Ropes and Poles at the World Scout Moot, Iceland

I'll be travelling to Iceland for the World Scout Moot from the 25th of July to the 2nd of August this year. I don't have any plans to do pioneering while I'm there (Iceland doesn't have too many trees and bringing my own poles from South Africa would be tricky), but I'm keen to meet up with anyone who'll be there.

I'll be working as a Tribe Advisor, so I'll be based in Hafnarfjörður during the Expedition stage (26th-28th July) and at the main campsite in Úlfljótsvatn the rest of the time. Contact me (as a comment here, via email or on twitter) and we can arrange to meet. I'll have some Ropes and Poles patches to trade, and am looking forward to meeting you.

Lego machines to make rope

Most pioneering projects (but by no means all) use rope or cordage, so understanding how rope is made is a useful part of pioneering. There are some simple ways of making rope, but these Lego projects by Nico71 take ropemaking to another level.

The yellow machine winds a 3-strand hawser-laid rope, using Lego Technic components. You can see how the Technic gears are used to guide the three colours of yarn out of the spools and wind them into a cord before they are wound in the other direciton to lay up against each other in a rope.
Nico71 says:

After my mechanical loom is 2012, I wanted to build more specific weaving and braiding machine. After months of research, I came back with a new idea based on rope maker : a braiding machine which can make of course rope but also wristband ! Then, I have started in April of 2013 to make some prototype of weaving and braiding machine and succeeded in making one truly functional in December of 2013.

The Red machine is more complicated- it makes a braided rather than a hawser-laid rope, and is also faster.

Nico71 provides free (simple) and paid (highly detailed) versions of the building instructions for both of these, as well as a Youtube channel with demos of these and many other Lego machines.

Ropes and Poles embroidered badges available now

Following on from the vote earlier to choose a badge design,I've had badges produced here in South Africa, and they are available for sale- by clicking the Paypal button on the top right of the page. I'm really happy with how the design came out, and the quality of the badges that Precision Embroidery made.

 Badges are $2.50 including worldwide shipping, and the proceeds will help me get to the World Scout Moot in Iceland next year.
(South Africans- contact me for local payment and shipping options)

Bamboo arches in Ghana- Haduwa Arts + Culture Institute

Photograph copyright Baerbel Mueller

This bamboo stage pavilion was built for The Haduwa Arts and Culture Institute in Ghana by [applied] Foreign Affairs, an architecture lab at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. A group of students built the project as part of their architecture classes, after researching the project in Austria and on site in Ghana.

Normally, when we build pioneered structures for Scouting, we use the bamboo the way we would any other pole- as a rigid, straight pole. This structure makes great use of the flexibility of bamboo to curve the arches, and also uses the idea of 'bundling' smaller poles together to make larger arches. While this structure might be much bigger than the normal Scout projects, there is an opportunity to learn from the way the students worked with bamboo in this project.

Construction details. All photographs copyright Baerbel Mueller

Project credits:
Client: Haduwa Arts and Culture Institute architecture and concept [Applied] Foreign Affairs, Department of Architecture, University of Applied Arts Vienna
Project Leader: Baerbel Mueller
Project Team: Christian Car, Joseph Hofmarcher, Ilias Klis, Joana Lazarova, Ewa Lenart, Ioana Petkova, Philipp Reinberg, with Antonella Amesberger, Clelia Baumgartner, Stephan Guhs, Frida Robles, Andrea axis
Guest lecturers - bamboo construction: Jörg Stamm, Construction: Franz Sam, Structural: Klaus Bollinger, roof: Manora Auersperg, Christoph Kaltenbrunner, Performance Arts: Daniel Aschwanden


More information:
Designboom article
Architektur journal (Deutsch with English translation)

Vote for a Ropes and Poles badge design

I've been contemplating having badges made, which would be available for sale here on the blog. Some designs are shown above, featuring various projects from the blog archives, and I'd like your help choosing the first one to have embroidered. Please scroll down and vote below, or click on this link to go to the poll. Thanks!


 

Bottlecutter2.0: making 'rope' from soft drink bottles

Image copyright Advocate Egerov

From Russia, via Youtube, comes this technique for converting a PET soft drink bottle into a strong 'tape' that can be used for lashings. Адвокат Егоров (Advocate Egerov) has two videos that explain how to build the Bottlecutter2.0 device to strip the bottles, and demonstrates how to use the strips to make lashings. Because PET shrinks when heated, he uses a hot air gun to 'frap' the lashings and tighten up the structures.

