This is the ninth in a series of eleven articles on
the top ten wilderness survival skills, things you should know before you go
into the wilderness. To read the
previous article go HERE
– Author’s Note
The Number
Nine, Top Ten Wilderness Survival Skill: Rope, Knots and How to Tie Them
The
number nine, top ten wilderness survival skill on my list is, knowing how to tie knots.
If
you don’t have any rope or string and you can’t tie knots in a wilderness
survival situation, you are going to have a hard time building a shelter,
hanging up a bear-bag, or even putting up a clothesline.
Do you have
any...rope?
 |
Shelter supplies that I keep in the back pocket of my survival vest or survival PFD, 1) paracord, 18 feet (5.5 meters); 2) a knit hat, clothes are portable shelter; and 3) two heavy duty contractor grade trash bags, all of which weigh 12 ounces (340 grams). For more on the survival supplies I carry read “A Survival Kit, Your Ace in the Hole ©”, HERE. Photograph by the Author.
Rope
or string of any type is difficult to find or make for yourself in the
wilderness and that is why you should always carry some. Personally, I always wear a BanadanaMan
Emergency Bracelet, which contains 174 inches (442 cm) of string on my wrist
when I am out in the wilderness, and I always keep 18 feet of paracord in the
back pocket of my survival vest or survival PFD. Both will make building an emergency shelter much,
much easier.
But first,
some words about rope...
 |
An excerpt from Survival, FM 3-05.70 (FM 21-76), page G-3.
Also,
before we start talking about tying knots, we need to talk about things like loops,
bights, the running-end of a rope.
A
bight is a simple bend of rope, which does not cross itself, while a loop is
formed by crossing the running end over or under the standing end to form a
ring or circle in the rope. The running
end of the rope is the free end of the rope, this is the part of the rope you
are using to tie the knot. The standing
end of the rope is the rest of the rope beyond the running end and the working
end is the part of the rope that is attached to the thing that is being rigged
or hauled. A pig tail is the part of the
running end of the rope that is left over after tying a knot and it shouldn’t
be more than 4 inches (10 cm) long, to conserve rope and prevent interference. A turn in a rope is a loop around something
like a tree or a branch, with the running end continuing in the opposite
direction to the standing end, while a round turn continues to circle and exits
in the same direction as the standing end1.
Knots,
stress points and rope failure...
 |
The Camper’s Knot Tying Card Game, by Marco Products
While
we are talking about knots, did you know that a knot in a rope will put stress
on a rope and can cause it to break?
Well,
it can! When you tie a knot in a rope it
immediately loses between 25% to 60% of its original strength, since the knot
causes a stress point where the rope fibers on the outside of the of the knot are
stretched more and the strands on the inside of the knot are stretched less and
might even be compressed. The
combination of these stresses can cause a rope to fail and break at the knot.
Ten
Essential Knots and how to tie them...
 |
An excerpt from Survival, FM 3-05.70 (FM 21-76), page G-3.
Everyone
knows how to tie an overhand knot, it is an important knot that is often used
as a finishing knot, but can you tie a sheet bend, a taut-line, or an alpine
butterfly knot?
People
always tell me that they just can’t tie knots, but what the problem really is
though, is a lack of practice. If you
want to be good at knots, make up your mind to learn the ten essential knots,
and then practice, practice, practice!
The six basic knots...
There
are six basic knots that are considered must know wilderness knots, the square
knot, the sheet bend, the taut-line hitch, two half hitches, the lark’s head,
and the bowline.
 |
An excerpt from Knots and How to Tie Them, by the Boy Scouts of America, page 10.
The
square knot or reef knot is one of the most easily remembered of knots, and
when it is used as a binding knot to tie a parcel together or to knot together a
neckerchief or cravat, it can’t be beat.
However, when it is used as a bending knot to tie together two different
sizes of ropes or to tie together a rope that is stiffer or more slippery than the
other one, it will come apart. So,
beware!
 |
An excerpt from Knots and How to Tie Them, by the Boy Scouts of America, page 11.
