'CatDrill' - quick pioneering with pre-drilled poles and light synthetic cord.

Catdrill 'lashing' details

'CatDrill' is an Italian technique for staving or lightweight pioneering, that involves preparing the staves to be used by drilling a small hole and notching the surface of the pole. Lightweight synthetic kernmantle rope is then used to tie the staves together, using stopper knots on the starting end of the rope, and simple slipped hitches to end the lashings. Their English website has a series of PDF documents that guide you through the basics, from preparing your poles, to the different types of lashings, and some basic projects. The original, Italian site has some more projects that are not yet translated into English, but the pictures speak for themselves.

image courtesy Scout Trento 1

According to the authors, they developed the technique for the following reasons:

CatDrill is born for solving the following problems:

• the price of the building material (wood) and the difficulties found to get it from the forester;
• the price of the rope;
• to avoid the hazard of moving heavy wooden poles (and the tools needed to work with them);
• to avoid ties, joints and toggle realized in the wrong way (we saw them too much times in pictures & co);
• to practice pioneering during our one or two days trip, doing it quickly and avoiding to use the ground both as a chair and as a table;
• to approach how a boy thinks, who wants to see concrete results as soon as possible.

1at Blairgowrie demonstrating Catdrill at Gauteng Region training workshop

Senior Scouts and Scouters from 1st Blairgowrie Scout Group recently introduced me to the technique and demonstrated it at a pioneering workshop at Arrowe Park towards the end of 2015. The technique saves time, produces strong structures and is worth investigating if you have some light staves/laths you can set aside for this technique.

There is a similar, more permanent technique called 'Froissartage' using carpentry jointing techniques which I have written about before.

Hat-tip to ScoutmasterCG and 1st Blairgowrie Scout Group.

Clove Hitches on Mars

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems

Maybe the last place you'd expect to get use out of the six basic Scout knots is on a multi-billion Dollar piece of equipment travelling across the surface of another planet. However, dfred over at the International Guild of Knot Tyers forum has noticed that the Curiosity Mars rover has cable bundles that are tied down with clove hitches fastened by reef knots, and has even uncovered the NASA standard covering the fastening of cables. Head over to the discussion thread for more detail.

Finding the length of rope needed for a square lashing

Knoopenzo.nl (Knots etc.) is a Dutch website run by Theo Slijkerman, a member of the International Guild of Knot Tyers. The website has a number of very interesting knotting resources, including calculators for working out the amount of rope needed for a rope mat, a turks head and a braided ring.

For pioneering, his square lashing calculator is pretty handy. Given the diameter of both poles (Dp and Db), and the thickness of the lashing rope (Dt), it will calculate the length of rope needed. The full calculator is available here, and a simplified table showing the lengths for a 10mm rope is here, in English and Dutch.

Dutch / Flemish method for round Lashing

Round lashings seem to be tied with many different methods. According to the Dutch Scout wiki, this is how the Dutch speaking Scouts do it - with turns that run around the poles in both directions and are bound with a reef knot. Earlier this year I posted about the German round lashing, which uses a simple-lashing-like binding to join two poles, and this is yet another variation. The lashing itself is explained like this (please excuse my rough and ready translation):

• In the Netherlands it's customary to begin with a clove hitch around both poles. In the Flemish Region, the middle of the ropes is just laid over both poles.
• Take one of the ends (a) once around both poles, after that, take the other end (b) over the end and around until it comes out next to the other end (at c).
• After this, continue alternating between the two ends.
• Arrange the ends so that the crossings happen between the poles (on the 'flat side') and there are only single ropes (with no crossings) on the side
• 6 to 8 turns are used
• End with a reef knot tied with the two ends, on the side of the two poles

Sourced from the Dutch scoutwiki (English Google translation here)

Pioneering tool: unlashing hook

These hooks are designed for untying stubborn lashings. I haven't used one myself yet, but they look pretty handy.
Made by Ken Stanton, those of you in South Africa can pick one up for R25 from Bramley Scout Shop

Testing round lashings: German round lashing vs. shear lashing

 The traditional lashing for extending poles is the round lashing. Recently I blogged about an alternative, the German round lashing. My troop did some tests to see which of the two works better. After teaching both knots to their patrols, the Patrol Leaders made two sets of round lashings, one with the shear lashing and one with the German lashing. We then tested the beams by  propping them on barrels and putting weight on the middle, to see which was stronger. I also asked the opinions of the Scouts about which was easier to tie.

