Bumbling Bushcraft Comic: All Tied Up

Fire Inside: A Review of UST Paratinder

As we go through the five C’s, I’ve unintentionally have been ranking them in order of importance. The next set will contain knives, which I believe is the most important. With a good knife you can do or make anything. But immediately after that, I’ve got to give it to cordage. Whether it’s putting up your shelter, lashing together a tripod for cooking, and can even be used in the fire making process if made from natural materials.

Unfortunately for us, most of our cordage is either paracord or bank line, and being synthetic, it melts instead of burns. In David Canterbury’s book Bushcraft 101 chapter 3, page 71 under rope, he says,

 “Unlike cord, I prefer my rope to be of a natural material such as hemp. The main reason for this is its flammability, which aids in fire-making and when creating a bird’s nest.”

You should have a synthetic cord at a diameter smaller than ¼” and a natural rope being bigger than ¼” for the fire making process. But, what if we have a ¼” cordage that would burn, yet have the strength of paracord or bank line? UST have made 550 paracord with one of the seven strands being flammable, unlike the others. Before we get into the review, I want to state as always, “I am not being paid to endorse this item. I paid for it with my own money under my own volition. My review is genuine and accounts are from my, and mine alone, experiences with this item.” And with that, let’s get into the review!

So, it’s paracord with a flammable cord, big deal right? Just tell us, is it good or bad? End the blog there, right? Well I actually spent a little more time on it than just that. I wanted to make sure that the paracord I bought was just as good as or better than the paracord I already had. There would be no point in carrying paracord that would only be good for starting fires. I decided that I would first start off seeing how well it put up a ridge line. I used the Siberian Hitch and the Trucker’s Hitch and both knots held just as well as any other paracord. The ridge line itself held well, just like it always does, so no noticeable difference.

Next, while I was out there I wanted to try my lashings. I tied my Clove Hitch, wrapped it three times in the square formation, frapped three times, and tied off with a Clove Hitch on a bight. This also held just as well as the bank line lashing we did last week.

Next I wanted to cut open the paracord and see what I was getting inside. When broken down, I had the mantle in a bright orange and grey pattern, the customary seven strands slightly pinkened I assume from the fire starter, and last is the Firestarter itself which seemed slightly thicker than any of the other seven strands. Right out of the box you will notice while looking at the end of the cord, the seven fire starting strands surrounding the fire starting core.

The next three tests involved the seven strands more than any other part of the cord. First I tested feeding it through a needle for sewing purposes. It did fine with this and since it did fine at this, it means it would be fine to be used as fishing line in case of an emergency. Next, taking a fishing jighead, I fashioned a small end of the paracord into a fishing lure. This again made a very nice lure, especially with the bright orange.

After all of these tests, I concluded that this paracord was on par with any other 550 paracord purchased from UST. So with all that done, I decided to move on to the fire starting core. After trying all of the fire starting methods I could (ferro rod and magnifying glass) the only thing that actually got it to light was direct flame from a lighter. While lit, the flammable core worked more like a match than anything else. It was still susceptible to wind, water, and oxygen deprivation. But, it did give an extended burn. Adding this to part of a bird’s nest would greatly improve your success in producing a flame. Once the flame was out, the cord was reduced to ash and could not be used as char-cloth.

Overall, if you were buying paracord, it couldn’t hurt to pick up this product to try for yourself. Having your items multitask for you is what every bushcrafter needs to look for when purchasing gear. Next week we will be having two pieces of equipment battling it out for your primary cutting tool position. One will be a fixed blade knife, and the other, I’ll let you guess. Comment below before 11 pm EST July 22^nd, 2017. The first person with the correct answer will get a shoutout in the next blog!  As always feel free to comment, share this blog, and check back next week for a new one. Follow me on Facebook: @BPackBushcraft and on Twitter @BPackBushCraft. Until next time, keep those fires burning and put another log on for me.

