In-store pioneering display: Trapper's Trading, Boksburg

A few kilometres away from our Scout hall is the Boksburg branch of Trapper's Trading, an outdoor store. They have teamed up with the local Scout District and built two towers inside the store.

The District Scouters ensure that there is always stock of Scouting material, and uniforms, belts, hats, Cub and Scout manuals are all available here. There are also recruiting pamphlets and District noticeboards. This is a perfect example of a way to raise Scouting's profile in a community. This store is on one of the busiest roads in the area, and one of the towers is up against the shopfront and clearly visible from the road with a large Scout banner.

The towers have been built with nuts and bolts, and lashings added over some of the more accessible connections for a more 'genuine' look. The connections that are at eye and hand level have been tidied up like the one in the above photo: a sawdust and woodglue paste has been used to fill in the hole drilled for the bolt.

Preview: SjorCAD :3d software for Pioneering

While I'm an enthusiastic user of SketchUp, a program written specifically for pioneering would be a lot more useful. That's why SjorCAD (Dutch/Flemish for 'LashingCAD') is a pretty exciting project.

Silas De Munck and Pieter Verberck, two students at the University of Antwerp, are developing this program, which will allow you to 'build' a 3d model of your project, and then automatically generate a list of materials needed, dimensions for the model etc.


When it is released, you will be able to place poles in a project, rotate them until they touch each other (SjorCAD uses collision detection, so it will know when two poles are touching each other, something SketchUp doesn't do), attach them together with lashings, and possibly even get an indication of whether your structure will be stable or not. This PDF file, from the Sjorcad site, has more information.

Development is still in the early stages, and the developers expect it will be around 12 months before SjorCAD is useful, so this is one to look out for early in 2008.

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.