🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1h0vrmINNon0@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu> ad980@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Paul S. Wolf) writes:
>As far as I know, there is nothing illegal, nor is it against OFFICIAL BSA 
>rules to make or teach how to make nooses.  HOWEVER, no Scouter I know will
>teach the noose, nor let the boys make them.  They are not Knots used for
>any legitimate scouting purpose.

My patrol leader taught me how to make a hangman's noose, I
taught it later to my own scouts. And i don't see anything wrong
in it. If you are going to hang yourself or somebody else, any
kind of knot that forms a loop can be used. But the hangman's
noose is exciting and something the kids want to learn, so why
not show them how it is done. It may not have very much use in
its' basic form. However last summer I designed a variation of
it to use to close a sea bag, so that we could have one piece of
rope to serve both for closing and carrying the bag without
needing any additional parts.

There is only one thing I am really worried about when teaching
knots. The improper use of square knot. Every scout book I have
seen says that the square knot is used for "joining two ropes of
equal thickness". And this is bunk. The square knot has a
tendency to unravel, if the knot is disturbed in some way. In
practice this means that if you join two lines with a square knot
and use that as a fastening line for your boat, you may
experience difficulties in finding your boat the next morning. 

Another name for the square knot is reef knot, which tells us
much more about the proper use of the knot. It is very well
suited to tying sails, packages and pundles. Then the knot is
under constant tension and one side of the knot presses against
the sail or what ever and it will not open by itself.
--
Timo Kiravuo, kiravuo@hut.fi
Helsinki University of Technology, Computer Center, Finland