Know your knots May 8, 2009

Posted by Joe in Webelos II.
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Scouting and knots seem to go hand-in-hand. As a Scout advances through the ranks of Scouting, he’ll learn a variety of knots. He’ll not only learn how to tie them, but when they are most appropriate to use.

For example, the Square knot and the Sheet Bend knot are very similar knots. However the Square knot works well only when the two ropes are of equal widths (or diameters) whereas the Sheet Bend can be used with ropes of different widths. Additionally the Sheet Bend knot tends to be much more secure and stronger than the Square knot.

Last night the Webelos Stealth Den worked on tying knots. We practiced tying the Overhand knot, the Square knot, the Bowline knot, the Timber hitch, and the Two Half Hitches. We also learned how to whip the end of a rope to keep it from fraying.

If you’re looking for good information on knots, there is plenty available on the Internet. Here are few links to help you get started.

• Animated Knots By Grog
• Boy Scout Knots
• The Eight Basic Boy Scout Knots
• How to Tie Popular Knots
• Merit Badge Knots

Tying knots is fun and easy. But, they can also be very important! Remember the story that I told last night: I almost spent the night on the river in 20 degree weather because the granny knot that I used to tie the boat to the duck blind had slipped untied and the boat floated away. Fortunately another boat came by and took me to my boat. If someone hadn’t come by, I would have spent a very cold night in a duck blind on a river in the middle of January. That’s a lesson I won’t soon forget! After that, I learned to tie a bunch of good knots! And they’ve come in very handy.

So, use the piece of rope that I sent home with you to practice. We’ll work on these and more knots again soon since they are so important and useful.