Topic
Lashings, spars and the knots that hold everything together. Scouters built towers, bridges and camp gadgets, then shared the plans.
242 posts · 2007–2020
A reading list that spans blogs and years.
Double Platform Monkey Bridge It’s a pretty safe to say most Scouts love to climb things. So, it makes sense that if a monkey bridge is combined with something to climb on, it will be even more fun. The challenge in constructing a project like this is to assure the structure can safely support not…
When I was first learning my lashings, it always seemed that finishing them off gave me no end of trouble. It says in the book to secure with a Clove Hitch, but whenever I tried to tie a Clove Hitch the way the book described, it always ended up with too much slack and my…
The rabbit comes out of the hole.. goes around the tree.. and back into the hole.. now pull… It's a bowline. Its that simple. That simple to teach, that simple to do. And it's a knot that every Scout must know.
I did my Woodbadge course in the fall of 1988. Yes, that was long before the current "Woodbadge for the 21st Century", but I have a feeling the core training is still pretty much the same. The course was held at Camp Stearns in central Minnesota.
Main gateway at the 22nd World Scout Jamboree, Rinkaby, Sweden As mentioned in the last post , I recently returned from the 22nd World Scout Jamboree in Rinkaby, Sweden. I was travelling as the Troop Scouter of Drakensberg troop , in the South African contingent .
I have seen elaborate gateways, bridges and towers lashed together at Scout events but have yet to see anything remotely like the giant pioneering projects lashed together by these Israeli Scouts. (see more in my post Pioneering Unleashed ) Characters from video games, movies, cartoons, and folklore are all featured.
Larry sent in this helpful suggestion for those looking for pioneering projects If you haven't acquainted yourself with scoutpioneering.com , I invite you to do so. Myself and other members of the Jamboree Pioneering Area Staff take pioneering very seriously and the site is available as a resource for any and all who are interested in…
Pioneering Information Troop Meetings Main Event John Thurman, Gilwell Camp Chief for twenty-five years, said, ”There is only one activity in my experience where it pays to start at the top, and that is swimming. It is true that pioneering has often been directly or unexpectedly linked with swimming, but if any patrol, troop, or…
Learning how to lash together camp gadgets like dishwashing racks , cooking stations and dining fly poles is a fun — and useful — Scouting skill. But learning to tie these lashings at home, in a living room? That’s a recipe for broken lamps.
Scouting is a worldwide movement - it is thought that there are only six countries on Earth that have no Scout troops. I've been lucky enough to speak to Scouts all over the world while I've been running this blog. I realised the other day that I've spoken to Scouts on every continent on earth, except…
Showing 1–50 of 242 posts
Learning how to lash together camp gadgets like dishwashing racks , cooking stations and dining fly poles is a fun — and useful — Scouting skill. But learning to tie these lashings at home, in a living room? That’s a recipe for broken lamps.
CLICK ON EACH PHOTO FOR A LARGER VIEW: Single Trestle Bridge Monkey Bridge Carousel Four-Sided Picnic Table Atomic Pile Team Building Station Square Lashing Instruction Climbing Platform Dish Washing Rack (Camp Gadget Display Area) Swing Derrick Trebuchet
Teach your Scouts how to build a monkey bridge Scouting founder Robert Baden-Powell believed every Scout should know how to build bridges. From designing the structure to gathering materials and putting it all together, bridge construction combines technology, teamwork and enthusiasm to complete a span that is memorable and useful.
Here’s a simple way of setting up a dining fly in an open field A dining fly is one of the first structures you should put up at camp. But what if you’re in an area away from trees, how do you secure one?
Here’s a tip to help your Scouts remember how to tie a clove hitch Did you know a clove hitch is essentially two simple knots? When your Scout is tying lashings, all they need to know to create a clove hitch is how to tie a half-hitch.
