Knots Archives - The Cargo Cult Café

Know Your Knots: A Guide to Knots for Just About Everything

January 27, 2017 by Mike 2 Comments

The need and usefulness of knots is something most people don’t think about until they are confronted with a tangled mess and disastrous knot. Been there, done that! This ancient skill has allowed mankind to sail around the world, climb impossible mountains, build homes and structures, acquire food, secure objects, tie the Christmas tree to the roof of our cars, and most importantly save lives. There are literally thousands of different kinds of knots and tens of ways to tie each one. Here is a great Infographic from Fix.com and PT Winchester explaining the most basic ones to get you started exploring the world or making things easier around the home.

Image attribution to Fix.com and www.ptwinchester.co.uk

5 Knots You Need to Know

November 7, 2015 by Mike Leave a Comment

The 5 Knots You Need to Know

The five knots we are going to cover are: the bowline hitch, the marlin spike hitch with a truckers hitch variation, a half hitch, a prusik knot and a figure of eight loop.

Bowline Hitch

Let’s start with the bowline hitch, which is used by bowyers to tie loops onto bowstrings and it’s been used by many others as an anchoring point for ridge-lines. The knot is simple to tie; form a loop with the working part on top, then feed the working end around an object then underneath and through the loop, now wrap it under and around the standing part and back through the loop, I tuck a bight instead of feeding the line completely through making it quick and easy to untie this hitch later.

Marlin Spike & Truckers Hitch

The next knot is a marlin spike hitch, simplicity at it’s finest. To tie, basically form a loop and feed in a bight of the line next to it, then tighten. If the line is already attached to an object and you use the standing part of the line as the bight in this hitch, you can lock items into place such as tent stakes that can be used to pull out tent or tarp guy-lines. But, if you use the working part of the line, tightening it up, but still leaving a loop, you can feed the rest of your working line around an object, then through the loop and now you have created a 3 to 1 pulley known as a truckers hitch, great for tightening the slack in any line.

Half Hitch

To finish off this truckers hitch and many other hitches, I use a either a half hitch, or two half hitches. The purpose of this hitch is to lock other hitches into place. To tie you simply tie an overhand knot and then tighten it into place at the base of whatever hitch it originated from. Like the bowline hitch I tuck a bight instead so that I can easily untie this knot later. Occasionally I’ll add another hitch for a little extra security.

Prusik Knot

Sometimes you need a knot that is completely adjustable. Something that will slide along another line and lock into place where ever you need it. That is where the prusik knot comes in handy. Tying this knot is easy; cut a piece of line about 8” long, tie it into a loop using a double or triple fisherman’s knot or just do a simple overhand knot, then wrap the line 2 or 3 times inside of itself and pull down on the inner looping part while making sure everything stays neat. This knot works best if the line used to make the prusik is thinner in diameter than the line you’re attaching it to, but i’ve used the same line before with minimum slippage. To adjust the line, grab it by the knot and slide, pull tight and lock whatever you need into place.

Figure of Eight Loop

Finally the Figure of Eight Loop, a climber’s favorite and one of the strongest knots out there. It’s perfect for when you need a strong, non-slip, loop at the end of a line. There are two ways we can tie this. The first is by doubling the line into an extended bight, then form a loop, and twist the bight behind and around the standing part then over and through the loop. Before completing this knot it should look like the number eight. The other way to tie this knot is to tie a normal, figure of eight knot, then wrap the excess working end around an object and retrace the path of the knot. I’ve found this knot handy for a lot of uses and I’m sure you can to.

Now that I have covered these five knots there is one last thing you should know. Excluding the Figure of eight loop, all of the other knots are simple to untie.

Keep Your eyes and ears open and your powder dry!

Tying a Dutch Hook into a Brummel Eye Splice

October 30, 2015 by Mike Leave a Comment

A Dutch Hook is a small, titanium, hook designed to be attached to either; the end of your ridge-line or a Prusik knot, making for a quick setup of your tarp. They weigh only .4 grams and can be tied or spliced onto 1.75 mm Zing-it or Lash-it line. All you have to do is wrap the line around a tree and clip the hook into place. You can get these great quality Dutch Hooks from DutchWare Gear.

To set this up, first we are going to need some materials: I am using a single braid, 1.75 mm, Lash-it line, a Dutch Hook, some very thin jewelry wire stolen from my wife, and a multitool with pliers.

Let’s begin by feeding the working end of the line through the eye hole of the Dutch Hook, and decide how big of a loop you want, but leave 2-3” of line beyond the point where you want base of the loop to be, for a stronger splice.

Now push the Lash-it line together, like a Chinese finger trap, on the standing portion of the line where you want the loop to be, and feed the loop of the wire, created by folding it in half, through the hole and place the working end of the line into the metal loop, then pull it back through the hole, and readjust the loop to where you want it to be.

Next we are going to do the same thing to the working end. Push the line of the working end together, just below your first pass on the standing part, and feed the wire through to the opposite side, grab onto the standing end and pull the entire standing part through the line. These two passes through the standing part of the line is called a Marlin splice.

Now we are going to finish this off by tucking the excess working end into the standing part of the line for a stronger splice that looks clean. Stretch the lines out, parallel to each other, and find a point 1/4” to 1/2” beyond the end of the working end, on the standing part of the line. At this point, squeeze the line together like you have before but this time feed the wire through the inside part of the hollow braided line towards the loop, coming out just below the point of your second pass. Grab the excess working line and pull it back through. I found it to be easier if I keep the line of the standing part scrunched up while I pushed the wire through and pulled the working end back, tucking it into place.

Finally, starting at the base of the loop, I used my fingers to work the line and stretch it out, covering the working end and completing the splice.