Category: Bushcraft (Page 2 of 27)

Its taken me over 6 years learning , amending and improving the knots Ive come across.Ever since my first bushcraft course and I couldn’t remember how to do a bowline after many years of using knots in arboriculture and rescue work.Ive narrowed it down to just over 20 core knots for bushcraft. Not including climbing knots (another section entirely). With another hand full of secondary knots that are worth taking the time to understand. I hope this can be used as a cheat sheet for fellow bushcrafters interested in becoming more proficient with knots for their craft.

Core Knots

Friction knots

Taut Tarp hitch,midshipman’s hitch variation

Prusic, variation larks head

Lashings (Pole to Pole)

Square lashing

Diagonal lashing

Shear lashing

Round lashing

Tripod Lashing

Uses

Square lashing – binds two poles together at a 90 degree angle such as in a ridge pole for a shelter or a ladder style pack frame.

Diagonal lashing – braces a rigid structure roycroft pack frame

Shear lashing – joins two poles together to form legs ie instead of three legged tripod only two legs for a tree less tarp set up.

Round lashing – securing two poles together to form an end join as in to extend a pole for a longer saw handle.

Tripod Lashing – as name suggests for making a tripod

Hitches (Cordage to Pole)

Half hitch

Truckers Hitch (Improved)

Clove hitch variation with stop knot lock, with half hitch lock on side, spar hitch, picket line or ground line hitch, constrictor with slip ends

Siberian hitch

Timber hitch

Marlin spike hitch

Round turn and two half hitches variation anchor hitch, double turn and two half hitches

Knots (cordage to Cordage)

Overhand knot, variation double overhand stop knot

slip knot

Fishermans variations double fishermans,tripple

Bowline – yosemite, double, scotts lock, bowline in a bight, twin bowline.

Sheet bend variation double sheet bend

Square knot

Whipping knot

Arbour knot or Canadian jam

Figure 8 standard or trace, inline, on a bight

Tarp corners

zip tie

Secondary knots (worth knowing)

Mechanical Advantage

Flip Flop Winch

Paring ladder

rope break

Fishing knots

Surgeons knot (also for bootlaces)

Trilene knot

Palomar knot

Snelling

Other

Panic knot

Post hitch

Alpine butterfly

Soft shackles

reever knot

Climbing knots would be another section

USES This is why I never fall into the question of which 5 knots? There are 7 just for a tarp.

Tarp knots

Siberian Hitch, Taut tarp hitch, prusic, truckers hitch, fishermans, bowline, sheetbend.

Siberian hitch or bowline for an ridgeline attachment point

taut tarp hitch for guylines

prusic to tension the apex points

fishermans to form the prusic

truckers to tension the ridgeline

sheet-bend in case you require lengthening the ridgeline

Catching up on my reading by the beach. I always try and keep one of my Gooleys close at hand.A great series of books by Tristan Gooley for a budding naturalist. You never look at the world the same way again after reading one of his books.

Shelter Craft Methodology comparing the Northern and Southern Hemisphere techniques. Many techniques of Shelter Craft used in the Northern Hemisphere are quite different to those that can be used in Australia based around the materials available. This revolves around plant morphology and transpiration. The leaves in Australia have developed differently to the leaves in cooler climates due to the amount of rainfall and light.

Id previously done some workshops with Alan Ainsworth who discussed this in depth. Al’s horticultural training goes into the morphology of plants. How they evolved differently in the Australian landscape. “The shape and size and volume of leaf litter in Australia is just different”.