The results: out of four patrols, one were able to make a tighter joint using the German lashing tighter than the shear lashing. One patrol had lashings that were equally strong, while the other two tied a much stronger lashing with the shear lashing than the German lashing. All patrols felt that the shear lashing was easier to tie (because the start of the German lashing is tougher to control without a hitch to pull against). I might try this test again later, when the troop is more familiar with the German lashing, which was new to them. One tip that the patrol who tied the tightest German lashings had: lay the 'loop' down on one of the poles, instead of in the gap between poles, so that it locks tight while you are wrapping the turns around.

German Round Lashing

This lashing, a simple whipping applied to two poles, is an alternative to the Round lashing.  I found this on the German Scout Wiki (here in English for those who don't read German). My troop will be doing some experiments to see whether this knot performs as well (or better) than the round lashing.

The Sailmaker's lashing is another whipping adapted as a lashing.

Cloverleaf lashing- supporting the poles

I posted this photograph of Adiero's octopod cloverleaf lashing at Kontiki. Here is the formwork needed to support it while tying the lashing (thanks to Louise from Adiero for the explanation):


The vertical pole is a stake that supports the stack of poles to be lashed. After the lashing is tied (around the white poles,) the forms(grey poles) are removed.

Kim from Ploeg Technieken, the originators of the cloverleaf lashing, has these two examples for a 5 way and 4 way polypod:

Japanese lashings

Japanese traditional architecture and crafts are a great source for inspiration about lashings and pioneered structures. The images above and below are from the book 'Structure and Form in Japan' (apparently out of print but possibly available from Amazon.com)


Flickr user Anthony Grimley took this beautiful photograph of a fence outside a tea house:


And of course the Japanese Square lashing and Philipino Diagonal lashing were introduced to Scouting by Scouters in Asia.

Bowline in 3 strand rope- as a SketchUp model

Browsing the 3D Warehouse the other day, I found an incredible model TaffGoch posted - a bowline made entirely in SketchUp. This is a pretty impressive piece of modelling work, and complete instructions for modelling a knot are included. The first file shows how to model the shape of the knot, while the second one shows how to make a three stranded rope following the shape of the knot(see this thread from the SketchUp help group for more information).

So modelling of knots is possible in SketchUp- are there any volunteers for the rest of the six basic Scout Knots?

5 Bamboo pioneering projects from Flickr.com

Bamboo is a lightweight, fast growing material for pioneering, that is available relatively cheaply in most tropical regions of the world. Flickr.com has some incredible photos of projects built with bamboo.

First, Duncan Hodges' photo of a bamboo tower in Oxford:


Hoffa534 has a great photo of the bamboo scaffolding that is common in China and much of the Far East:


Michaelbrandon has a photo of a bamboo raft in Thailand:

...and Kandyjaxx has these details of the lashings holding a bamboo raft together

Finally, Ed Fladung has this photo of a bamboo bridge in Vietnam:


There are (literally) thousands of other photographs of bamboo structures on Flickr, and the Bamboo (bambu) photo pool is a good place to start if you want to see some of them. There's also a great book called Build Your Own House which is available on Amazon.com, that has great photographs and drawings of buildings constructed from bamboo.

