Pioneering page two
To carry on from pioneering page one
So on the first pioneering page you have seen some of the things we do, and hopefully if you have never done pioneering before, its given you a bit of inspiration. Therese nothing hard about it, all you have to do is start small, and as you become more competent work your way up to bigger and better thing. But first you must learn the basic lashings, and unlike knots all you have to learn is just four, yes ‘4.’
1 The square Lashing
2 Side view showing frappins.
The Square Lashing is for fastening one pole/spar to another, and is used in the construction of most camp gadgets etc. Normally this particular lashings load is from above, so the strain is on the vertical spar or the underside of the cross spar, because of this we start with a clove hitch under this spar as in drawing (A) below to give it maximum strength, Its tied in the normal way but finished by twisting the end up the standing part, again for added strength as in (B).
Next you continue by passing the rope up and over the cross spar, behind and round the back of the vertical spar, then back over and down the front of the cross spar, under, and finish by continuing round the back of the vertical spar to where you started, you have now done one complete turn. This has to be repeated twice as in (C) to give you at least three turns, but to keep them flat the turns round the back go on the inside of each other (D) & (E) with the ones on the front going on the outside (C).
Clovehitch A
Clove hitch C
Clove hitch C
Lashing D
Lashing E
Lashing F
Finally you finish of by doing what we call frapping turns (F), bring the rope round the front and do at least two complete turns in-between the two spars, pulling them as tight as possible as you go, this is very important as these turns pull the whole thing together giving it its strength.
Finally you finish off with a clove hitch on the opposite spar to the one you started on, (H) you have not finish until you have made sure this is completely tight and cannot slip, if you want you can do an extra half hitch. It is most important when tying any lashing, to do each turn and twist as tight as possible, and keep the tension on until you have completed the lashing, if needed have someone to help you to achieve this.
Lashing G
Lashing H