As presented in Bryan on Scouting: Always tie a square knot correctly with this tip Tying a square knot might be confusing for Scouts. “Right-over-left” or was it “left-over-right?” For the next few weeks, we’ll be sharing some camp hacks that the BSA’s national camping subcommittee has shared with us.
Making tight wraps and fraps when tying a square lashing can take some time, but not with this method. For the next few weeks, we’ll be sharing some camp hacks that the BSA’s national camping subcommittee has shared with us.
Did you know a clove hitch is essentially two simple knots? When your Scout is tying lashings, all they need to know to create a clove hitch is how to tie a half-hitch. For the next few weeks, we’ll be sharing some camp hacks that the BSA’s national camping subcommittee has shared with us.
Tom Mahany wanted to challenge his Scouts to learn and identify essential Scouting knots. So the assistant Scoutmaster of Troop 165, part of the Coastal Georgia Council, invented a brilliant solution. It’s called the Knot Recognition Game. Mahany’s invention is equal parts work of art and practical teaching tool.
Scout Pioneering, Good Ol’ Fashioned Outdoor Fun, is filled with all the information, illustrations, and instructions a unit needs to get an effective pioneering program off the ground and flourishing. Along with the author’s first-hand experience as a Scout leader who has run successful pioneering programs in his own troop and at the Philmont Training…
These camp gadgets were featured in the Pioneering Village at the 2017 National Jamboree. All were fashioned out of Scout staves and precut lengths from broomsticks. Left Column, from the Top: Dish Washing Station, Camp Table, Simple Camp Table, Hand Wash Station, Single Fire Bucket Holder, Tripod Straddle Seat / Right Column from the Top: 15′…
This video encapsulates the Pioneering Village experience: Camp Gadgets made with Scout Staves and Broomsticks in the Pioneering Village.
This small camp table can be comprised almost completely of Scout staves. It’s 100% functional and provides a convenient raised surface for personal, patrol, or general use. It’s simple design makes it quick and easy to set up, and it is remarkably stable.
The BSA’s 2017 Boy Scout Requirements book, detailing major and minor changes to Boy Scout ranks and merit badges, is now available. Inside you’ll find: Modifications to the Second Class and First Class ranks The new Exploration merit badge Major changes to four merit badges Minor changes to 32 merit badges The changes are the…
Troop 86 from Sumter, SC wanted to do a pioneering project and they selected the Double A-Frame Monkey Bridge. Great place to start, and a great way to illustrate sequential programming . What skills enter into the picture? A whole bunch!
Pioneering Information Troop Meetings Main Event John Thurman, Gilwell Camp Chief for twenty-five years, said, ”There is only one activity in my experience where it pays to start at the top, and that is swimming. It is true that pioneering has often been directly or unexpectedly linked with swimming, but if any patrol, troop, or…
“Pioneering is practical and character building: the two essential ingredients of any program material for Scouts.” (Lord Baden-Powell) Pioneering Merit Badge, which as we all know used to be required for Eagle, should give Scouts a taste of pioneering! Of course they should be taught about safety and gain some general knowledge, but much more…
Though the clove hitch is most always taught by laying two turns around the pole to form an ‘X’ and then passing the running end underneath, the approach presented in this video is an essential one that should come into play anytime a lashing is finished with a clove hitch.
Greg from West Australian Scout Pioneering wrote in with photos and a description of the awesome bridge, supported by A frames on each end and a raft in the centre. Here's Gregs description: Photo courtesy Greg Barbera Project : Build a Rope bridge for the West Australian Cub Scout event – Enduro Location: Manjedal Activities Centre (M.A.C)…
Double A-Frame Monkey Bridge Constructed using “Sandwiched” 2x4s Yes. That’s how Venture Crew 140 out of Houston, Texas put some newly-learned lashing skills into action. They also experienced, first hand how rope tackles can put the necessary strain on thick lines used for hand and foot ropes.