This was also a conversation I had with Al Ainsworth several months ago that stuck in my head that I really wanted to post about. Building a debris hut in the Northern Hemisphere is much different to here. It would take little time at all to fill large garbage bags full of leaves in Europe and the US where the tree have adapted to try and absorb as much light as possible and have therefore become large palmated shaped. Where as in Australia the leaves are lanceolated in shape to conserve water. Meaning the leaves are larger in the Northern Hemisphere;

“Why do the leaves of eucalyptus typically have a grey-green colour? The reason is not driven by the plants themselves, but rather the environment they live in. The primary role of a leaf is to capture enough sunlight to allow the plant to photosynthesis. Here in Australia, our bright, sunny skies provide ample sunlight that is higher in ultraviolet radiation than in most parts of the world. This means that most trees are easily able to meet their requirements for intercepting enough energy from the sun, and in fact, they are in danger of being damaged by too much heat and solar radiation. Under these conditions, it becomes advantageous to deflect some of the sunlight that hits the leaf surface. The grey colour of the leaves, formed by a waxy layer called the cuticle, does just that. By preventing the leaf from overheating, the cuticle reduces the amount of water that the leaf loses to the environment.”

Many bushcraft techniques just don’t work the same in Australia like they do for our US and UK bushcraft brethren. The leaves here are combustible from the oils, there are less of them on the trees, smaller shape and shed at a slower rate. The smaller leaves don’t repel water as well and require 20 times more effort to collect enough. There is not the same amount of leaf litter as say there is on a beech Forrest floor.

The methodology for each country or more precisely geographical region must change according to the landscape by looking at what indigenous communities did to make shelters. In Australia the Gunyah Hut was a more common shelter than a lean-to for example.

The Methodology therefore changes according to the landscape! The hardest part of building a shelter is the gathering of materials. Many local indigenous therefore always returned to the same shelter site where even if a structure had fallen down the materials were still available to rebuild the original structure. Expenditure of energy!

“Learning from the traditional custodians, they don’t really use leaves for sheltercraft. One of the most common things used was the bark from a paperbark tree. Probably the single most useful tree in Australia from a bushcraft point of view. The idea of using leaves for shelter is a real northern bushcraft idea just doesn’t translate well down here”. AA

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Leaf_morphology.svg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_leaf_morphology

A different way to leave

Gunyah- the Australian shelter

There’s no right way just that which works and which doesn’t. If you cant remember a knot or cant do a knot, tie many is the saying. A mate called me up asking about the which 5 knots question and the conversation turned into how to teach knots to someone. This has plagued me for some time.

The hardest part would be the applications and having ready made projects available to manufacture the knots around. I think the easiest way would be to divide up the knots into sections as I did in the Bush Knots Master Course posts and Ive found the best way to remember is to make something with them not just have a piece of cordage in front of you.

Remembering you can fudge something with multiple granny knots, there is no right way. However there are better ways of doing a thing. The classic Bowline is a good example of this. As in the last post there are 18 variations or more of this knot. KISS Keep It Simple Stupid, pick the version that is easiest to do and remember under stress. I like doubles for strength and incorporate a locking feature. The double Bowline with a Scotts Lock is what I would choose to use. However to show that you first need to teach the basic Bowline knot.

Since doing the original Bush knots series linked below I have found multiple ways of tying a tautline hitch including the Midshipmans Hitch. None are wrong but I would show all of them and say which is easiest to remember.

I could quite easily do half a day on fishing knots and take someone out fishing and tying rigs, or knots for tying down loads on a trailer would be another half day. climbing knots,etc.

Setting up a tarp takes 5 different knots alone but to show a student do you teach to a certain level and describe easy knots or more advanced versions? On one course I participated on trying to show a Siberian hitch was over most of the students heads and the knots had to be dumbed down to suit the students ability. Velcro being the underlying problem.

I may have a student that says their not into fishing and wont require those knots. However a Surgeons knot can also be used for tying shoelaces so they don’t come undone and the trilene for attaching guy-lines to the corner of a tarp eyelet.

When I was learning to operate heavy vehicles we spent a good half day learning to secure a load with ropes. Nowadays its all strapping.However they had to teach to a certain level to avoid loosing a load on a heavy vehicle. I would like to teach to that same level.Even if it just for securing a load on a backyarders 6×4 trailer.

