Knot, Hitch & Lashing

Lencana Keahlian Reef Knot - The best known and most useful parcel knot. It should preferably only be tied with the two ends of the same material, but should never be used as a bend. It is the best knot for tying a triangular bandage. Sheet Bend - The most useful and practical knot for bending (tying) two ropes together. Note that to be correct the two ends should be on the same side of the knot. If the two ropes differ in thickness, a Double Sheet Bend should be used.

Clove Hitch - The nearest there is to a general utility hitch. It is easy to tie in a number of different ways and to untie. It has a wide variety of uses but care should be taken not to misuse it: it is so easy to use it when a more suitable hitch (e.g. a Rolling Hitch etc.) would serve better.

Bowline - The most useful and one of the simplest ways of putting a fixed loop in the end of a rope. It is easy to tie and to untie, it never slips nor jams and has a high breaking strength. It has been called the 'King of Knots'.

Round Turn - Definition. When the two legs of a loop cross the rope has 'taken a turn'. If one leg is taken round a second time, i.e. a second cross, it is a Round Turn. Taken round a third time makes Two Round Turns.

Round Turn and Two Half Hitches - Bearing in mind the definitions, the name is self-explanatory. A good hitch in almost all circumstances.

Whipping - When a rope 'whips' in the wind the end will quickly unravel and fray. Protection can be given by a knot or a Back Splice but the best and most used method is to use a Whipping. There are a number of different types used, one of the best known of which is shown here.

Lencana Usaha

Fishermans Knot - Also called Water Knot, Anglers Knot etc. It is formed from two overhand knots each tied round the opposite end: it is very suitable for rope in general and is used mainly for small stuff. It is, however, beginning to find favour amongst climbers as a bend for nylon rope. Sheepshank - A knot tied in the bight for shortening a rope or taking up the slack, without cutting it. It can also be used to protect a weak, damaged or frayed section of the rope. See also Tom Fool Knot.

Double Sheet Bend - The Sheet Bend is never truly safe and secure when one rope is thicker than the other. The Double Sheet Bend is a variation in which an extra turn is taken and, although it is no stronger, it is more secure. Still another turn can be taken, if thought advisable, making a Triple Sheet Bend.

Timber Hitch - One of the simplest yet most effective of hitches. Used on spars, bales, etc., for commencing a diagonal lashing, and with extra half hitches added, for towing or dragging, etc.

Midshipman's Hitch - An excellent hitch that can be temporarily or permanently made. When used to make a loop, it can be slid to adjust the loop for size. A good knot to know if you have fallen in the sea and a rope is tossed to you. Also useful as a Guyline Hitch or to substitute for a broken slider on a guyline. It is identical in form to the Rolling Hitch.

Lashing - Definition. a) Binding two or more objects together, usually spars, by means of turns of rope. b) To secure a movable object by rope to prevent it shifting, as with deck cargo, etc.

Square Lashing - The standard lashing used to fasten two spars or poles together, not necessarily at right angles, where there is no tendency for them to spring apart.

Diagonal Lashing - A lashing used for two crossing spars when it is neccessary first to draw them together. Commonly used for the centre lashing of the diagonal braces on a Treatle.

Lencana Maju

Bowline-on-a-bight - A double loop knot which is tied in the bight when the two ends are fixed or inaccessible. The strain should come equally on both standing parts. A good rescue or chair knot.

Firemans Chair Knot - A double loop knot used for lowering an injured person from a height. It is tied in the bight, one end secured aloft and the other end used to control the direction of lowering.

Highwayman's Hitch - A most useful Draw Hitch for securing a horse, a boat, etc. or in self rescue work. The knot will take any amount of strain on the standing part but spills the moment the end is pulled. Legend has it that Dick Turpin used this knot on his nefarious errands: if in a hurry to escape, he just had to leap on his horse, Black Bess, at the same time snatching the end, when he was away.

Marlinespike or Marlingspike - Definition. A metal tool with a knobbed head and tapering to a point. Used for tightening seizing, etc., and for opening strands when splicing. The knobbed end is used for pounding.

Marlingspike Hitch - A temporay hitch made with a Marlingspike, or a tent peg, etc., when extra strain is needed to heave a small rope taut, as, for example, the turns of lashings or seizings. Also used on occasion in Sheepshanks or Harvester's Hitch.

Shear Lashing - A lashing used to produce Shear Legs or, alternatively a lashing to secure poles or spars end to end.

Crown - A knot that is tied in the end of a rope with the unlaid strands. It is seldom, if ever, used on its own but as a constituent part of a multiple knot, e.g. a Wall and Crown, etc. It is also used to commence a Back Splice. The Crown Knot is the exact opposite of the Wall Knot.

Back Splice - Also known as Crown Splice and Dog Pointing. A simple and effective method of finishing the end of a rope in which a Crown Knot is made with the strands at the end which are then spliced back into the rope. It is clumsy compared with Whipping but useful in an emergency or if it is desirous to know by feel when the end of the rope has been reached.

Lencana Jaya

Man Harness Knot - Also called the Artillery Knot. A loop knot tied in the bight through which an arm can be put up to the shoulder to assist in hauling, while leaving the hands free. Formerly used on gun carriages, one end of the rope being fastenend to a ring on the end of the axle.

