Part Eight
Lashings and Special-purpose Knots
Camp structures and emergency shelters rely on lashings to tie poles together in various configurations. Such structures are often lashed with relatively light cord, and a lot of cordage is needed to make a lashing that will bear much weight and retain rigidity. The other knots in this section are specific to climbers, boaters, and anyone carrying cargo on top of a vehicle or on a trailer.
78. Square Lashing
Uses: binding poles at right angles
Pros: very secure
Cons: time-consuming to tie and untie; uses a lot of cordage
79. Diagonal Lashing
Uses: binding diagonal braces
Pros: very secure
Cons: time-consuming to tie and untie; uses a lot of cordage
80. Sheer Lashing
Uses: lashing poles lengthwise; extending pole length
Pros: very strong and secure
Cons: time-consuming to tie and untie; uses a lot of cordage
81. Pole Lashing
Uses: lashing poles for carrying
Pros: quick and secure
Cons: may require cutting short lengths of rope
Uses: tying cargo on vehicles, securing tarps over stacked material
Pros: tight, secure, adjustable
Cons: uses a lot of rope; may be difficult to untie
83. Sheepshank
Uses: shortening a line; bypassing a worn section, slinging a ladder
Pros: strong, secure under constant load
Cons: insecure if subjected to movement
84. Cleat Hitch
Uses: tying boats; securing halyards, sail sheets, and boat fenders
Pros: easy to tie and untie; secure
Cons: none known
85. Prusik Knot
Uses: moveable handholds, tie-offs, or clip-on points on climbing rope
Pros: quick, easy, fairly secure
Cons: only secure under load; can slip if wet or icy
86. Klemheist Knot
Uses: moveable handholds, tie-offs, or clip-on points on climbing rope
Pros: more secure than Prusik Knot
Cons: only secure under load
87. Italian Hitch
Uses: climbing: belaying, braking, rappelling
Pros: flexible, multi-purpose slide-and-lock hitch
Cons: kinks; can ruin rope when rappelling
78. Square Lashing
Use this lashing to connect a vertical and horizontal pole at right angles to each other for shelters, platforms, scaffolds, and ladders. The connection will be solid and the horizontal pole will bear a great deal of weight.
Instructions
1. Position yourself on the side of the structure so that the vertical pole is in front of the horizontal one. Tie a Clove Hitch around the vertical pole, just beneath the horizontal one.
2. Pass the working end behind the horizontal pole at the 3:00 position, in front of the vertical pole at 12:00, then back behind the horizontal one at 9:00. When you pull the rope tight after passing it behind the horizontal pole the first time, the clove hitch may slip around the pole as shown: this is OK.
3. Continue wrapping the rope in the same counterclockwise direction around the crossing, going behind the horizontals and in front of the verticals. Wrap the rope next to, not over, the previous wrap, and pull it as tight as possible with each turn. Make three full wraps all the way around. (The starting Clove Hitch makes it appear that there are more than three wraps at the 6:00 position.)
4. Make a round turn behind the horizontal pole at the 3:00 position.
5. Working now in a clockwise direction, pass the rope behind the verticals and in front of the horizontals. Pulling the rope very tight with each of these frapping turns will further tighten the first set of wraps.
6. Make three full frapping turns.
7. After the last frapping turn, make a Half Hitch below the wraps on the vertical pole at 6:00.
8. Pass the rope around the vertical pole one more time and complete a final Clove Hitch.
79. Diagonal Lashing
Most perpendicular structures require diagonal bracing to remain square: without it, they’re likely to collapse parallelogram-wise. After lashing a structure’s main horizontal and vertical members with Square Lashings, add diagonal braces from corner to corner. Use Diagonal Lashings where the diagonals cross verticals and horizontals, and where the diagonals cross each other.
Instructions
1. Tie a Timber Hitch vertically around both poles, with both ends finishing up on top of the pole closer to you and the long working end facing downward.
2. Make three round turns around both poles in the same direction, pulling each turn very tight. The round turns will go right over the Timber Hitch, but should not overlap each other.
