Learned a knot: the Kalmyk loop

[Rouskof]

I watched YouTube videos of a Russian guy tying Kalmyk loop, he was speaking Russian, what do ya know, I don’t hear well anyway. I kept replaying him tying Kalmyk loop and it was too fast to wrap my one cylinder brain around.
He could tie it in less than a second. And untie just as fast.
Sometimes I can tie Kalmyk loop in 4 or 5 seconds and sometimes not at all—-maybe if I spoke Russian like in the video....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9ET21ntDrI

Shown alternatively with the Siberian hitch (I use this one to tie my tarp up high on a branch I can only throw my line at. I leave a long end hanging down this slippery knot to be able to untie it without having to climb the tree)

[Phantom Grappler]

Rouskof, thank you, that’s a good video of kalmyk loop. Your way of tying tarp line high over a branch is new to me—-I’m gonna try it too.
At a local hang I got to get on a tentstile air tent.

[Rouskof]

Rouskof, thank you, that’s a good video of kalmyk loop. Your way of tying tarp line high over a branch is new to me—-I’m gonna try it too.
At a local hang I got to get on a tentstile air tent.

Cool ! ; )

[cmoulder]

I practiced this today with an actual tarp and I must say I really like it.

It is easier and a bit quicker to tie than a bowline because there's no need to feed the long tail of the ridge line through a loop. Describing this as a "sheet bend tied on itself" brought it into clearer focus for me. I think it will become second-nature very quickly.

kalmyk_loop.jpg

[leiavoia]

So I played with this for a while today and I was only half right. It is technically a “sheet bend on itself”, but in the other direction. It makes a difference. If tied with this way of thinking, the bight would be on the tag end and the wraparound part would be on the standing end. That would be unusual and difficult to tie, so just do it the Siberian way like man in the video.

Am I right about that?

[Phantom Grappler]

In the above video tied a fixed loop that does not cinch up close to tree—-Kalmyk loop; or a slipped Eskimo bowline. Not my first choice for a tarp ridgeline, because it does not squeeze tight, close to tree on all sides of tree. A good use of Kalmyk loop would be to tether a dog or caribou to tree—-allowing it to circle tree and hopefully not shorten rope by wrapping it around tree.

His other knot looked like a Siberian Hitch, I think it’s a good knot for tarp ridgeline. After tying a Siberian Hitch and starting to dress it or tighten it, I like to add two more slips to original slip—-like a daisy chain or monkey braid—to make it less likely that Siberian Hitch will loosen and come undone.

That S H would be good for first tree, but to tighten tarp ridgeline at second tree—maybe use a truckers hitch or some titanium bling. If not sure of how to tie truckers hitch, and you have plenty of line, pull it tight on second tree and wrap tight around tree three or for times and finish with a half hitch and a slipped half hitch or two to back it up.


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[cmoulder]

I have been using fixed loops for a while without having them slide down the tree. Maybe I'll change my tune if I have a 3 am disaster in crummy weather.

But I have also found that wrapping around the tree a few times and finishing with various half hitches works fine... awful lot of friction between cord and bark doesn't require a fancy knot.

For small tarps that don't need a CRL, however, I am using a split RL with a Kalmyk on each end to anchor, and Prusiks to center and tension the tarp. The RL cord is woven polyester with Spectra core (Lawson), and the Prusiks do not slip at all with this cord.

Split_RL_Prusik_Kalmyk.jpg Split_RL_Prusik_Kalmyk_01.jpg Split_RL_Prusik_Kalmyk_02.jpg

I am, admittedly, always in pursuit of the lightest, simplest, no-hardware solution.