Image copyright Advocate Egerov

The first video (available with subtitles English subtitles) includes some basic lashings and instructions on making the machine to strip the bottle:

 While the second one goes through some detailed techniques and a rather elaborate willow branch chair:

Thanks to Clarke over at ScoutmasterCG for sharing this on one of his live chats- I recommend heading over there on a Tuesday or Wednesday morning (US time/afternoon European time)

10 years of pioneering projects

This weekend marks the 10th anniversary of the first post to this blog. Since that first post, I've met people from around the world, online and in person, and been reminded of how Scouting connects us together despite our difference

Here are some of the most popular posts on the blog over the last ten years:
Step-by-step tensgrity tower
Step-by-step 24 foot treehouse
Enormous pioneered sculptures
Pioneered trebuchet
Friction-lock bridge

Things have been a bit quiet here lately, but there will be some new content coming up over the next few weeks...

Merry Christmas from Ropes and Poles

Merry Christmas! If you're celebrating today, I hope you have a great day surrounded by family, and a blessed year ahead.

This tree is decorated with Monkey's Fists, tied in 8mm sisal rope, with eye-spliced ends.

Pioneered Christmas tree by Puddle Pirate Rover crew

Day and night photographs courtesy Akela Joy

For the East Rand District end of year Cub Christmas Camp, Puddle Pirate Rover Crew built this pioneered Christmas Tree. All of the guests at the camp bought gifts which were
used to decorate the tree and these were later donated to a charity.

Gift ideas- knotting and pioneering

With the festive season upon us, I've put together a list of pioneering-related gifts that you might find useful.

John Sweet's Scout Pioneering is a classic reference, and there are a few different editions in print. Your best bet is to hunt one down in a second hand bookshop, but there are a few online options.

The Ashley Book of Knots is the definitive reference to knots, and a great gift for someone interested in pioneering and knotting. Over 4000 illustrations cover everything from the simplest slippery hitch to complex decorative knots, splices and lashings.

Geoffrey Budworth's Complete Book of Knots is a smaller book that is easier on the pocket than Ashley's but still a good general reference.

Knotcraft: The Practical and Entertaining Art of Tying Knots (Dover Craft Books) by Paulette and Alan Mcfarlanis a useful little book- apart from guides to tying knots, it has some practical application tips, magic tricks, history and folklore. Also available as an eBook.
 
A multi-tool with a saw is a pretty useful tool for pioneering. I prefer the Victorinox models with saws- the Farmer , Camper or new Soldier.

The International Guild of Knot Tyers publishes a quarterly magazine and also offers a number of other publications. An annual subscription is available here.

Four resources I'm thankful for

(Although I'm not American, being thankful is something I can get behind, and today seems an appropriate day to reflect on some of the resources that have helped me as a Scouter over the years)

I've been fortunate to have great mentors, from Patrol Leaders as  a Scout, to Troop Scouters, Group Scouters and training team members who have helped me, challenged me and supported me as a Scouter. Today I want to talk about resources that are available to everyone that have been a great help to me.

The Dump
I was fortunate to inherit an extensive library in my Scout group, going back to the founding of the group in the 1940s. These old books have fantastic information, but they are not easy to find anymore. The Dump is a library of scanned PDFs of old Scouting resources, collected and curated by Scoutscan.com. Everything from BP's earliest, pre-Scout writing, to specific merit badge advice, is available here.

ScoutmasterCG.com
Clarke Green has been blogging since 2005 on Scouting, and gives sage advice, shares useful tips, and also has a weekly podcast that is very entertaining and informative. Clarke aims his advice at Scout leaders, no matter what capacity you are serving in, and has written a few books in addition to the blog. The Index is a good place to dive in to nine year's worth of material.

Akela's Cubs
Joy was the Pack Scouter during most of the time that I was Troop Scouter at Ninth Benoni, and we started blogging within a few months of each other. Joy blogged the day's Pack meeting every week for years, and this blog collects these meetings as well as many other ideas for camps and outings for Cubs.