I found this suspension bridge article written by L.C. Sands in the February 1937 Scouter magazine: No special credit is claimed for having succeeded in building the bridge described here, as it involves a principle in common use, but as the writer has not seen anything similar described in any of the books on pioneering…
These are some ideas for a Main Event from the revised Pioneering Module of Program Features for Troops, Teams and Crews. Click above for an enlarged view. The following three sample outing outlines can serve troop leaders as a point of reference, or as an actual framework, for the monthly main event relating to the…
This post is a component of the revised pioneering module in Program Features for Troops, Teams and Crews. Related Advancement First Class Tools requirements Pioneering Merit Badge What is Pioneering? – Pioneering is the knowledge and skill of using simple materials to build structures that are used in a wide range of Scouting activities.
In all Scouting activities, safety must come first. In and through the challenges, fun, and rewards that go hand in hand with Pioneering, there can be no substitute for prudent behavior and common sense. As you begin your pioneering activities, safety must be your first consideration.
Put most simply, the sheet bend is a very useful knot. It’s a very basic joining knot for tying two ropes together, and when a lot of pull is applied, it’s easier to undo than a square knot (Reef Knot).
A flagpole suspended off the ground by a series of lines, so that it appears to be floating, can be a really neat project. The structural principle has been referred to as tensegrity , and is based on using one half the lines to lift the pole off the ground, and the other half to give…
Any pioneering project that cannot safely stand by itself needs to be attached to something that will securely hold it in place. It has to be anchored. Sometimes nature will provide a tree or rock in just the right location or you might be able to shift the project’s placement to take advantage of a…
This slideshow requires JavaScript. Click here to watch a video tutorial. The timber hitch is the perfect knot to use for dragging a log across the ground. It is also the knot that starts a diagonal lashing. Here's how to tie a timber hitch: Pass the running end of the rope around a log.
This slideshow requires JavaScript. Click here to watch a video tutorial. The clove hitch is used to begin and end many lashings. Here's how to tie it: Bring the running end of the rope over and under a pole. Take the end around a second time, crossing over the first wrap to form the shape…
This slideshow requires JavaScript. Click here to watch a video tutorial. The sheet bend is the preferred knot for tying together two ropes of the same or different diameters. Here's how to tie the sheet bend: Make a bight in the end of the thicker rope and hold it with one hand.
Often times at a campsite, there are no picnic tables with benches, or array of thick, wooden discs from downed trees positioned around a fire site, or fallen tree trunks, or a large outcrop of smooth boulders. So, through the years, the answer to the query, “what will I sit on during a camping trip?”
When tying the basic, oft-used, simple “two-half-hitches” (double-half-hitch), instead of applying a clove hitch around the standing part, there’s a thing about mistakingly tying a lark’s head. This accident rears its head time and again, and many Scouts (both youth and adult) somehow don’t recognize the difference.
Catdrill 'lashing' details 'CatDrill' is an Italian technique for staving or lightweight pioneering , that involves preparing the staves to be used by drilling a small hole and notching the surface of the pole. Lightweight synthetic kernmantle rope is then used to tie the staves together, using stopper knots on the starting end of the rope…
Down through the decades, Scout Pioneering has always consisted of building bridges, towers, and… RAFTS . Raft building provides some unique challenges, and is fun in many ways. Whenever you don’t have a boat or canoe, and there’s a desire to float on, or across, a body of water, making a raft is what commonly comes…
After being excluded in all previous editions, the 13th Edition of The Boy Scout Handbook features the Japanese Mark II Square Lashing —a very good thing! Referred to simply as “The Mark II Square Lashing,” it’s included along with the other lashings in Chapter 12.
I have seen elaborate gateways, bridges and towers lashed together at Scout events but have yet to see anything remotely like the giant pioneering projects lashed together by these Israeli Scouts. (see more in my post Pioneering Unleashed ) Characters from video games, movies, cartoons, and folklore are all featured.