Only 5 knots

Only 5 Knots ?

Bush Knots Master Class

Part 1 Intro

Bushcraft Master Knot Course

Part 2 Applications Lashings

Bush Knots Master Class Part 2 Lashings (Uses and Applications)

Part 3 Fishing

Bush Knots Master Class Part 3 Fishing

Part 4 Mechanical

Bush Knots Master Class Part 4 Mechanical

Part 5 Hitches

Bush Knots Master Class Part 5 Hitches

Part 6 Knots

Bush Knots Master Class Part 6 knots

The reason I’m so hung up on knot variations is that there are just so much better ways of trying knots than the standard versions.

Yosemite Bowline (Yosemite Finish) Water Bowline Round-Turn Bowline (Double Bowline) Bowline In A Bight (Not at the end of a line) Twin Bowline (Bowline Bend).

I wouldn’t use all of these, however I definitely prefer the Yosemite and Double bowline over using the standard form. I tend to prefer double knots when they are available. The bowline in a bite is much stronger for climbing work. The twin bowline or bowline bend is what I use for attaching to either side of a bearing block to incorporate the bearing into a hand drill. The extra loop is much easier on the thumbs.

Why to improve a bowline.

Scott’s Locked bowline an alternative to the Yosemite ?

Remembering the easier the knot to tie, the easier to remember under stress.

Just to be a pain here are 18 bowline variations

I generally only use the surgeons loop, figure 8 bend, fisherman’s, and sheet bend usually doubles for bushcraft when joining two pieces of cordage toether. However I came across the reever knot that was more like a braid, which interested me. Ill be testing out this knot and where I can find an application for it that the others wont fit in.

You may be seeing a lot more on knots in the following posts. I lost my interest in bushcraft for a little while after a rather arduous trek, all of two kilometers of it and thought if my knee stays this damaged whats the use of trying to get back in the field. Then something snapped in me and I started pushing myself even harder than I was before. So screw it! I’ll be focusing on projects that are easier for me to manage for the blog in the meantime. In between working on the carpentry for the van and rehab.

A variation on the round turn and two half hitches. Just add another turn. It also helps to place the first half hitch through all of the turns. Fro studying knots im finding much better ways to form them.

I’ll have to add this break knot to the mechanical knots section in the bush knots master class.

Bush Knots Master Class Part 4 Mechanical

Another use for the bushcraft zip-tie in building a shelter quickly without the need for lashing.

I was put onto a short hike near where I was traveling through to a suspension bridge. I thought easy, clearly marked wheel chair access. Not too sure of the distance only that it should have been within my limits and I haven’t been doing much on the blog. The road started off with massive tree ferns and a blanket of wild flowers along the sides of the bitumen before reaching the parking bay. The track seemed well marked and a gentle slope. The first 350 meters where well within my tolerances. The next 800 meters to reach the destination , going down hill felt like I was being stabbed in the knee every time I put my left foot down. I knew i was going to have trouble climbing back up the gradient. Wheel chair access pigs arse., came to mind as clearly whomever designed the track had never spent time in a chair I finally reached the bridge and thought this was not a good idea. 15 feet at a time dragging my knee back up the hill until reaching the first sign post a half a step at a time with that leg. The walk itself wasn’t that inspiring but like many things it wasn’t the destination but what you learn along the way. I took many things away from that short hike. Id spent months and months pushing myself to increase my lung capacity to post COVID levels and to increase my knee strength but all that felt like I hadn’t achieved anything today. I managed to get back to my camp and washed down several panadiene forte with an iced coffee. It knocked my out for hours. When i first damaged my spine I had to take ten panadiene forte a day with a 6 pack of beer just to function. To get out of bed, to walk the dog. Trying to get all the meds out of my system has lowered my resistance to pain killers. It was when I woke up that I thought of how much more work I still had to do to get back on my feet. I didn’t leave it at not accomplishing anything, only that I would have more work to do.