Tauntline Hitch Appreciation Thread

[John Paul Sanborn]

So i'm not really confused

 

[Guy Meilleur]

I jsut came back from FL, land of palms and stunted trees like live oaks, and boy is it ever GREAT to be back where big trees grow!

Pruned a 60' ash today and tried the brandspankin new knot which is the TL with the upper two loops going to the left--what do you call it, the prusikpretzl?

It worked great!! Only cinched up on me one time. I mastered new technology, yippee! Maybe next year I'll try the Blakes, and later even ascenders! Anyone with a hotline to Santa, let him know I'll be pantin' for a Pantin in a decade or so.

Thanks for the info, guys!

 

[MasterBlaster]

Originally posted by Guy Meilleur
--what do you call it, the prusikpretzl?

I wish you coulda been with me in the pea-can I was in yesterday - MONSTER!!!

 

[TheTreeSpyder]

None of these are that foreign to your Experience Guy(s)!

i'm thinking if the second story of turns, reverses direction, and both ends end up, coming out on the same side (like a loop chord choked 2x around host neatly is also a prusik), with a straight, rather than slanted (slanted denotes clove/TL) 'bar' is an open prusik.

Placing an eye in the free end, and connectiong to saddle, would make a closed prusik. Or a closed loop of chord tied in circle to it's self, can be choked 2x, then connected to saddle for prusik.

Same knot as open prusik with 1, lower ring, and 3 top, in a closed formation (eye connected to saddle on each end); -like steal one ring from bottom and place on top story, you have a Schwab Prusik, better yet! Minimal change!

Prolly, the best in this , just one step off the path of experience is to take that double eye tail, and make your ol'TL; drop 1 ring from the bottom, and give it to the top(parallelling such action as in Schwab, only here with clove type lacing family pattern), hook both eyes to the saddle, and you have the Distel.

Just like that prusik; all just ~(about) 1 step from what your used to in most of them! But, i think it is such that the change in the mechanichs of how it serves you can be dramatic. Some take a lil'experience for you to naturally tune it in etc. This is good practice for if ya ever later step up to the VT, it can really take some tuning to ya.

But like any other better crafted machine, what a ride when ya get it going right!

All these friction hitches, can be made in 1/2", so ya might be able to experiment; without the variable of getting used to looking at that lil'chord etc. All of the 'closed' hitches would be inherently stronger compared to the 'open' tail on end of fritcion hitch. If the open system systems, could be compared to a choke (in sling lingo), and the closed systems then is a basket type position of the same line. For slings the ratings are usally Choke Strength x 2 1/2 = Basket Strength.

If ya gots some 3 strand, i think that is better/longer lasting tails/lanyards than braid on braid IMLHO. i think it flexes around host line nicer, and possibly that the 'flutes' between the strands allow better heat dissipation, than a 1/2" braid tube on a braided line, with more 'total contact' on the host line from the tube rather than 'fluted' contact point by 3strand. but, that is just a theory of why it seems to last longer.

So, nothing that far from home, here for ya to reach to and get a taste; see if it is for you. Of the 4 here : TL, Open Prusik, Schwab, Distel; i think the concensus would be to go for the Distel for best grab/release of the set, and a fairly close to an olde familiar form.

-KC

 

[Bradley Ford]

safest hitch?

Is the tautline hitch (with stopper knot) the safest hitch for a dynamic climbing system?

Thinking about limiting a hitch's holding ability, so that it will "slip and grab" in response to a 4g shock load, made me wonder if fewer wraps and/or braids (generally producing less holding ability) would be safer than more. And the Tautline hitch's 3 wraps (1 up and 2 down) are about as few as are used in any climbing hitch.

Also, some may consider having a hitch that requires significant effort to move safer than a hitch that does not.

 

[igetbisy]

Originally posted by Husky 288
I climb with a Tautline or a Blake. I got your back MB.

TL here too butch, pretty hard to give that info out to the fellas here, sort of like a black man going to a white pride convention, but i find it's pretty conveinient, and i've never found myself wishing there was a better way.
But I am here to learn, so I guess It would be a bit rude not to take the unanimous opinion here, and see what I think about it, So I'll give some time towards checking these other options out.
I just cant wait till the day I run around here, trying to tell all the good ol boys that their ways are obsolete!!!

 

[Lumberjack]

Re: safest hitch?

Originally posted by Bradley Ford
Is the tautline hitch (with stopper knot) the safest hitch for a dynamic climbing system?

Thinking about limiting a hitch's holding ability, so that it will "slip and grab" in response to a 4g shock load, made me wonder if fewer wraps and/or braids (generally producing less holding ability) would be safer than more. And the Tautline hitch's 3 wraps (1 up and 2 down) are about as few as are used in any climbing hitch.

Also, some may consider having a hitch that requires significant effort to move safer than a hitch that does not.