14′ Double Ladder Signal Tower Before the advent of BSA height restrictions on pioneering projects, the boy-sized, 14′ Double Ladder Signal Tower was built by Scout units, Scout pioneering crews, and Pioneering Merit Badge classes on a regular basis. Because it’s such a fine example of Scout Engineering, it has continued to be a feature…
This is is fourth in a series of posts abut the new rank requirements that take effect on January 1, 2016. Scout | Tenderfoot | Second Class | First Class | Star | Life | Eagle (these links will be active as each installment is published ) Exactly how the new requirements are phased in is explained in this PDF document – Notes…
12′ Scout Swing Seeing Action at a Public Scout Expo This is a simple project that is bound to get lots of play. Therefore, lashings need to be super tight, and eight sturdy pioneering stakes will serve as anchors and need to be driven solidly into the ground, perpendicular to and touching the six spars…
Addressing the basic and ongoing quandaries, HERE’S A VIDEO: You Tube Version (if Vimeo is malfunctioning) Some Questions and Some Answers about Rope for Lashing: What kind of rope should we use? For most projects, 1/4 manila. Refer to: Rope for Pionering and Camp Use What length(s) should we cut the rope into?
Addressing the basic and ongoing quandaries, HERE’S A VIDEO: You Tube Version (if Vimeo is malfunctioning) Some Questions and Some Answers about Rope for Lashing: What kind of rope should we use? For most projects, 1/4 manila. Refer to: Rope for Pionering and Camp Use What length(s) should we cut the rope into?
Long overdue for videos that are accurate and revealing, what follows are the first nineteen. In addition to YouTube, they’re on Vimeo, which is bereft of the distracting clutter, advertisements, and irrelevant links: PIONEERING KNOTS How to Tie a BUTTERFLY KNOT How to Tie a CARRICK BEND How to Tie a CLOVE HITCH and HALF…
Long overdue for videos that are accurate and revealing, what follows are the first sixteen. In addition to YouTube, they’re on Vimeo, which is bereft of the distracting clutter, advertisements, and irrelevant links: HOW-TO VIDEOS How to Tie a BUTTERFLY KNOT How to Tie a CARRICK BEND How to Tie a CLOVE HITCH and HALF…
Long overdue for videos that are accurate and revealing, what follows are the first fifteen. In addition to YouTube, they’re on Vimeo, which is bereft of the distracting clutter, advertisements, and irrelevant links: HOW-TO VIDEOS How to Tie a BUTTERFLY KNOT How to Tie a CARRICK BEND How to Tie a CLOVE HITCH and HALF…
Long overdue for videos that are accurate and revealing, what follows are the first twelve. In addition to YouTube, they’re on Vimeo, which is bereft of the distracting clutter, advertisements, and irrelevant links: HOW-TO VIDEOS How to Tie a BUTTERFLY KNOT How to Tie a CLOVE HITCH and HALF HITCHES How to Tie a DOUBLE…
If you’re interested in being a part of the outstanding Pioneering Staff at the 2017 National Jamboree, you can reach the director of the Pioneering Area, James Keller, by sending us an email . Please include your contact information and someone will get in touch with you with further information. 2013 National Jamboree Pioneering Staff
Traditional Diagonal Lashing When putting crossed braces on a structure to keep it from racking (as used when making a trestle), the most important lashing is the Diagonal Lashing, which gets its name from the fact that the wrapping turns cross the poles diagonally.
With the festive season upon us, I've put together a list of pioneering-related gifts that you might find useful. John Sweet's Scout Pioneering is a classic reference, and there are a few different editions in print. Your best bet is to hunt one down in a second hand bookshop, but there are a few online…
YouTube Version (if Vimeo is malfunctioning) Striking a pose after their successful run, this knew how to work together! A Scoutmaster had the pleasure of witnessing one of the patrols in his troop out-perform 50 others at a council camporee.
CAMPCRAFT CHALLENGES Related to Scout Pioneering are a variety of campcraft challenges that can be incorporated into the troop meeting agenda. A relevant upside is, these activities require putting into action skills gained during instructional sessions. Appropriately, these skills come into play in a way that is challenging and fun.
