Contracting Cotton Caliber: The Sheepshank

 The Sheepshank was on one of the knot lists I looked at, so I figured I'd try it.

Baaa

Not super impressed. It's a kind of awkward knot, and it doesn't seem like it'd hold very well when it's not under load. The internet suggests it doesn't tie well with modern, slicker rope, which also isn't great. The internet has some other variants that look more usable. I was a little proud that I was able to tie it today after working on it yesterday without looking at directions. It's the first knot I wasn't super comfortable with years ago that I can say I really learned. (I guess the figure eight, technically, but that feels so simple.)

It's a weird one to describe. Lay out your rope in a Z shape. Make a loop, at one end, and pass the bend through (over then under). I found it helped if you slid the loop up the length a little and partially tightened it. Then repeat at the other end and pull the ends to snug the whole thing.

Thanks 101knots

cɔ: The Figure Eight Knot

 The Figure Eight was on a few of the knot lists I looked at, and I decided I might as well learn to tie it (I have to do some logistics stuff before I start trying to tie for time). It's mostly used as a stopper to keep rope from sliding. It's pretty simple. 

Looks more like an 8 than my title does.

 

 

Make a loop, bring the back end over and in front, then back through, pull tight. Unlike a lot of knots, the trick is to go the "opposite" way instead of the same way. In front for the first part of the eight, and behind for the second.

Thanks 101knots!

3/5. I need to practice, but so easy!

HtRaB: Chapter 9- Determining the Author's Message

 This is an entire chapter of "figure out what the main ideas are", which isn't that different from what he's written gotten before.

Not a lot new here, and not a lot of new comments. I still like the idea of this book, but I still think the execution either needs to be much more developed to justify a full book or could be chopped to well under half the length.

My main quibble here is going to be his choices of examples.

1. There's a lot of Pascal. Just why? I guess everyone (in the hoity-toity classically educated world) read Pascal back then, but it just feels goofily fringe and specific.

2. He dissects things like punctuation and phrasing in The Prince. It's not like those things change in translation (I checked, the semi-colon he talks about isn't even in some translations!) Why not pick an English example?

Current plan is to finish this section (~50 more pages), and then jump to the fiction chapter of the next section. I think I'm reasonably qualified to judge someone's fiction prescriptions, so if I'm still struggling with it there, I'll probably stop and save myself the remaining pages to get to something better. I miss reading the actual classics, as opposed to stuff adjacent to them.

Carrying Cindling Clums: The Timber Hitch

 The Timber Hitch is (as the name implies) used for hauling logs and log-like objects. Tie it around a tree trunk, drag it through the woods, cut it up (or burn it), etc.

I need a bigger prop budget.

The Timber Hitch is pretty simple to tie. Make a loop. Wrap around the loop. Then wrap around at least two more times. Pull tight.

Credit:theknotsmanual.com

4/5. I should practice a bit more, since I haven't done this one in years. But it's pretty easy.

Coronating Crowned Circles: The Bowline

 Someone, somewhere, dubbed The Bowline THE KING OF KNOTS. I don't know who/where, the internet just accepts it as fact. It makes a loop. The loop doesn't slip. You can tie it "one handed." You have to keep tension on it though, so something is holding the other end, and you use your back also. "One hand, some other guy's hand, and one assed" just didn't have the same ring to it.

Hail to the king, baby!

The stereotypical use for the bowline is hauling someone out of a hole they fell into, but you can also use it to tie up a boat (or plane!), as a climbing knot, or any other time you want a reasonably sturdy loop.

The standard direction is: The rabbit goes up the hole, around the tree, and back down.

I've never found this terribly helpful, since it doesn't tell you which was to make the loops, etc. Here's a less catch, but more detailed, explanation:

1. Make a loop so that the end at the top (the standing end) is in the back (there has to be a better way to phrase this).

2. Bring the other (working) end through the hole from behind and underneath.

3. Wrap behind the standing end.

4. Back through the loop alongside itself.

5. Pull standing end and "both" working ends.

Thanks, Buz11 from Wikipedia!

I rate my knowledge here 4/5. I have to remember how to do the initial loop (I'm starting to get it into muscle memory), but other than that it's good.

 

That boring reading book, Ch 8: Coming to "Terms"

 You need to make sure you understand the words the author uses (i.e. jargon/technical language), and the way they're used (i.e. words with multiple meanings). That's it, that's the whole chapter. This book would be a lot better if it was about 1/10th as long.

Adler uses newspapers as an example of something that's easy to read. I feel like I see this example a lot in older texts, and I always find it an odd one. Based on what I've read, newspapers in the first half the twentieth century (when this book was written) were often written at a college level. This dropped into the second half, but it's still often floating around high school (and seems to be slowly creeping back up in many cases). Compared to best selling books, which generally hit middle school.  Weird.

Combining Coils Constructively: The Sheet Bend

 This one wasn't on the original list, but it's my blog and I can change it if I want. The Sheet Bend is the gold standard for joining two different ropes, even if they're different sizes, slippery, wet, etc. It's knot number one in Ashley's Book of Knots, the knot "Bible".

Synthetic rope (most rope today) is notoriously slippery, and any knot involving ropes of substantially different sizes is liable to have some issues. If this was a heist blog, the knot below would involve a lot of yelling about it shouldn't hold:

IT'LL NEVER HOLD!

I usually double my sheet bends. You can double a lot of knots, which just means you redo one or more steps. It takes about an extra second, and it makes it hold much better.

from: 101knots.com

It's a pretty straightforward knot. Make a loop with the thicker rope, come into the loop from underneath/behind, go behind the "double" end of the loop, and back through the wrap you just made. If you're doubling, go around the back and through the wrap again. Pull tight. 5/5, easier to tie than a lot of knots that don't work as well anyway.