those into their sleeves, and propped them up on the outside of the uprights. This let us see the basic shape of the tent, and also allowed us to measure the correct angle for the top of our A-frame.
The long uprights were slowly moved inward until the tent doors closed correctly, telling us that we had everything at the right angles. Holes were drilled through the uprights to allow the side poles to go through, and those were knocked into place. Now we had all but the front and back sill plates (which keep the "scissors" of the uprights in the correct angle/position) completed. Those sill pieces were quite easy, requiring only two holes to be drilled in them.
Once the tent was fully set up, it looked amazing! The legs were too long (the uprights needed to be trimmed by about a foot and a half) and the sill plates were too long as well, but the tent was UP.
Once we had everything trimmed, the entire tent was taken apart and moved from the convenient area of the front lawn that was near the wood shop, to our "camp area" of the yard, with our chimnea and spot for the portable fire pit. Moving it was quite simple (we left the long side poles in, and carried it like a sling or a gurney), and with two people it was trivial.
The entire tent can be set up by one person who has an hour and good weather, or two people in about 15 or 20 minutes, once you've got the hang of it. The poles go in the sleeves first, and then you spread the tent out like a butterfly. Then the front uprights go on, one at a time, center first and sides second. Then the back uprights go on. The first of the back uprights goes on center first, side second, but the last upright needs to have the side first, and the center second, as the canvas gets too taut otherwise. By lifting the center pole up a foot or two (or putting it on a stool, for instance, if you were doing it yourself), the pressure on the canvas is released enough to allow that last peg to go through at the top center. Then you just slowly and carefully walk the uprights toward center until the pegs are even with the holes on the sill plates. Tap those sill plates in, and you're done!
I wouldn't say this was easy to do, but it wasn't complex. When we put together my best friend's frame, I expect it to go very quickly!
From what I can tell, the absolute best tent will be the Panther Primitives one. Panther has one hell of a reputation, and has been around for a long time. However, their price was prohibitive from my point of view, mostly because of the shipping. I don't normally go for "cheapest" as my choice, but I had a very strict budget with no wiggle room for this tent, and I wanted it in time for the New Hampshire Renaissance Faire in mid-May, so I was pressed for time.
ArmStreet has excellent reviews, and a great set up video (which is useful no matter which tent you buy, by the way). Their overall prices aren't bad at all, but shipping is a killer again, if you happen to be on a really tight budget. Tentsmiths took a long time to respond to my queries (though in their defense, I did contact them during Gulf Wars, apparently, and they were not at home, understandably), and their price was almost $200 higher than LARP Tents.
LARP Tents isn't a huge company, and they aren't as well known as the others. When I looked at their products, though, I saw that they used the same weight and type of canvas as all the others (though not the brand name stuff). I don't mind off-brand, if it's good. I decided that budget demanded the lowest price right now, and went with the LARP Tents "Norseman" A-frame, and I am not disappointed.
I purchased the canvas only, as frames are easy to make and very expensive to ship. My canvas arrived a couple of weeks ago, and this past weekend, I went out with my husband to pick up the lumber for making the frame for my tent. The price on the lumber was larger than I thought, but not out of my range, and so we started making the tent this weekend.
The first part to be made was the ridge pole. This goes through a sleeve in the top of the tent, and has a peg on either end. We shaved the corners off the 2x4s we used, so that they would not pull or tear at the canvas. Then we started making the pegs.
The process of making pegs by hand is lengthy, but rather artistic. First, you notch the wood to "close to" the depth of what you want to remove. We wanted a 2" diameter peg, roughly, to match the 2" hole that we made in the upright boards. Each notch was then knocked out with a chisel and wooden mallet. Then, judicious use of the draw knife smoothed it out and took it down in size until it was just right to fit through the hole snugly but smoothly. Sandpaper was used to take off the last little bit, and to even it out neatly.
The process isn't all that difficult or complex, but it becomes lengthy and somewhat physically taxing when you run into knots. As we were using cheap pine, there were lots of knots. It makes the work longer, but isn't terrible. We used a shave horse to help the process along, but even then, it required a second person to hold the long pole steady sometimes.
Once the pegs on the ridge pole were done, we slid the four uprights into place, and scissored the entire tent upward, slowly. The canvas hung from the ridge pole, up off the ground (we didn't size the bottom of the uprights until the very end of the build process). Next, we created the long side poles (essentially the same as the ridge pole, though somewhat less bulky) with two pegs on each. We slid those into their sleeves, and propped them up on the outside of the uprights. This let us see the basic shape of the tent, and also allowed us to measure the correct angle for the top of our A-frame.
The long uprights were slowly moved inward until the tent doors closed correctly, telling us that we had everything at the right angles. Holes were drilled through the uprights to allow the side poles to go through, and those were knocked into place. Now we had all but the front and back sill plates (which keep the "scissors" of the uprights in the correct angle/position) completed. Those sill pieces were quite easy, requiring only two holes to be drilled in them.
Once the tent was fully set up, it looked amazing! The legs were too long (the uprights needed to be trimmed by about a foot and a half) and the sill plates were too long as well, but the tent was UP.
Once we had everything trimmed, the entire tent was taken apart and moved from the convenient area of the front lawn that was near the wood shop, to our "camp area" of the yard, with our chimnea and spot for the portable fire pit. Moving it was quite simple (we left the long side poles in, and carried it like a sling or a gurney), and with two people it was trivial.
The entire tent can be set up by one person who has an hour and good weather, or two people in about 15 or 20 minutes, once you've got the hang of it. The poles go in the sleeves first, and then you spread the tent out like a butterfly. Then the front uprights go on, one at a time, center first and sides second. Then the back uprights go on. The first of the back uprights goes on center first, side second, but the last upright needs to have the side first, and the center second, as the canvas gets too taut otherwise. By lifting the center pole up a foot or two (or putting it on a stool, for instance, if you were doing it yourself), the pressure on the canvas is released enough to allow that last peg to go through at the top center. Then you just slowly and carefully walk the uprights toward center until the pegs are even with the holes on the sill plates. Tap those sill plates in, and you're done!
I wouldn't say this was easy to do, but it wasn't complex. When we put together my best friend's frame, I expect it to go very quickly!