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  1. #1
    Senior Member hutzelbein's Avatar
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    1x1 of knots for the beginner?

    The more I'm reading this forum, the more I realize how little I know about knots. Up to now, I have only been using 2 or 3 different knots. I bought a small knot book, but of course it doesn't focus on hammocking. So which knots should I look up and learn? Which knots are good to know? Which knots should I never use? When and where would you use each knot? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each? Is there already a knot primer for hammocking?

  2. #2
    New Member
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    The knots I use associated with my hammock are:

    bowline
    trucker's hitch
    taut line hitch
    prussik

    You should also be familiar with half hitches for locking other knots and the sheetbend for tying two lines together.

    If you know these, you'll be good for pretty much anything.

  3. #3
    Senior Member gargoyle's Avatar
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    Ashley's Book of Knot's.
    It's available online, or buy the actual book.
    Has every knot known to man. And a few extra knots from alien life forms.
    Links to several pdf formats available
    It's the bible of knots.

    This site, Animated knots by Grog. has a great how to demonstration of almost all the basic knots you will ever need. Easy to follow step-by-step videos. You can even go slow-mo, if theres a complicated thats tricky to follow.
    Several different catagories, as well, climbing, fishing, etc.

    Grab some rope and start practicing.
    Last edited by gargoyle; 09-01-2010 at 04:43.
    Ambulo tua ambulo.

  4. #4
    swampfox's Avatar
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    Grizz has several excellent videos on hammock suspension. He covers the basic knots very well.

    A Brief Primer on Hammock Suspension Part I
    http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/v...ils&videoid=99

    A Brief Primer on Hammock Suspension Part II
    http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/v...ls&videoid=100

    A Brief Primer on Hammock Suspension Part II-continued
    http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/v...ls&videoid=101

    A Brief Primer on Hammock Suspension Part III
    http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/v...ls&videoid=127
    He is your friend, your companion, your defender... he is your dog. You are his life, his leader, and master. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of that devotion.

  5. #5
    Senior Member Festus Hagen's Avatar
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    I get by with:

    Bowline (for 1 end of ridgeline, secured with micro-crab, and all stake tie-outs)
    Larks head
    Prusik (have two securing and adjusting tarp on ridgeline, also use them as stake tie-out tensioners)
    Trucker's hitch (for second end of ridgeline)
    Marlin Spike hitch (for whoopie sling attachment points)
    Double fisherman's knot (for making Prusik loops)

    I think that's about it.

  6. #6
    Senior Member hutzelbein's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by gargoyle View Post
    Ashley's Book of Knot's.
    It's available online, or buy the actual book.
    Has every knot known to man. And a few extra knots from alien life forms.
    Yes, I saw that one on Amazon and thought about buying it. But at the moment I would be more interested to get a list of knots that make most sense when hammocking. My book also lists quite a few knots, but for a newbie it's difficult to see how I would use them.

    I already learned a load by simply looking at the hammock gear I bought. I wish I had known about prussiks years ago! And the soft shackles are ingenious. I only realized what they are for after having used my tarp ridge line for 2 months

  7. #7
    New Member Bateauxdriver's Avatar
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    I finally got my HH Explorer Deluxe in on Monday. The first thing I did was wrap the tree saver straps around the trees and tie them together with a bowline knot. I trust the bowline with my life while doing rescue work so why not use it right? Well I'm a big ole boy and the cordage supplied by HH is stiff. I pulled those bowlines quite tight after taking a nice comfortable nap. Tuesday I decided to use my rope rescue training to design an adjustable system that will never force me to untie a tight knot again. I also want the system to take less than 2 minutes to deploy.


    I decided that I would not use any metal hardware to keep the weight low. The only thing I used to build this system is a 20 foot section of 1/4 inch nylon braided rope that I cut into several short lenghts. In rescue our trainers teach us to cut down on hardware and use rope to solve problems. When you are up on a high point and don't have a piece of hardware on you, you have to use your rope.

    The first thing I did was take the supplied tree savers and tie rope loops about 4 inches in diameter to the ends. I secured them with double fishermans but a square knot would do. So now I have 4 nice loops on the ends. This allows me to pass the end of the tree saver through to make a choker.