1 2 3 Start Lashing with Me: Basic Lashing Knots and How to Use Them

The answer to last week’s blog was the Cove Hitch. What it goes to is lashings, as I’m sure you can tell by the incredibly punny title I chose to use this week. Now before we get into lashings, I want to give you reassurance that they are not going to be nearly as bad as you have them set to be in your mind. Before I did this blog, I was very nervous to try lashing for the first time, mostly because of what they are used for, such as chairs, rafts, shelters, meat poles (what you hang animal carcasses off). Once I watched a few videos from, Eastmans' Hunting Journals, I really began to learn that lashings are as easy as 1, 2, 3. Before we get into lashings and all that stuff, let’s go over the clove hitch.

Clove Hitch Knot

To perform the Clove Hitch, you are only concerned with the working end in your right hand (I like to leave out about a foot). Lay the working end over what you are tying the hitch to, in this case a piece of wood and wrap once crossing over the top of the working end, really focusing on make the X-shape that is essential to the Clove Hitch. Take the working end all the way back around and feed it underneath the X that the two strands make and cinch it tight. We use the Clove Hitch because regardless of whether you pull on the working end or the static end, this knot does not come loose unless you pick it apart. I remember it as being called a Clove Hitch because it is split like the hooves of an animal such as a cow.

Before we go into square lashing, I just want to talk about the terminology real quick. You’ll need to know that when I say “wrap” I mean to place the cordage in a particular pattern based on which lashing we’re doing. And the “frap” which is wrapping the wrap to strengthen and tighten.

Square Lashing Knot

To begin our square lashing, we first want to begin by placing a Clove Hitch slightly off center (I chose off right to the center) on one of our lashing poles. For this lashing, I am going to be lashing a 1 1/2” diameter branch to a 4” diameter tree. I can go in any pattern that I want, but what I mainly want to do is wrap BEHIND the pole in the back and in FRONT of the pole in the front. You want to keep it as tight as you possibly can. After each pass, ratchet it down. Once I have done this three times, I want to begin the frap. With this, I want to wrap around the cordage in the space between my two lashing poles. Again, crank down as tight as you can after each pass. I watched a video that said that this can be as tight as steel spikes if done correctly. I end it with another clove hitch after my final frap. This should secure it onto the pole without loosening it all.

Diagonal Lashing Knot

This lashing is very similarly constructed to the square lashing. The only differences are instead of going around the pole, you go in between them, and instead of starting with a Clove Hitch, you start with a Timber Hitch. So go ahead and tie that Timber Hitch. You want to tie it diagonally on the lashing poles. Next you want to wrap three times in whatever original direction you started with the timber hitch, which itself does not count as a wrap. Next you want to wrap in the opposite plane going in the other direction diagonally for another set of three wraps. Next you want to frap again three times around the cordage in the space between the two lashing poles. At the end I tie off with a Clove Hitch, and again I am done. While I haven’t tested it, I do theorize that one could do the Timber Hitch in one diagonal, then instead of wrapping that diagonal, wrap the opposite diagonal, then come back and wrap the same diagonal as the Timber Hitch. I believe that it would give this more stability. I have not been in a place where I could really test my theory out, so anyone who could help me out with an answer to that, please leave a comment below.

Tripod Lashing Knot

The last lashing is called the Tripod Lashing. A lashing that every woodsman should know, especially if they plan on cooking via a tripod. For this lashing, you will need to again tie a Clove Hitch onto whichever pole is to the far right, a little bit below the top. Next you will want to wrap the other poles in a weaving pattern. To do this, start from the Clove Hitch and go under the middle pole, around the leftmost pole, over the middle pole, and around the rightmost pole, and so on until you have about five wraps on the outermost poles. Make sure that each weave is tightened down. Next you want three fraps around the cordage in between the poles. To stand it up, take the middle pole and pull the bottom of it backwards while pushing the tops of the outermost poles together at the top. This will form your tripod.

Sort of a shorter blog this week. There are other lashings out there and we may go over them again in the future if that’s something you guys would like. Also, we may try our hand at making furniture with these lashings, but that will be another blog. Next week we will be going over the cordage review. It seems that this month has just flown by. As always feel free to comment, share this blog, and check back next week for a new one. Follow me on Facebook: @BPackBushcraft and on Twitter @BPackBushCraft. Until next time, keep those fires burning and put another log on for me.