Scouts South Africa library
South Africa was one of the first countries in the world to have Scout Troops, and the oldest group in the country dates back to 1908. This collection of books includes some stories of B-P's adventures in South Africa, great resources for teaching, and a glimpse into how the programme is run here in South Africa. The pro-plan charts are a collection of posters for teaching all of the basic skills in the Scouting programme.

Hourglass Tower at Oppikoppi festival

Following on from the Belgian music festival last week, Oppikoppi is the largest music festival in South Africa, held annually on Northam Farm.

1st Northam built this tower for the 2014 festival, and the five minute time lapse by Donald van der Westhuizen shows how it was built. The tower was put up by building it completely on the ground (method 1 according to this post) by this team:

Pioneering as community service: permanent bridge by 1st Blairgowrie

Today is Nelson Mandela's birthday. Over the last few years, South Africans have been encouraged to spend 67 minutes of the day serving the community- signifying the 67 years Mandela gave in service to the country. This post looks at a permanent pioneering project that serves the community.

I was running through Delta Park, a large municipal park near my office, a few weeks ago when I noticed a Scouts South Africa notice pinned to the foundations of a bridge.

1st Blairgowrie Scout Group are responsible for this project, which is being led by James, a Springbok Scout candidate. The bridge is being built to offer an additional crossing point for the stream that flows in this part of the park, making it safer for the cyclists and pedestrians using the extensive trail network: the park is very well used, especially on a Saturday morning. Work has progressed in the last few weeks, and as you can see, only the decking and access ramps remain to be completed.

A few things are noteworthy:

• the materials for the project are being funded by donations from the local community, who are active in assisting with improvements to this park.
• the poles being used are stripped and treated gum poles, from local eucalyptus plantations. These are the cheapest and most widely available pioneering poles in South Africa.
• bolts have been used instead of rope to make this structure more permanent. Is it still pioneering? I think so.
• A final piece of trivia that links this bridge to Baden-Powell's friend, Rudyard Kipling, who wrote the Jungle Book: the stream it crosses is a tributary of the 'great grey-green greasy Limpopo' from the Just So stories.

UPDATE: Further down the same river, 1st Bryanston Scouts have just opened a bridge for pedestrians and cyclists- photos courtesy Johannesburg Parks.

The Marshmallow Challenge

drawn on iPad Mini using Paper app and Just-Mobile AluPen

The Marshmallow Challenge is an indoor, patrol-based, teamwork and creativity challenge that can be run with minimal equipment and twenty minutes of time.

Developed by Tom Wujec of AutoDesk (Producers of the FormIt app and AutoCAD amongst many,many others), this challenge has been used by large and small companies, schools and kindergartens, as well as scout groups around the world.
The rules are simple: each team has 18 minutes to build the tallest possible freestanding tower (i.e. Not supported by anything other than the floor) with the marshmallow at the top. My Rover Crew recently ran this challenge with every Scout patrol in our district. Here are the results as an idea of the heights that are possible:

Here is a video of Tom discussing the challenge and what it teaches about teamwork:

More methods for finding the middle of a pole

After publishing last week's post on finding the midpoint of a pole, I had a few responses on the blog, and a good discussion over on 1st Facebook Scout Group, about alternate methods, and here are a few of the other methods suggested by various people. Knowing more than one way of doing something is always useful, so here they are:

First up is this simple method, from Jean-Marie at 1st Facebook Scout Group:

"Let's suppose I do not have a rope long enough, but just a stick/small rope, even smaller than the half of the long one. I set it at one end, perpendicular to the pole, and mark the point (usually, leaving a scout standing there). I do the same thing at the other end of the pole BUT ON THE OTHER SIDE. The imaginary line between the 2 scouts cuts the pole in its middle. Thus, when the Scouts see me on the line between themselves an their opposite pal while I walk along the length of the pole, I have found the middle.That's it ! The longer the pole, the longer the stick, the more accurate."

These three methods are all variations on direct measurement - measuring with a rope and folding the rope in half, using a tape measure and halving it, or pacing out with a shoe, a shorter stick, a ruler or any other item.