The
sheet bend is a true bending knot and can be used to tie together two ropes of different
sizes or stiffnesses, and in form, according to The Ashley Book of Knots,
it is the same as the weaver’s knot, and is also known as the simple bend, the
bend, the ordinary or common bend, or, to distinguish it from the double sheet
bend, the single bend.
 |
An excerpt from Knots and How to Tie Them, by the Boy Scouts of America, page 16.
Taut-line
hitches are a knot that I use whenever I put up tents, tarps, or clotheslines,
it is one of my go-to knots!
 |
A good use of taut-line hitches, a tarp set up along the shore of Rock Lake, Algonquin Provincial Park, August 2019. Photograph by the Author.
 |
An excerpt from Knots and How to Tie Them, by the Boy Scouts of America, page 18.
The
bowline is also called the bowling or bolin knot2 and is identical
in form to the sheet-bend, but instead of joining two different ropes, it joins
the free end of the rope to itself, making a loop.
 |
An excerpt from Knots and How to Tie Them, by the Boy Scouts of America, page 19.
Imagine you are up to your waist in the water or in a bog and someone throws you a rope. You grab the rope, and tie a bowline around your waist, because you know the knot won’t slip and you can be pulled back to solid ground! To watch a video on how to tie a bowline around your waist, one-handed, go HERE.
 |
An excerpt from Knots and How to Tie Them, by the Boy Scouts of America, page 13.
Two
half hitches are my other favorite knot, I frequently use it to tie a canoe’s
painter to a dock post if I am using a civilized landing. In fact, as mentioned in The Ashley Book
of Knots, during the era of sailing ships it was frequently used to tie a
ship to a wharf, and as sailors used to say, “Two half hitches will never
slip”, by Admiral Luce, and “Two half hitches saved a Queen's Ship”,
by Anonymous3.
 |
The lark’s head knot, from Knotting and Splicing Ropes and Cordage, by Paul N. Hasluck, page 47.
The
lark’s head is also known as the cow hitch, the lanyard hitch, the dead-eye
hitch, the stake hitch, or the ring hitch; and when it is tied in a bight or a loop
of a continuous rope circle it is called a strap or bale sling hitch4. This is another of my favorite knots and I
use it to hang things by their lanyard or when I am putting up a tarp and I
want to make a “magic grommet”5, to secure the edges of a
tarp to a ridgeline.
 |
How to use a lark’s head to make a “magic grommet”, photograph by the Author.
The four advanced knots...
However,
there are four other knots that are also considered must know, advanced,
wilderness knots: the clove hitch, the double-sheet bend, the timber hitch, and
the alpine butterfly.
 |
An excerpt from Knots and How to Tie Them, by the Boy Scouts of America, page 14.
According
to The Ashley Book of Knots, “There is no such thing as a good
general utility knot, although ashore the CLOVE HITCH comes very near to
filling the office of a general utility hitch”. The clove hitch is easily remembered and can
be quickly tied.
 |
An excerpt from Knots and How to Tie Them, by the Boy Scouts of America, page 11.
The
double sheet bend is also known as the double weaver’s knot and just like the
sheet bend is used to secure two ropes or strings. The double sheet bend is not any stronger
than the sheet bend, but it is more secure.
 |
An excerpt from Knots and How to Tie Them, by the Boy Scouts of America, page 14.
The
timber hitch is also called the countryman’s or lumberman’s knot and is an old
knot. According to The Ashley Book of
Knots, it was mentioned in the 1625 Manuscript on Rigging, in in
Denis Diderot’s 1762, Encyclopedia, and in David Steel’s 1794, Elements
and Practice of Rigging and Seamanship.
The
turns around the rope should always be “dogged”, wrapped, or turned, with
the lay or twist of the rope. Three
turns around the rope are usually enough6.
 |
An excerpt from Knots and How to Tie Them, by the Boy Scouts of America, page 20.
The
alpine butterfly knot is also called the butterfly loop, the lineman's loop, or
the butterfly knot and used to form a fixed loop in the middle of a rope. It can be used to make loops for handholds or
footholds and is used by rock climbers to make loops in a rope for a
carabiner. It can also be used to
isolate a worn section of rope
One
Essential Lashing...
 |
An excerpt from Knots and How to Tie Them, by the Boy Scouts of America, page 30.