3. Take the working end behind the pole that’s closer to you, working counterclockwise.
4. Pass the working end over the first set of round turns and horizontally across the crossing of the poles.
5. Make three full adjacent round turns around both poles in the same direction, pulling each turn very tight.
6. After the third horizontal round turn, shift the working end downward and begin making frapping turns counterclockwise between the two poles and over the two sets of round turns. Make three full frapping turns, pulling each one very tight.
7. Finish the lashing with a clove hitch around the back pole.
80. Sheer Lashing
This lashing is used when you need a shaft longer than your longest pole. For light-duty use, such as an improvised fishing rod, a single Sheer Lashing may suffice to splice the overlapped ends of two thin sapling poles together. But for structural members like vertical supports on signal towers, flag staffs, or ridge beams, the poles should have considerable overlap and lashings at both ends.
2. Fold the short standing part between the two poles. Take the working end around both poles to hold the standing part in place.
3. Make a series of round turns around both poles, until the wrapping is twice as long as the combined diameters of the poles. Make the wraps snug but not so tight that you can’t sneak the rope between the poles for the next step.
4. Make a turn (not a round turn) around one of the poles and pass the working end between them.
5. Bring the working end down to the opposite end of the wraps and pull it back between the two poles. Pull this frapping turn tight.
6. Make a second frapping turn and pull it tight.
7. Tie a Half Hitch around the pole opposite the one that took a turn before the frapping turns began.
8. Bring the working end around the same pole and complete a Clove Hitch.
9. Complete the lashing by tucking the working end between the poles one more time.
81. Pole Lashing
This is an excellent knot for tying together bundles of poles or other long, narrow objects for carrying, because the initial bights snug the poles together tightly before they’re secured with a Square Knot. Tie a lashing at each end of a bundle of canoe or kayak paddles, tent poles, skis and ski poles, long sticks of firewood, or poles for shelters.
Instructions
1. Working on the ground next to the poles that will be lashed, arrange short lengths of rope into two bights facing opposite directions. It doesn’t matter if the ropes form S or Z shapes, as shown at the right and left.
2. Lay the poles over the ropes so that an end and a bight are accessible on each side. Take one rope end and pass it through the bight on the opposite side of the poles.
3. Take the other rope end and pass it through the other bight.
4. Pull the ends firmly down and away from each other. This will shift the bights toward the bottom of the bundle.
5. Tie a Half Knot with the two ends.
6. Tie another Half Knot in the opposite direction to complete a Square Knot.
7. The completed lashing.
8. Completed Pole Lashings at both ends of the bundle.
82. Slip Knot Trucker’s Hitch
An effective lashing is essential when tying boats or gear to a car’s roof rack. Various knots go by the name “Trucker’s Hitch,” but they all follow the principle of this version: after tying off the standing end, the working end goes over the load then down and around the second tie-off point, then up through a loop knot in the standing part and back down, where it is tied off to itself with a sliding hitch.
Instructions
1. Imagine that the standing part of the rope (out of the photograph to the top) has already been tied to a fixed point on the opposite side of the vehicle with a Bowline. The rope has then been thrown over the load and we’re about to tie down on this side. Begin with an overhand crossing turn.
2. Make a bight just below the crossing turn and pass it through from back to front.
3. Pull down on the bight to complete a Slipped Overhand Knot. This provides purchase—a point where mechanical advantage can be exerted, much like on a pulley.
4. Bring the working end around the attachment point on the near side of the vehicle, then thread it through the drawloop of the Slipped Overhand Knot.
5. Haul down hard on the working end, then tie it to itself between the Slipped Overhand Knot and the attachment point using a Taut Line Hitch.
A Bowline (shown) is a good knot to begin the tie-down process. A Slip Knot Trucker’s Hitch secures the canoe to the roof rack crossbar on the other side of the car. Similar knot combinations should be used on both crossbars, and from the bow and stern of the canoe to the front and rear bumpers or tow hooks on the vehicle.
83. Sheepshank
Also known as: Dog Shank
The Sheepshank is useful to shorten a line. For example, when lashing a tarp over a load on a trailer, a Sheepshank can be used to take up any excess length of rope, so that only a sufficient length of working end has to be pulled through the purchase of a Trucker’s Hitch. It’s also a good way to bypass a weak or worn section of rope if you don’t want to cut it out.
