Half Inch Black Pipe Hammock Stand

[muledog19]

I built a hammock stand a couple weeks ago out of 1/2 inch black pipe. It's roughly 14 feet long and 6 feet tall. It's not the prettiest contraption, but it works just fine. My sister, mom, myself, and a friend all have been enjoying the ability to hang (there aren't any trees in the yard).

I had almost all the materials on hand, so I didn't put more than $15 into the project. Making this out of newly purchased pipe would have been expensive!!!

My favorite thing about the stand is there are no bars to land on in the case of a hammock failure- nothing but lawn below me to break my fall- or my sister's small dog!

In an ideal world I would have built it out of a wider diameter pipe. The stand is fine as is, but a wider diameter pipe would make it more stable. It does sway a little bit.

Also, using a wider diameter pipe would probably simplify the base of the stand. I would imagine wider diameter pipe would stiffen the frame up enough to eliminate the need for the little extra feet on the base.

I thought of this after looking at my pile of pipes and then seeing turtlelady's portable bamboo stand.

[nothermark]

cool. I think doing it with the top bar works with that kind of load. I would not do a bottom bar that way! ;-)

[TFC Rick]

Is that an illusion or a bend in the top bar? Yikes!

[muledog19]

Is that an illusion or a bend in the top bar? Yikes!

Yeah, the bar you are looking at is bent. These are used pipes, I was just trying to be creative with what I've got on hand. The pipe is steel, has no cracks, and the bend hasn't changed since I put the stand together. If it were a more brittle metal, like aluminum, I would be concerned.

And it sure was difficult to get the stand to "square-up" and make nice clean 90 degree angles with the bent pipe in the mix!

[Knotty]

Did your local plumbing inspector sign off on this?

Just kidding. I had considered doing something similar.

[muledog19]

Did your local plumbing inspector sign off on this?

Hmm... good point, seeing that this is black natural gas pipe I really should invite up my local master natural gas fitter to come over and hang for a bit! I'm afraid an encounter with a typical plumber could be explosive...

[Beast 71]

It reminds me of Tinker Toys . Nice stand.

[bigbamaguy]

I like the design, it looks alot like the ones Ed Speer used to use, well I think it was him. My only concern with the set-up it the possibility of you stressing the Street "L" and it breaking on you. Other than that it is a great looking stand.

[Jakerock]

Nice work! I am really dying to figure out a way to hang indoors, and this gives me some food for thought... Appreciate it!

[muledog19]

I like the design, it looks alot like the ones Ed Speer used to use, well I think it was him. My only concern with the set-up it the possibility of you stressing the Street "L" and it breaking on you. Other than that it is a great looking stand.

I believe if there is going to be a failure on the stand, it will be at one of the fittings. I would guess the most stress isn't on the L where I hang the hammock straps or 'biner, but at the top or bottom of the vertical pole. Meaning I think the 90 degree elbow at the top or the tee at the bottom would be the breaking point. Those two joints take the brunt of any sway in the hammock stand. The L joint isn't getting stressed in as many directions.

Anyway, I'm just guessing. But it doesn't feel at all like I'm going to have to worry about the stand failing. Believe me, if it didn't feel secure, my mom wouldn't go anywhere near it!!!!

Also, I was trying to find other hammock stand designs that use a top bar. I've read references to Ed Speer's hammock stand design, but I haven't seen any pics or instructions. I did try searching the site with the terms, "top bar" but the search engine doesn't like to process short 3-letter words.