Pegs, toggles and notches for every ground

The line pulls at an angle on the peg. The peg presses against the soil in front of it, and this soil holds against it. The firmer the ground and the more surface the peg offers, the better it holds. That is why you set it angled slightly away from the line: then the pull tends to press it deeper rather than pull it out.

In soft ground the soil gives way more quickly. A longer, thicker peg reaches firmer layers and has more surface. In sand and snow a vertical peg hardly holds – there you bury a piece of wood crosswise to the pull. Then the line has to move a whole layer of sand or snow before it comes free.

The toggle works with a groove in which the cord sits and cannot slip. If you push it crosswise through a loop, it turns across under tension and cannot slip through. If you take off the tension, it slides out again – no knot at all.

Use sound, dry deadwood without cracks – hardwood such as hazel, beech or ash holds best. For normal ground, pegs about 20–25 cm long are good, for soft ground 30 cm and more. Toggles are about finger thick and 8–10 cm long.

On a notched peg, the straight face of the notch points towards the head – that is, downwards when the peg is in the ground. So the line cannot slip off upwards. The stop cut goes only to about a third of the thickness, or the peg will break at that point.

The toggle's collar groove may be only a few millimetres deep. If it is too deep, the toggle breaks under tension. Lightly chamfer the head of a peg all round so it does not split when driven in. Drive it with a wooden mallet, not the hatchet.

Notches and grooves are fine work in which it is easy to use too much force. Always work on a firm support, carve away from your body and never over the thigh or between the knees. The hand holding the wood always stays behind the edge. With heavy bleeding, press firmly on the wound and call 112, in Austria also 144.

When starting a saw cut, the saw easily jumps out, especially at the beginning. Rest the wood firmly, start the saw with short, light strokes and keep your free hand well away from the blade.

Pegs and tight lines are trip hazards, especially at night. Drive pegs in flush, mark lines with a bright strip of cloth and collect everything again when you break camp.

Home-carved pegs and toggles make sense when pegs have been lost, when you need more hold in sand or snow, or when you want to release a line quickly again and again – for example on a tarp, a laundry bag or a ridgeline.

In frozen or very stony ground wooden pegs break. There, stones, logs or buried anchors help. Where wood may not be used, take the pegs you brought. And home-carved parts are not meant for anything that holds people or hangs above people.

The simple notched peg and the pot hanger are explained step by step in the entry "Carving simple camp tools". This entry builds on it.

A toggle is also used in the marlinspike hitch: with a piece of wood in a loop you can pull a cord hard without it cutting into your hand. This helps, for example, when tightening lashings.

You may keep wooden pegs. If not, burn them where fire is permitted or scatter them in the forest – the main thing is that no scraps of line are left behind.