Orion Online

This is a QuickTime video showing how to hank a length of rope, such as a guy rope.

This hank was first noticed by our troop having purchased three dining shelters from the kit left over from the World Jamboree which took place at Hylands Park in Chelmsford, Essex during August 2007.

This is a QuickTime video showing how to tie a Clove Hitch.

This knot is used to attach a rope to a spar, particularly when the rope can be pulled from two opposing directions, for instance on an intermediate post of a post and rope fence.

This is a QuickTime video showing how to tie a Harvester's Hitch, sometimes called a Waggoner's Hitch.

It is used when a rope needs to be tightened, for instance when securing a load on a vehicle or tightening a rope on a pioneering project. It acts a bit like a block and tackle. Truck drivers use a more secure (extra twists in places) version of this knot to secure their loads.

This is a QuickTime video showing how to tie a Round Turn and Two Half Hitches knot. 

This is used to secure the end of a line or rope to a spar, ring or bollard. If it is tied using rope comprising three strands, the dead end of the rope can be tucked back into the rope by twisting it to open up a gap.

 The Scouts have been learning how to tie six basic knots.

1. Reef knot
2. Bowline
3. Clove Hitch
4. Sheet Bend
5. Round Turn and Two Half Hitches
6. Timber Hitch

and how to tie two lashings,

1. Square lashing
2. Sheer lashing

To help reinforce some of this work, what better than to build a Sedan Chair and hold a competition. We know that when kids have to tie their own safety knots, it tends to focus the mind a little more. We thought the same might be true if they had to tie their own lashings and then be carried on the chair at speed!

I think the pictures say it all. (NB. Click on each image to get a larger picture)

This is a QuickTime video showing how to tie a Fisherman's Bend.

This is used to tie two ropes together. The Double Fisherman's is more secure and can be used, for instance, to make an adjustable necklace band on homemade jewelry. The name derives from the ability of the knot to cope with wet ropes.

This is a QuickTime video instructing others how to tie a Sheet Bend.

This quick knot is used to tie two ropes together, especially if they are not the same thickness, in which case the thicker one is used to form the bight. The name come from the name of the rope - the sheet - that controls the lateral movement of sails. Nelson's men no doubt bent the damaged sheets together using a Sheet Bend during the Battle of Trafalgar.

This is a QuickTime video instructing others how to tie the Figure of Eight knot.

This a a really useful knot - in its basic form it is a stopper knot, preventing the end of a rope going through an aperture. It can be tied on a bight to form a secure loop or it can be used instead of a thumb knot in a Fisherman's Bend. If tied at the end of a rope, another rope one can be tied to it by making one end of the second rope follow the rope around the Figure of Eight. You get about six knots for the price of one!