The fact that the tautline uses less wraps doesnt mean, IMO, that it is easier to slip.

I would think that a VT or a variation would be better, as it acts on a longer section of the rope, and it is easier to fine tune it. I agree that using less wraps and braids would be the easiest way of obtaining a hitch that would slip.

In a tautline, the wraps take more of the load each than in a vt, as evidence that the tautline can work with just three wraps, instead of 3 wraps and the braid on the VT.

A shock load, being absorbed by the hitch, is going to create alot of heat, possibly damaging the rope from the sudden hard slide from the shock. (Doesnt a tautline lockup after it is shock loaded? I dont know, as i dont use them, just askin.) So i would like a hitch that spread the wear out in normal use, as to not burn throught the tress cord.

About the hitch that requires segnificant effort to move, that would be a pain for sure. But also, if it is hard to move, then how is a shock load going to be allowed to slip?

I see what you are sayin tho, advanced hitches will slip with little pressure applied to collapse them, but after all, that is one reason why we use them.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Well, I tried the Blake's hitch out, and its back to the 'ole tauntline for me. I DID like the way it didn't move when you didn't want it to, and didn't seem to lock up as much.
I DID NOT like the need for both hands, or the way it wore the bottom wrap prematurely.

Oh well... I DID try... :angel:

 

[NickfromWI]

Originally posted by MasterBlaster
...I DID NOT like the need for both hands...

Do you mean in tying it?

 

[MasterBlaster]

Well, yah!




Don't hate me because I'm old school... :alien:

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

Now that you know howto tie the hitch, add a fair lead, that's where the advantage comes in. The fair lead won't work for $hit wih with those old school hitches.
When I see a picture of you with a Blake's and a fairlead, then I'll believe you tried it.

 

[MasterBlaster]

You don bleeb me?

 

[TheTreeSpyder]

Even a Blake's has 4coil short Frenchy stack, that the other friction hitches are built on too. The Blake's just kinda sits on it's own tail/bootstrap with main line pull placed on the easiet to hold point; much like constrictor, anchor; Y tie off to a lessor extent, etc.

The tautline kinda violates the pattern of the best strategy/ most common strategy of a short run of French Prusik coils (4)in same direction to grip host line for lifeline applications IMLHO. So, though the tautline the eldest of our friction hitches; in some ways the French Prusik pattern is the more proven, for it's ability to be applied in so many forms (VT/MT, Distel, Schwab, Knut, Kleim etc.), and more; especially in mountain/rescue.

So, i think in that realm the ol'tautline has become an oddball; who's design is different, only using 2 uniterupted rings for initial grab. Many things will work; never done it; but i know a guy that actually sets a clove hitch real tight and backs it up for a friction hitch for some years now!

i think steering from the tautline (though not in the clove or rolling hitch direction)is going with the better science; that yields friendlier hitches that are secure, don't sieze and are easier to 'break' from a standstill.


Orrrrrrrrrr something like that
:alien:

 

[a_lopa]

i think the french is best with small pulley better for when you have to go up down a few times but thats only my opinion

 

[Guy Meilleur]

youwinlarry

Originally posted by TheTreeSpyder

i think steering from the tautline ...is going with the better science; that yields friendlier hitches that are secure, don't sieze and are easier to 'break' from a standstill.

Thanks for that explanation--it made more sense and impact than all the other admonishments to get with the "advanced" program.

In my TL, since flipping the upper two loops tto the left, seizing has been reduced >50%, but it still happens. And if it happens at the wrong moment, a sticky situation may result. Tried the blakes but didn't like it better.

Most seizures I can break with one hand, but if my second hand wasn't available when needed, hmmm....it's raining today, so it may be time to :Eye: the VT...

 

[NickfromWI]

Guy, I dunno if you should start with the VT. It can take a while to fine-tune it. I wouldn't want you to give up on it! Perhaps the Distel or Swabish would be a good step up from the tautline. They are tied very similarly, but behave so differently!

If you're patient, then do invest the time in the VT...it will pay off big in the end!

love
nick

 

[MasterBlaster]

Hey!

This is the tauntline APPRECIATION THREAD!

Lets get appreciating!!!


I used mine today with GREAT SUCCESS!!! I also had to euthanize a bird...

 

[NickfromWI]

Guy, I appreciate your openness in considering newer, better options.

hows that, MB?


love
nick

 

[MasterBlaster]

We don't want this to be the FIRST THREAD to have ever gone OT, do we?

 

[Ax-man]

Your not going to get any appreciating out of me MB, I think of you every time I undo my lead carabiner, to advance my line or get a new TIP. Yup, good ole MB down there in LA. , tying and untying that dreaded taut line. Life in a tree is just sooo much simplier with a split tail and VT with a pulley. You just don't know what your missing.

Still don't know how you could wear a rope so quick using a Blakes.