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.

the Clove Hitch

Maybe this should have been a constrictor instead?


by Bill Sykes, from page 92 of Scout Smiles, edited by EGW Wood, published in 1950 and long out of print (but possibly available second hand on Amazon.com)

Fireman's chair

by John Sweet, from page 81 of Scout Smiles, edited by EGW Wood, published in 1950 and long out of print (but possibly available second hand on Amazon.com)