Rope, knots and lashings

Learn these until you can tie them with your eyes shut and in the dark. Each card says what the knot is for and how it fails.

• Two half hitches — the quickest reliable way to tie a rope to a post or ring, and the lock that finishes many other knots.
• Round turn and two half hitches — the same, with an extra full turn round the post first. The turn takes the load, so the hitches can be tied while the rope is under tension.
• Timber hitch — a loop round a log with the tail twisted back on itself three or more times. Holds under pull, falls off when released. For dragging logs and starting a diagonal lashing.
• Taut-line hitch — an adjustable loop that grips under load and slides when pushed. For guy lines that need tightening as they stretch overnight.
• Prusik hitch — a loop of thinner cord wrapped three times round a thicker rope. It grips when loaded and slides when not. For climbing a rope, and as a backup that catches a slipping load.

And a stopper knot — a figure-eight in the end of a rope — so a rope running through a ring, a pulley or a hand cannot run out.

Lashings join poles into frames, tripods, shelters, bridges, drying racks and ladders without a single nail. They all follow the same pattern: start with a hitch, wrap, frap, finish with a hitch.

Square lashing — two poles crossing at right angles, the most common joint:

1. Clove hitch on the upright pole, just below the crossbar.
2. Wrapping turns: take the rope over the crossbar, behind the upright, under the crossbar, behind the upright again. Three or four complete turns, each pulled hard and laid neatly beside the last — outside the previous turn on the crossbar, inside it on the upright.
3. Frapping turns: two or three turns between the poles, around the wrapping turns, pulled as hard as you can. Frapping is what makes the joint rigid; skipping it is why lashings loosen.
4. Finish with a clove hitch on the crossbar.

Diagonal lashing — for poles that cross at an angle or tend to spring apart, as in the braces of a frame. Start with a timber hitch round both poles, wrap diagonally both ways, frap, finish with a clove hitch.

Shear lashing — two poles side by side, which open into an A-frame. Wrap loosely round both, frap lightly, then spread the legs; the frapping tightens as they open.

Tripod lashing — three poles laid side by side, wrapped in a figure-eight weave between them, frapped between each pair, then the outer legs crossed and spread.

Soak natural rope before lashing with it where possible: it shrinks as it dries and tightens the joint.

• Keep natural-fibre rope dry when stored. Damp rope rots from the inside where you cannot see it. Dry it fully, loosely coiled, out of sun, before putting it away.
• Protect it from edges. A rope under load across a sharp rock or a squared timber edge is cut in seconds. Pad the edge with cloth, bark or a split hose.
• Do not step on it, or drag it through grit. Sand works into the fibres and cuts them from inside.
• Avoid shock loads. A load dropped a short distance before a rope catches it can multiply the force several times over.
• Inspect it before use. Untwist the strands a little: powdery fibres, dark or discoloured spots, a sour smell, or a stiff or thinned section mean it goes to lashing firewood, never to load.
• Whip the ends — bind them tightly with thin cord — or they unlay and fray back.

A splice weaves the strands of a rope back into itself. In three-strand laid rope it keeps about 85–95% of the rope's strength, where the best knot keeps about 80%.

Eye splice in three-strand rope:

1. Unlay the end for about 15 rope diameters, and whip or tape the end of each strand.
2. Form the eye to the size you want and lay the three strands against the standing part.
3. First tucks: tuck the middle strand under one strand of the standing part, against the lay — crossing the twist. Tuck the next strand under the strand above it, and the last strand under the remaining strand from the other side. Each of the three strands now emerges from a different gap.
4. Continue tucking, each strand over one and under one, round and round.
5. Five full tucks for natural fibre. Slippery synthetic rope needs more.
6. Taper and trim, leaving short ends, and roll the splice underfoot to settle it.

A short splice joins two rope ends the same way, and is stronger than any bend, at the cost of a thicker section that will not run through a pulley.