Tripod Lashing With Plain TurnsThis is the sixth post in a series that will eventually comprise an activity-based, unit pioneering program curriculum.SUPPORTING VIDEO:VI. The tripod is the most simple and most easy to erect self-standing pioneering structure. It frequently comes into play in the construction of simple campsite improvements as in providing a stand to hang a lantern or water bag, and in our favorite First Class Camp Gadget: the. In larger projects, two tripods can support a crossbar as in a swing set, or support two parallel lateral spars for a platform as in the.The Tripod Lashing with Plain Turns is a simple and quick way to lash together three spars into a tripod. For many projects, the wraps can be made with simple plain turns in lieu of racking turns, (as in what’s often referred to as the Figure of Eight Lashing). As Gerald Finley says: “THE STIFFNESS OF THE TRIPOD LASHING DEPENDS ON THE NUMBER AND TIGHTNESS OF THE WRAPPING TURNS.” Two Half Hitches = a Clove Hitch!OBJECTIVESA.
A diagonal lashing (see below). LASHING KNOTS A lashing knot holds two poles together; think of the log wall forts of the American frontier. A diagonal lashing begins with a timber hitch and ends with a clove hitch. This lashing binds poles that cross each other at a 45° to 90° angle. Cross bracing at 90° is only used if a gap exists between poles.
Scouts Lash the Tops of Their Shear Legs with a SHEAR LASHING to Begin Their Single A-Frame BridgeDEFINITION: ambiguous amˈbigyoōəs adjective(of language) open to more than one interpretation; having a double meaning; unclear or inexact From the 1981 Printing of the Pioneering Merit Badge PamphletOne Thing is NOT Ambiguous! The shear lashing’s USE is quite clear. References to the lashing in John Thurman’s Pioneering books, in John Sweet’s Scout Pioneering, and the Lashing section in the Pioneering Merit Badge Pamphlets by Pioneering Legend Adolph Peschke all describe its fundamental use exactly the same way. Putting it neat like John Sweet: Use a sheer lashing “when two spars are to be opened out like scissors to make a pair of sheerlegs,” or right to the point like John Thurman in Pioneering Projects, the sheer lashing is “used for lashing together two parallel spars which will be opened out of the parallel to form sheer legs.”What are sheer legs? Simply put: sheer legs are two upright spars lashed together at the tips with the butt ends splayed apart to support some kind of weight.
Most always, in Scout Pioneering we use sheer legs to form an A-Frame.Ambiguous? Let’s start with ambiguous spelling! Most modern references to the lashing spell it s-h-e- a-r. Yet, the much respected and revered John Thurman was emphatic that the correct spelling was s-h-e- e-r!Terminology. In John Sweet’s book, sheer lashing has two different forms each with the same name. When two spars are lashed together for strength, or lap-jointed to extend their length a sheer lashing is used BUT with the clove hitches tied around both spars and without any frapping turns. He still calls it a sheer lashing, but of course this is commonly known as a!
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John Thurman refers to a true round lashing as the Sheer Lashing Mark II and the lashing used to make sheer legs as the Sheer Lashing Mark I.Let’s take this opportunity to further clarify two lashing designations that keep popping up. A SHEAR Lashing is used to make shear legs.
A ROUND Lashing is used to attach one pole to another in the same direction as in extending the overall length of shorter poles. (It can also be used to bind more than one pole together to make a stronger pole.) SHEAR Lashings incorporate frapping turns. ROUND Lashings do not! Along these lines, the should be called the West Country Round Lashing, and rightfully so!Nowhere is this stated more clearly than in Gerald Finley’s book, Rope Works: “West Country Round Lashing is also called West Country Shear Lashing, but this name contributes to the confusion caused by lumping shear and round lashings together. West Country Round Lashing is used to form a rigid joint between two parallel poles; it does not form the flexible joint of a shear lashing and it has no frapping turns.”Two-Spar Shear Lashing.
To add to the possible confusion, Adolph Peschke calls what John Thurman refers to as the Sheer Lashing Mark I (which is in actuality THE shear lashing) the Two-Spar Shear Lashing. This name can also be related to the tying of a, wherein the procedure is exactly like the Two-Spar Shear Lashing but with three spars. It follows that it’s easy to dub this tried and true form of tripod lashing (just like the Two-Spar Shear Lashing) the THREE-Spar Shear Lashing.
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The Two-Spar Shear Lashing is used to make an A-Frame, and the Three- Spar Shear Lashing is used to make a simple tripod.Ambiguity in Tying the Lashing. Though the formation is the same: clove hitch around one spar, six to eight wraps, two fraps, finish with clove hitch around one spar, there are varied approaches to actually tying the shear lashing. These discrepancies all hinge on the hinge. (Pun intended.) The spars have to pivot in order to spread out the desired distance. How can this be accomplished so the lashing is tight but not so tight that when spreading the legs into position, the legs and lashing rope resist the strain to the point that something breaks?
This is a simple and quick way to tie a tripod lashing. The wraps are not woven in and out between the spars. The running end is simply wrapped around all three, snugly but not too tight. In Rope Works Plus, Gerald Findley refers to this lashing as a Tripod Lashing with Plain Turns. Here’s a page right out of the 1967 printing of the BSA Fieldbook: Tripod LashingNotice how the outside legs cross under the middle leg.
In that way, the strength of the tripod is not entirely dependent on the strength of the lashing rope, but also on the support given by the wood of the outside legs. Racking TurnsNote: This lashing works very well for most Scout Pioneering applications, but for a heavy tripod, or a large one that will be supporting a lot of weight for a longer period of time, using racking turns (Figure of Eight Tripod Lashing) provides more contact between the rope and the spars.