American Bushman

"If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write things worth reading or do things worth writing." —Benjamin Franklin

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Calling All Knot Tiers

I've been working on tying a barrel sling knot for the past two days with limited success and could use a few pointers.

This seems to be a neat way to hang a water bottle upright from a ridgeline. It would also be a supply of cordage in a pinch.

I have had so much difficulty tying this knot that I've resorted to tying a paracord mesh bag for my water bottle instead.

So, who has tied the barrel sling, or similar, knot with some sort of success? I need your tips.

Speaking of knot tying, check this video from Bushcraft Northwest:



The way he ties the cinch knot at about 1:12 is very clever and I've tried it and it's incredibly easy to tie and works great.

The more you cross the lines the stronger the cinch knot will be but I've found three crosses to be enough to keep the tarp nice and taut on the ridgeline in normal weather. If foul weather were blowing in I suspect an extra cross or two would be in order.

Thanks for reading,


B

3 Comments:

At 10:34 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I love knots, and I'll certainly give this one a try as soon as I get home today....but....Not for nothing, but wouldn't a lightweight carabiner serve the same purpose much quicker?

 
At 11:23 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I tried it out and had no real troubles, but I will say that it's not particularly well suited for use with a Nalgene type water bottle...they're just too slippery. About half of the time that I tried to tighten it up, it would slip off.

What difficulties are you having, specifically?

 
At 12:31 PM, Blogger American Bushman said...

Carabiner?! Why that'd take the whole challenge out of this project. :)

Another knot to try would be the jug knot which would go around the lip on the bottle. This one may have more promise for the Nalgene.

The slipping off is exactly the problem I was having with it. I'd get it cinched up nice and tight and then it would slip off as I was tying up the loose ends.

Thanks for giving it a go.

B

 

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