Debate: Should tent stakes be hammered in or screwed in by hand?

I was camped near Glacier Peak last weekend when a sudden gust flattened my tent because I'd just pushed the stakes in by hand. My buddy insists hammering is the only way for loose soil, but I've heard that damages the stakes over time. What do you all do when the ground is really soft or rocky?

3 comments

3 Comments

king.robin29d agoMost Upvoted

Hammered in by hand? That's crazy talk. You don't hammer a stake with your hand, you use a mallet or rock. Your buddy's right for loose soil though, gotta hammer deep. Soft ground screw them in, rocky ground hammer them.

murray.drew29d agoTop Commenter

120 pounds of force to push a screw stake in? That's a joke right @king.robin? Try doing that all day in rocky ground, your hands will be hamburger by lunch. I've seen guys use a cordless impact driver for those and it still struggles on hard packed dirt. For real rocky ground you're better off with a mallet and a standard steel stake, those screw things just spin in place and don't grab anything.

clark.alex29d ago

Twisted my ankle on a screw stake last summer, but @king.robin at least my hands were fine.