Clover-leaf lashing

I came across this lashing, which is new to me, on the excellent Dutch Scouting wiki, Scoutpedia.nl. This is a lashing used to tie 4 or more poles together at one point. Here is my rough paraphrase of the original Dutch wiki entry:

The Cloverleaf (or polypod) lashing is used to lash a number of poles together to make a 'multi-pod' - a tripod, quadpod, pentapod or hexapod.

You could use a figure of eight lashing (or a sailmaker's lashing for that matter) to make a tripod but from a quadpod upwards you need the cloverleaf lashing.

1. Lie the four (or five or six) poles with their bases lined up (so your multipod will stand up straight) and make sure that there is space between the poles to be able to pass the rope through for the lashing (you can use short poles to space the poles out, like in this drawing). The poles should be evenly spaced so that they form a square (or pentagon or hexagon- from here on I'll assume we're using 4 poles).

2. Tie the rope to one of the poles with a clove hitch.

3. Wrap the rope once around each pole, in the same direction each time, as shown in this drawing.

4. If your poles were correctly spaced, you'll see a square in the middle of the lashing. By looking at this shape, you can check whether you are tying the knot properly. If it's not a square anymore, you have tightened the lashing incorrectly.


5. Repeat steps 3 and 4, going around all the poles three times (but see this post for a discussion about that).


6. Start frapping, putting a set of frapping turns around each pole in succession. Start frapping at the pole and wrap towards the inside.To start the next frapping, take one turn around the next pole, so that you are able to start the frappings from the pole and work inwards. Repeat for each pole.

7. For the last pole, frap from the inside to the outside, and end by tying a clove hitch around that pole.

(alternatively, read it in Dutch here)

So, an interesting little lashing, that is useful for one specific job (just like the scaffold lashing has one, very specific use). I imagine that it's best not to use a frapping mallet to tighten this lashing, because it will probably stretch out as you spread the legs of the multipod out. As far as I can tell, this lashing originates in Belgium - at least all of the web sites that reference it are in Belgium. The drawings here are courtesy of the 44th Sint-Maarten Scout Group.

So, can anyone share a photograph of this lashing in action? Are there any Dutch or Belgian readers who have used this lashing successfully?

How do >YOU< tie a square lashing?

After my post about guidelines for tying square lashings a few weeks back, Hawk, a Scouter from Perth, wrote in to say that he works to different guidelines. Specifically, instead of 3 turns and 3 frapping turns, his troop uses "thrap thrice Frap Twice" and has always had safe structures using this formula. He also mentions using sisal or synthetic twine for tying lashings on rafts. I started looking around on the net for Square Lashing variations, and while the outline is the same (clove hitch, wrap, frap, clove hitch) there is considerable variations about the number of turns and so on. Here is a brief survey of the top few Google results for 'Square Lashing':

• Wikipedia recommends "at least three" frapping turns (In my experience 4 or more turns are really untidy).
• Scoutingresources.org asks for '3 or 4' turns and 'about 3' frapping turns.
• Glen Cockwell's site recommends 'enough turns for the strength you need' and between 2 and 5 frapping turns.

There seems to quite a bit of variation around exactly how a Square Lashing is tied. So, this week I'd like to hear from you: how does your troop tie a square lashing? Leave a comment on this post, and if you have photographs, feel free to link to them or mail them to me.

Square lashing checklist

There is more to tying a safe, secure square lashing then just knowing the "clove hitch, wrap around three times, frap around three times, clove hitch" formula. These guidelines, based on scoring sheets for pioneering competitions, help ensure that lashings are tied 'correctly'. These guidelines make the lashing safer, they're not just for the sake of competition. Here is our square lashing checklist that is used by the Patrol Leader to check all lashings tied:

1. Starting in the right place ?
Having all lashings start in the same place means that it is easier to check lashings, and also easier to untie lashings at the end of the weekend. For a raft, it is typically towards the back of the raft. For a tower structure, the clove hitch normally starts on the vertical member, at the bottom so as to support the horizontal member


2. Clove hitch twisted into rope ?
The 'tail' of the starting clove hitch is twisted around the running end of the rope- this tucks the end of the rope away, which makes the lashing look tidier, but also makes the lashing safer because this hitch is locked more securely

3. Three turns around, all neat and no crossings ?
Three is a good number of turns around a lashing to ensure a solid joint. A specific number is chosen so that all lashing look the same size and can be easily checked. Neat lashings are also strong lashing: crossed turns result in parts of the ropes that are 'pinched' and can be damaged.