Middleman's Knot - Also called the Englishman's Loop (in America) the Fisherman's or Angler's Loop, and it is one of the several knots known as True Lover's Knot. It is a useful loop knot tied in the bight by one of at least four different methods. Once much used for the middleman on a rope in climbing, but now superseded for this purpose by better knots such as the Alpine Butterfly.

Water Bowline - When a rope has to be pulled through water, any knot has a tendency to tighten and jam. In the case of a Bowline, an extra hitch as shown will lessen this tendency.

Rolling Hitch - A knot used to fasten a small rope to a larger one when the pull is at an acute angle. Used, for example, for hauling a towrope by means of a thrown line. See also Magnus Hitch.

FLOOR LASHING - to lash a series of poles to a set of stringers to form a flat surface such as a deck, a table top, or a road way.

Comments ---When using a floor lashing, both ends of the decking poles must be lashed at the same tine to insure a firm even surface. When placing the decking poles on the stringers, lay the decking poles so that their butt end are in alternating direction. Alternating the but ends of the decking poles will compensate for the natural taper of the poles so that the length of the decking along each stringer will be equal. Narrative ---- (For floor lashing knotboard) (1) Tie a clove hitch around each stringer. (2) Secure the short end of the rope by wrapping it around the running end (wrap with the lay of the rope ). (3) Place the decking poles on the stringers and take a bight around the first pole. (4) Next, on the inside of the stringer, pull a bight up between the first decking pole and the next decking pole. (5) Place the eye of the bight over the end of the decking pole. (6) Pull tight. (7) On the outside of the stringer, place a bight over the next decking pole. (8) Pull tight. (9) Repeat steps 4 through 8 until all decking poles are lashed in place. (10) Tie the first half hitch of the ending clove hitch. Work half hitch tight. (11) Tie the second half hitch of the ending clove hitch. Work half hitch tight (12) to

form clove hitch.

Barrel Hitch - This is the simplest yet most effective method of slinging or hoisting a barrel in a vertical position

Fishermans Bend - This is one of just three knots incorrectly called 'bends' which are actually hitches. It is strong and secure and is probably the most used Anchor Hitch, apart from being an excellent hitch for all normal purposes.

Figure of Eight Lashing - Used to make tripods. Lay spars with two running one way and the thrid in the other. Start with a clove hitch on one outer spar then take turns over and under. Make frappings between spars. End with a clove hitch on opposite spar to start. End - Definition The termination of a rope or the free part towards the termination with which a knot is being tied. Eye - Definition A spliced, seized or knotted loop in a rope, usually at the end. It will often be fitted with a thimble.

Eye Splice - A method of putting a permanent eye in the end of a rope. The strands are unlaid, a loop of suitable size formed and the three strands spliced or worked in and out of the rope, usually under and over. Three 'tucks' are normally taken.

Lencana Kemahiran

Cats Paw - The most suitable Hook Hitch for slings and probably the best. It cannot jam and spills immediately when taken from the hook. It is particularly suitable for heavy lifts

Carrick Bend - An excellent knot, probably the nearest to the perfect bend. It is symmetrical, easy to tie, will not slip nor ham, is very strong and is easily untied. Its particular use is as a bend for hawsers and cables. It can be used in two forms, drawn up or open and seized and it should always be tied so that the two ends are diagonally opposite.

Turk's Head - The Turk's Head is, more accurately, a system rather than just a knot, generally tubular in form, decorative and very useful. Basically a binding knot, but can be worked flat for decorative purposes. Can be made with separate strands (Standing Turk's Heads) or with a single, continuous strand (Running Turk's Head).

Turn - Definition. See Round Turn.

Scaffold Hitch - A first-class method of slinging a plank to make a platform for such purposes as painting, etc.

Racking Bend - When two ropes of widely different thicknesses have to be bent together, the conventional bends are virtually useless. The Racking Bend, however, serves the purpose excellently.

Monkey's Fist - A knob knot at the end of a rope, usually made round a pebble or ball of lead, etc. It is the best heaving line knot, the heavy core in the knot giving it the weight to carry the mass of the line when thrown.

Short Splice - The best method of joining two ropes together end ofr end, provided that the spliced rope does not have to reeve through a block. It is stronger, more secure and more permanent than any bend.

Japanese Square Lashing - A lashing used in lightweight construction work.

Filipino Diagonal Lashing - A lashing used in lightweight construction

work. Start with the middle of the rope, tucking the running ends through the middle "loop" after going round both spars. Use the "loop" to pull the spars together.

Now proceed as for a diagonal lashing taking the running end round both spars, keeping both ends together.

Separate the ends and take frapping turns between the spars, pulling the rope tight as you do so.

Complete the frapping turns and finish off with a square knot.

Harvester's Hitch - Sometimes also called the Haymaker's Hitch. Used by lorry or truck drivers to secure a load. When a trapaulin is thrown over the load and is being tied down, additional purchase is obtained by the use of this knot and the rope drawn much tighter. The knot is also useful as an emergency tackle when blocks with sheaves are not immediately available.