Instructions
1. Make three underhand counterclockwise crossing turns.
2. Reach through the back of the left crossing turn and grab the left leg of the middle crossing turn.
3. Reach through the front of the right crossing turn and grab the right leg of the middle crossing turn.
4. Pulling outward with both hands, pull both legs of the middle crossing turn through the left and right crossing turns.
5. Continue pulling on the expanded middle crossing turn until the outer crossing turns tighten down around it.
6. Pull both ends of the rope to finish tightening the knot.
7. The finished Sheepshank.
84. Cleat Hitch
Cleats provide convenient tie-off points on boats, docks, flagpoles, truck racks, boat hoists, and elsewhere. Tying the knot should be equally convenient: quick, secure, and easy to untie no matter how much load is on the line. This common method, which has no recognized name, fills the bill with none of the superfluous wraps one so often sees.
Instructions
1. Most cleats are mounted at an oblique angle to the direction of the line. Run the line under the far horn of the cleat so that it does not pass beneath the near horn. Do not run the line all the way around the base of the cleat.
2. Take the line over the top of the cleat, then underneath the near horn in the same direction that it passed under the far one. (In other words: if the line passes under the far horn from right to left, as shown, it should also pass under the near horn from right to left.)
3. Make an overhand crossing turn in the working end.
4. Turn the crossing turn over so that it becomes an underhand crossing turn. Place it over the far horn of the cleat.
5. Pull the working end tight, completing a Single Hitch.
6. The finished knot consists of two underhand crossing turns. The working end is parallel and adjacent to the underhand leg of the crossing turn on the near horn. The overhand leg of the near crossing turn holds down the working end. For additional security, another underhand crossing turn may be added to the near horn. This is especially important if the cleat is mounted vertically and the second overhand crossing turn is around the bottom horn of the cleat.
85. Prusik Knot
Climbers use the Prusik Knot to create moveable tie-off points on a vertical climbing rope. Tied with a sling around the main climbing rope, it can be easily slid up or down to reposition a carabiner or serve as a hand- or foot-hold. The sling grasps the climbing rope only when load is applied up or down. The rope of the sling should be no more than half the diameter of the main rope.
Instructions
1. Make a bight in the sling, pass it behind the main rope, and pass the rest of the sling through the bight, forming a loose Cow Hitch.
2. Grab the sling at the opposite end from the bight and form it into a second bight.
3. Pass the new bight between the main rope and the crossing part of the Cow Hitch.
4. Pull the new bight through so that the sling makes two round turns around the main rope both above and below the bight.
5. Pull the bight tight to close up the round turns around the main rope. Pulling down on the free part of the sling will cause it to grip the main rope. With load off the sling, the round turns can be slid up or down the main rope.
86. Klemheist Knot
The Klemheist Knot is known as a “Prusiking knot,” because it slides and grips like a Prusik (opposite). It works well with a sling that is made of rope at least half the diameter of the main rope, or with tubular tape, and is said to be more secure than a Prusik Knot.
Instructions
1. Make a bight in the sling and pass it behind the main rope.
2. Wrap the bight up the main rope, making four or five round turns and leaving a short loop.
3. Make a bight in the other end of the sling and pass it through the bottom of the loop.
4. Pull down on the second bight to lock the sling onto the main rope. The knot can be easily slid up or down the main rope when it is unloaded.
87. Italian Hitch
Also known as: Sliding Ring Hitch, Munter Friction Hitch
This knot pays out slack in a controlled manner through a carabiner to the loaded leg, and readily locks up when tension is applied to the other end. It’s useful as a safety rope for descending, where the climber himself or an assistant can control the braking end of the line. It can be used for rappelling, but it’s very hard on rope and should only be used in a pinch. It can also be used to lower heavy loads where a pulley is not available.
Instructions
1. Make two crossing turns in the bight of the rope, with an underhand cross on the left and an overhand cross on the right.
2. Fold the crossing turns back to back.
3. Once they are folded together, the left crossing turn becomes a bight.
4. Keeping them side by side, place the bight, then the remaining crossing turn, on the carabiner.
5. Both ends pulled tight. The leg of the crossing turn bears the load; the leg of the bight is the braking or control leg. Pulling the braking leg tightens the crossing turn around the loaded leg and prevents it from feeding out slack.