4. Three frapping turns, no crossings?
Again, 3 frapping turns is a good number for security.

5. Tight?
A general guideline for tightness of lashings is that one finger pushing on the frapping turns should be unable to move the rope. Again, this is a safety issue.

6. Clove hitch ending in the right place ?
All lashing end with their final clove hitches in the same place. The ending clove hitch should be on the other pole from the starting hitch. On a raft, this is done in terms of inside and outside of the structure, rather than left or right: on the outside poles of a raft, it is safer to have the hitch towards the inside where it will not catch and possibly untie

7. Half-hitches around pole to finish ?
Any excess length of rope follows on immediately after the final clove hitch with a series of half-hitches. Of course, ropes should be very close to the right length for a particular job, put it is better to use a slightly longer rope than a slightly shorter one :)

8. End neatly tucked away ?
This is a safety issue that is again disguised to look like a neatness issue. A free end sticking out of a lashing can potentially get caught and cause the lashing to come untied.

Now as for how this is actually checked: You can visually check whether any of the ends of the rope are sticking out. The rest of the check is done by hand- running your fingers along the lashing, underneath the pole and around the frapping turns. If the lashing is tied correctly, your hands should run smoothly without catching on anything. Each lashing takes a few seconds to check.

Loosening lashings: using a marlinspike

A Marlinspike is a pointed metal tool that is used for splicing ropes and untying knots. The marlinspike in the photograph is meant for untying lashings. It is made from mild steel round bar, with one end sharpened and the other hammered flat.

Typically, a marlinspike is necessary if lashings have been exposed to water and have swollen. The basic principle is to use it to open up a space in the hitches that end the lashing.
In this case, pushing the marlinspike in, and forcing it upwards makes space for the running end of the clove hitch to move- it's no longer being held by the crossing part of the hitch. The action used is to push the point in carefully, making sure not to damage the rope (the flat end of the tool can be useful to seperate two turns that lie very close together). Once the point is firmly pushed in, pushing the back end of the tool downwards twists the hitch backwards, and the running end normally comes loose. It can take a fair amount of force to untie: it's not unusual for our troop to bend marlinspikes while stripping a raft.



If a clove hitch is locked especially tight, twisting the free end of the rope can help loosen it: if you twist the rope in the direction of the lay, it becomes slightly narrower. Using one hand, twist the rope tighter, and then use the other hand to operate the marlinspike.

Using a marlinspike like this, most lashings can be easily untied, even if wet. If you have tied constrictors and allowed them to get wet, another tool is more useful for removing them.

Tightening lashings: using a frapping mallet

A frapping mallet is used to tighten lashings while they are being tied. Using hands alone, it's not typically possible to tighten a lashing enough for it to be secure, especially with larger poles. This post illustrates one way of using a frapping mallet, the method I am familiar with.


A frapping mallet uses a half-hitch to lock the rope so that it can be tightened. Begin by twisting the rope to form a loop, making sure that the running end of the rope is facing towards you.



Now insert the mallet into the loop- if the loop was made correctly, the running end will now end up at the bottom, closest to the head of the mallet. The end of the rope that runs into the lashing will be 'locking' the free end.


Slide your hand to the end of the mallet handle, and hold the running end in it so that it is pulled up against the half-hitch and locks. Rest the head of the mallet on the pole, and pull the handle of the mallet towards you, tightening the rope. This is repeated to tighten the rope. For a square lashing, you would typically do this for every turn around the poles, and every half-turn of the frapping turns.