    I then cut two lenghts about 4 feet each of the 1/4 braided rope. I tied them onto each end of the main hammock line using prussik hitches. These prussiks will allow me to attach to the tree savers with a fully adjustable attachment without ever retieing a knot. I used a tensionless wrap within the loop on the tree saver and simple secured it with a square knot which never sees tension it is just a safety. On the main line to the hammock I tied a figure 8 stopper about 1 inch past the prussik just in case it were to slip. Prussiks once loaded do not slip, I trust my life to them suspended in mid air.

    Now I decided to work on the tarp. The cheap poly cordage supplies by HH for tieing the tarp is crap, I guess they figure everyone will replace it anyway so why waste money on good cord. Anyhoot, I cut two more sections of 1/4 inch rope about 2 feet long each. I tied a prussik hitch to the hammock mainline between the hammock and the load bearing prussik hitch on each end. I then secured the tarp with just a square knot on each end to the d ring on the tarp. The square knot does not need to be retied to adjust the tarp. The prussik hitch is simply slid left or right on the mainline. The square knot will be tied and untied during setup and breakdown, all four prussiks will remaind attached to the mainline and never need to be retied ever unless the rope wears out. Only 4 simple square knots will be needed to be tied to use this system. Two to safety the tensionless wraps made to the tree savers and two to the D-ring of the tarp.

    The system worked flawless. I tested my reset time and it was about 2 minutes. That is everything. Putting the tree savers around the trees, tieing the two square knots from the prussiks to the tree savers, tieing the two square knots from the prussiks to the tarp and guying out the hammock and the tarp.

    Now what may I change? I'm thinking about getting about a 25-30 foot length of paracord or other light rope to tie the tarp higher. Right now the tarp lies right on top of the hammock. It would be great that way in a rainstorm, I can't see a drop of water getting in under that big HH Hex Tarp rigged this way. The bad thing is has no air flow. I'd like to suspend the tarp about 1 foot or more above the hammock in good weather for improved air flow. Also the tarp is too low to effectively cook under it, etc. Another plus would be that I would be able to put the tarp up first and then rig the hammock under it when it is raining thus keep my hammock dry. There are just too many great things to gain using a separte rope for the tarp not to do it. It is extra weight and bulk but well worth it. The same prussik hitch attackment will work exactly the same using a rope, I'll just have to remove them from the hammock mainline and tie them onto the tarp rope. About a minutes worth of work.

    Tell me what you think about my system. So far I have about 3 dollars worth of rope invested in it and not one piece of hardware.

  8. #8
    Senior Member KerMegan's Avatar
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    Zing-it or Lash-it would make admirable tarp ridgeline- sling tarp over line for extra headroom, or under line(using prussics/toggles) for better protection. just how I roll.
    slight increase in set-up time if you use knots to tension ridge rather than biners or Fig-9s.
    hope that serves as a pointer.. KM

  9. #9
    Senior Member
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    Some good sites listed above for learning knots. While know specific to hammocking there is a guy on you tube that does what i think are the best knot tying videos I have ever seen. So if there is a particular knot your looking to learn search for that and TIAT (tying it all together).

    On my hammock I use whoopie slings, tree savers and carabiners. I don't think you can get much simpler, faster, lighter, or safer to set up than that. It's super simple and fast to adjust. I don't have to tie any knots to set it up or untie any knots to take it down. The carabiners I use are less than an ounce each. If your really set on not using hardware you could use nacrabiners (carabiners made of rope) to shave an ounce off your setup.

  10. #10
    Senior Member hutzelbein's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by jeepcachr View Post
    On my hammock I use whoopie slings, tree savers and carabiners. I don't think you can get much simpler, faster, lighter, or safer to set up than that. It's super simple and fast to adjust. I don't have to tie any knots to set it up or untie any knots to take it down. The carabiners I use are less than an ounce each. If your really set on not using hardware you could use nacrabiners (carabiners made of rope) to shave an ounce off your setup.
    I'm not only talking about the suspension system. It's also helpful to know a couple of different knots when e.g. using guy lines. For example I use self-tensioning guy lines, but when the weather is really bad, I can't bring the tarp down low enough. In this case I use the other end of the guy line and tie a loop. I think the knot I'm tying is a "half hitch"; it's a loop that pulls closed when you put weight on it. It works OK, but it's often difficult to get the loop to open again, without pulling out the tent peg. I assume that there are much better knots that would allow me to tie a loop that can be untied easily. Just one example.

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