Finally, the centre of balance / centre of gravity for a pole can be found by a few methods, but this is a simple and quick one courtesy of Jean-Marie at 1st Facebook - put a short section of round pole underneath the pole, then push the pole forward or backwards until it balances like a see-saw. If you have a pole without much taper, this will get you close to the midpoint of the pole too, but if the pole tapers a lot, you'll be better off using one of hte methods above to find the exact middle.

drawn on iPad Mini using Paper app and Just-Mobile AluPen

Finding the middle of a pole

Measuring and setting out are important in pioneering projects, but it's not always easy to use a tape measure and spirit level for measurements. Over the next few posts, I'll cover some good on-site methods for setting out a project.
The most common measuring task in pioneering is probably finding the middle of a pole. Carl Nitzsche of First Benoni Sea Scouts showed me this method, for which you'll need the pole you want to find the middle of, and one other pole at least half the length of the first one.

What we'll be doing is measuring where we think the middle is, checking our distance from each end every time. When we have it right, checking form the left and the right will give us the same point, because the middle is the same distance from both ends.

Let's work through the drawings:
1) line the end of the small pole up with one end. Lay it down next to the long pole and mark the end position on the long pole, either with chalk, a pencil or a blade.
2) now flip the pole over and line it up with the other end, marking the position against the long pole. The two marks are shown by the two green lines. If we had guessed well, the two green lines would be lined up. In this case, we haven't, so we move onto the next step:
3) pick a point on the short pole that looks closer to the middle of the long pole, and mark it on the long pole.
4)  now flip the short pole over, line it up with the other end and lay the pole down, checking where the new position is. In this example, we guessed well and the two blue marks line up perfectly. That mark is the middle of the pole. If you don't get it right on the second iteration, you can keep going, checking the same distance from both ends, until you find the proper distance.

drawn on iPad Mini using Paper app and Just-Mobile AluPen

Uses for pioneering projects

Pioneering projects are great fun to build, and there is a good sense of accomplishment that can be achieved, but I'm always looking for a pioneering project to be a bit more useful in the long term. When I was a Troop Scouter, if a Scout proposed a project, I always looked for another angle beyond just building something 'because we can' . A lot of effort goes into a pioneering project, so that effort should be used as effectively as possible.

Here are a few suggestions about how pioneering projects can be more than just a one day stunt:

They can be used to raise Awareness, either about Scouting, or another cause. Examples on this blog include Ruan's Pioneered Rhino, the Airshow Biplane and The Isengard Tower

They can be the basis for a Game. One of our Springbok Scouts built a tower that was used as a lookout post, and a platform to launch paper planes for an interpatrol competition. Catapults and trebuchets are good fun, especially with an adequate supply of rotting tomatoes. An obstacle course is another obvious game-based project. Rafts and treehouses are another type of pioneered structure that lend themselves to adventures.

Pioneering projects can be Permanent additions to a campsite or a public area, like a permanent bridge, an observation tower, permanent gateway or even an in-store Scouting display.

Finally, pioneering projects can of course be part of your Campsite - whether they are small camp gadgets, gateways, JOTA radio masts or even the three storey platform your tents are built on.

drawn on iPad Mini using Paper app and Just-Mobile AluPen

3d printing Turkshead knots

Freakin Sweet Knots (http://knots.freakinsweetapps.com/ ) is a web app that generates Turkshead knots in real time, generating a 3D model on the screen with a few slider you can adjust to change the properties. I modeled a PLTU Lexden woggle, 3 leads with 5 bights, in a few seconds.

What's even more exciting, though, is the button that says 'i want this ring'. clicking the button sends the 3D file to Shapeways to print a physical copy in the material of your choice. 3D printing is a pretty exciting technology: computer models can be printed in many different materials, and while the price of 3D printers is dropping g all th stipe, there are also many companies who will print and deliver your object to you. Shapeways is one of the oldest of these companies, and they print
in various plastics, glass, ceramic, steel, bronze, gold and silver.

Abseiling platform - pioneered deck on a crane

Disclaimer: work at heights is dangerous. This activity was supervised by an IWH certified professional from SA Rope Access. All relevant safety procedures including fall protection plans should be followed for activities involving high structures


Last week I wrote about the tensegrity structures we built at Pop Bolton 2013 in Benoni. One of the other bases involved abseiling from a 16m platform on a crane. The platform was built in much the same way as a raft base would be built, then raised up on the crane arm and secured against the mast like you would against a tree (cranes are much easier to lash onto than trees; they are square and don't need to be protected from damage). The photographs on the left show the construction sequence.

Thanks to Mark Stevens for the photographs, and Greg Gardiner from SA Rope Access for running the base