The Tolmer's Tackle

(This method for tightening a rope without a block and tackle is from the November 27,1952 edition of 'the Scout'- a weekly Scouting newspaper from the UK. John Sweet's original text describing the tackle follows after the drawing.)


"White Owl" of Stoke Newington, has reminded us that some time ago we wrote a piece in 'Scoutward Bound' about unorthodox rope tackles for applying strains to heavy ropes when no blocks, etc. are available.

"White Owl's" particular problem was to construct a Gamekeeper's Bridge across the tank trap at Tolmers, the I.H.Q camp site in Hertfordshire. The foot-rope consisted of a 7 inch hawser, and as the total span was pretty considerable and the only available manpowers two Rovers plus himself, "White Owl" realised that something quite out of the ordinary was needed.

Here is his description of how the job was tackled:

"The main ropes was secured to a tree at one side of the tank trap and tied off to a second tree on the farther side. Two fairly strong ropes were bent on to the hawser about half-way down its length and made fast under strain to convenient trees (C and D), as shown in the diagram.

Two lighter heaving lines were clove-hitched to these secondary ropes (F and G) and pass over and round the ropes on the opposite sides of the hawser and brought back to the side on which they were secured.

To operate the tackle, my two Rover assistants hauled in simultaneously on their heaving lines, thereby springing the three ropes together, whilst I applied a whipping, starting at point E and working upwards at each new heave. The clove-hitches were slide farther and farther up the hawser towards the anchorage as the strain increased.

This had the effect of moving point E slowly but surely towards the anchorage B, and we were able to take up the slack in the hawser between E and B on the anchorage itself. When the job was finished (it took time!) a load of about 224lb. in the centre of the bridge caused only a three-inch sag."

Well, there you are. You will never find the Tolmer's Tackle in the book, but it was found in practice to be efficient.

How about your Patrol trying it out?

Mind you, I am all in favour of using the orthodox methods whenever possible, but pioneering is meant to be an adventure and so long as you don't take undue risks there is no harm in experimenting with ideas of your own.

'New' lashings

John Thurman's book 'Pioneering Principles' (which I wrote about earlier and you can get here) describes 5 types of lashing for the first time.

2 of these have become widely known 'alternative' lashings- the Japanese lashing and the Filipino lashing.

He describes 3 others that have remained fairly obscure, but are nonetheless pretty useful. Here are excerpts from the book describing these new lashings:

• Scaffold lashing - a square lashing variant for use when poles need to be supported while they are being lashed


• Tourniquet lashing - a FAST lashing for lightweight structures.


• Sailmaker's lashing - an alternative to the figure of eight lashing.

Sailmaker's Lashing from John Thurman's Pioneering Principles

This excerpt from John Thurman's 'Pioneering Principles' describes an alternative to the figure of eight lashing for making tripods. I have come across this lashing before, it was in use in the late 90s in troops around Johannesburg. So, the Sailmaker's lashing:



Anyone concerned with rope work knows that the Sailmaker’s Whipping is a very good whipping for the end of a rope. It is simple to do, is a solid and secure job, and it looks attractive. Now, if it can be used for a three-stranded rope, why should it not be used for lashing together three spars? Through that process of reasoning we have been able to create the Sailmaker’s Lashing.
I am not going to describe it in detail because the Sailmaker’s Lashing is simply the whipping done on the end of three spars instead of the end of a three-stranded rope; there is no difference in method or result except perhaps to say that if you are putting on the lashing in order to make a tripod it must not be put on as tightly as would be done for a whipping. This is the same effect as in a sheer lashing: the tightening process occurs when you open out the spars and if you have made it too tight the only answer to the problem is to take it off and start again.
A further set of photographs shows you the Sailmaker’s Whipping as used on a four-stranded rope, and the same principle can be used for lashing four poles together, You may not want to do this very often, but it is as well to know that it can be done.


This item is reproduced here in compliance with the Creative Commons license held on the book.