what split tail do you guys like

[Fireaxman]

... On a side note Martin Morales, the inventor of the MICHOACAN, stressed he wanted this hitch called a Michoacan and not a Martin because he wanted no notoriety from it. We should respect his request!...

With all due respect to Martin, appreciation for his humility, and appreciation to him for making it a formally accepted "Friction Hitch" rather than just another accident, do we really have to call it a Michoacan? Martin is so much easier to type. And, frankly, I would not have known who formalized it if you had not told me. Can you talk to him?

I am not trying to be flippant. Regardless of how good my climbing skills may or may not be, I'm sure my typing skills are worse. Some people call it "Hunt and Peck". One of my employees once called it "Search and Destroy".

 

[mckeetree]

The split tail I really like works at Enlaces mexican restaurant in Edgewood Texas.

 

[NickfromWI]

Bowline tied to a snap, tautline with the tail and a figure eight to back it. Works just fine for me, if it ain't broke, why fix it?

If it can be much better, why stick with the old?

love
nick

 

[jsk]

Are a martin and a distel hitch the same thing. I was going to try a bee line as well but not sure what to tie on to it. Right now I use a bowline on a clip and then on my split tail I tie the blakes hitch with a figure 8 stopper.
jason

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

If it can be much better, why stick with the old?

Because he likes what he knows, and spends all his time on gaffs.

I'll use a blakes when working a spar sometimes when I want to keep the tree close to me.

With the advanced hitches there can be too much play involved. Especially on smaller wood. I was on a pecker-pole dead ash in a wooded stand the other day, 40-50 ft up and it was moving so much it was wearing me out.

 

[Canyon Angler]

Sorry if this is a dumb question :newbie: and I don't mean to hijack the thread, but

Why not just use a regular Prusik? What advantages are to be gained by using other friction hitches?

(I'm just learning about tree climbing now, but in the past, when using ropes to climb 12-pitch roofs for chimney cleanings, I always just used Prusik loops, not that I'm equating roof scrambling with tree climbing, but still...with fishing knots, I at least see the point sometimes where one knot might be better suited for a particular application, but a lot of these knots/hitches seem to be slight variations and permutations on a common theme/purpose...no?)

Is the profusion of knots making it more complicated than it needs to be? Or am I just not getting the points of the various knots? Or both?

opcorn:

 

[moray]

Sorry if this is a dumb question :newbie: and I don't mean to hijack the thread, but

Why not just use a regular Prusik? What advantages are to be gained by using other friction hitches?

Is the profusion of knots making it more complicated than it needs to be? Or am I just not getting the points of the various knots? Or both?

opcorn:

It's a perfectly good question. All the knots are variations on a theme, but for the purpose of smoothly going up and down the rope, the original prusik is quite inferior to the newer variants. You want a nice blend of ease of advance when going up the rope, reliability and quickness of grip when you want it to grip, and ease of descent when you pull down on the knot. The differences between the newer knots seem to me much smaller than the difference between any of them and the original prusik. At least for the half dozen I have tried.

 

[BostonBull]

Are a martin and a distel hitch the same thing. I was going to try a bee line as well but not sure what to tie on to it. Right now I use a bowline on a clip and then on my split tail I tie the blakes hitch with a figure 8 stopper.
jason

No they are very different.