Everyone
that journeys through the wilderness should learn how to tie a tripod lashing,
because with this lashing you can make a lean-to or a teepee shelter, a tripod
to hang a pot over the fire on, or many other handy things.
Don’t forget to come back next week and read “Ten Essentials of Winter
Camping ©”, where we will talk about how to camp in the winter wilderness and
stay warm and safe.
I
hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me
on YouTube at BandanaMan Productions for other related videos, HERE. Don’t forget to follow me on both The
Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE,
and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube. If you have questions, as always, feel free
to leave a comment on either site. I
announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at
bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.
That
is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!
Notes
1
Other rope and knot terms are as follows:
•
Dressing the knot. The orientation of
all knot parts so that they are properly aligned, straightened, or bundled. Neglecting this can result in an additional
50 percent reduction in knot strength. This term is sometimes used for setting
the knot which involves tightening all parts of the knot, so they bind on one
another and make the knot operational. A
loosely tied knot can easily deform under strain and change, becoming a
slipknot or worse, untying.
•
Fraps. A means of tightening the
lashings by looping the rope perpendicularly around the wraps that hold the
spars or sticks together.
•
Lashings. A means of using wraps and
fraps to tie two or three spars or sticks together to form solid corners or to construct
tripods. Lashings begin and end with
clove hitches.
•
Lay. The lay of the rope is the same as
the twist of the rope.
•
Whipping. Any method of preventing the
end of a rope from untwisting or becoming unwound. It is done by wrapping the end tightly with a
small cord, tape, or other means. It should be done on both sides of an
anticipated cut in a rope, before cutting the rope in two. This prevents the rope from immediately
untwisting.
•
Wraps. Simple wraps of rope around two
poles or sticks (square lashing) or three poles or sticks (tripod lashing). Wraps begin and end with clove hitches and get
tighter with fraps. All together, they form a lashing.
From
Survival, FM 3-05.70 (FM 21-76), by the Headquarters, Department of the
Army, page G-1 to G-2
2 The
Ashley Book of Knots, by Clifford W. Ashley, page 186.
4
Ibid., page 11, 290 and 305.
5
I don’t know where I first heard this called a “magic grommet”, probably
from another Birchbark Expeditions guide, but the name stuck with me.
6 The
Ashley Book of Knots, by Clifford W. Ashley, page 290 and 599.
Sources
Ashley,
Clifford W.; The Ashley Book of Knots, [Geoffrey Budworth, Kent,
England, 1993], https://www.liendoanaulac.org/space/references/training/Ashley_Book_Knots.pdf, accessed January
25, 2022
Boy
Scouts of America, Knots and How to Tie Them, [2002]
Hasluck, Paul N.; Knotting
and Splicing Ropes and Cordage, [David McKay, Publisher, Philadelphia, PA,
1912], page 44 to 46, https://books.googleusercontent.com/books/content?req=AKW5QadbkrmBx1Gbt4sXfsubEY1Yuq59o5ydbt5SVplV3e8TM4myCFqis5bVfvEV0s-OvwU5BGbaRJcUGrxnzC7Asu1o6uXg62MvTbBQ_6QYOYckKpGoiqHzbVyoAU66wZ0JnfA4CFwlarClPIOfsXJtL241YGwdSq8QP4JVmlXseXQKcnUBebmDlnQU5GLULW42r9WlDMqAZ0679kpgvlvS8sYEFqoXRgHj9hdJuBHcvLagnY8TexhtJKTcbVSsNQEx1uaBeUiT0hMs0kb-cMldIr69Q0lNyu0XQduelZjK7KRd7eNivL0,
accessed January 27, 2022
Headquarters, Department of the Army, Survival, FM
3-05.70 (FM 21-76), [Washington, D.C., May 2002], page G-3, https://irp.fas.org/doddir/army/fm3-05-70.pdf, accessed January 24, 2022
Marco
Products, The Camper’s Knot Tying Card Game, [USA,
1986]
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