Old School

[Climbhigh]

I've climbed allot on a Blakes but never climbed on the Tautline hitch until today. Is it normal for the stopper knot to get sucked into the crossbar of the hitch and is it safe to climb with it that way. I ended up tying a second stopper knot with the remaining tail before I climbed on it. Performance wise I liked it especially on the descent compared to the Blakes.

 

[treebilly]

The taught line seems to require a lot more maintainence than the Blakes. The hitch will eventually tighten up against the safety knot and make it hard to ascend.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I love my tautline. Just stay on top of it and keep it dressed!

 

[Climbhigh]

No matter how I tied it, more turns, less turns, set it real tight, it would always instantly suck the stopper knot up to the hitch. Just wondered if its safe to use it that way. Ended up climbing with it for 3 hours anyway. And now I think I like it better than the blakes hitch. Looks like more even contact on the rope than blakes and dont notice my line twisting up like before.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Lordy. Never had that problem.

What rope are you using?

 

[Climbhigh]

Lordy. Never had that problem.

What rope are you using?

Fairly new Arbormaster closed .also tried a well used piece of true blue for a split tail. same result. even after a tight set and dress. But it sounds like I do have a problem. guess operator error or ropes not compatible.

 

[MasterBlaster]

You will cypher it.

 

[Climbhigh]

Great picture BTW.

 

[Jed]

Yeah.. that's normal man. I found it interesting that the Canadian government specified the taught line as the one to use for their woods-climbing program with which they train all of their Heli-loggers. They mandate four turns and a stopper knot.

I've used it with four turns, three, and even just two on Poison Ivy. Yeah... the knot actually works by creeping into the stopper, and one's "minding" it consists in continually rolling it back so it doesn't get too tight.

Old school points for sure, but I much prefer the VT on split tail.

 

[gf beranek]

I started on a taught-line in 1969 and used it up til the early 90's. Now keeping the knot from creeping and seizing-up against the stopper became second nature after a very short while. Like so many things in this work.

 

[Tucker943]

Watch a tautline on a brand new rope. Wear that waxy coating off as quick as possible unless you want to chance a 30 foot landing on your back at the base of the tree. Trust me.

 

[pete mctree]

Do you not find the blakes superior?

I hated the tautline period

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Seems a step back wards to me.

 

[cory]

When the tautline was all there was, it rocked, imo

 

[DMc]

But there never was a time when it was just the tautline. I never liked the tautline because of it's rolling out tendencies. Not surprising as it has the same architecture as the clove hitch. I found the prusic hitch to be much better behaving, both in adjustability and stability. It is similar in architecture to the girth hitch.

 

[Altissimus]

I still use it every so often on a second climb line... The roll is easy to figure out. As Ger mentioned in the book , can even be tied with one hand. Advantage Old School.

 

[Jed]

Do you not find the blakes superior?

I hated the tautline period

I think you directed this to Chris, but I'd say that just about everyone who has used the Blake's at length, has never gone back.

 

[Jed]

But there never was a time when it was just the tautline. I never liked the tautline because of it's rolling out tendencies. Not surprising as it has the same architecture as the clove hitch. I found the prusic hitch to be much better behaving, both in adjustability and stability. It is similar in architecture to the girth hitch.

 

[Grendel]

I'll pass

 

[Climbhigh]

Does this earn me anymore oldschool points? had to make a couple extra wraps on the TL but worked slick on a couple of traverses. So how many oldschool points equal one nostalgic point?

 

[MasterBlaster]

Daddy like.

 

[woodworkingboy]

Always liked that picture. In a way a model for living simply.

 

[Climbhigh]

Daddy like.

you climb on That ?

 

[MasterBlaster]

Sure.

Why knot?

 

[Climbhigh]

Jokin