Bear
Scouts of Pack 119 Learn Knot Tieing
Skills - January 28,
2010
Composed by Leah Williams
Bear
Scouts of Pack 119, met once again
on Tuesday. This week the Scouts worked
on achievement 22. This achievement
involves learning how to tie knots.
These knots are not your normal everyday
kind. It will take time and practice
before the boys have fully mastered
them. The honored guest helping them
achieve this was Mickey Chandler.
The beginning of the meeting started
with the Scouts saying the Pledge
of Allegiance. The Pledge is a requirement
that takes place before the start
of every meeting.
Den leader, Susan Snider announced
the guest, Mickey Chandler to the
group, and spoke about what they would
be learning that evening. Mr. Chandler
explained that the scouts not only
had to know what each knot was called,
but also what it was used for. The
boys were then given 2 pieces of rope,
which they had to learn how to braid
together. Once everyone had finished
braiding, they learned how to keep
the rope from coming undone. Ropes
are made of twisted fibers. As long
as the rope is in one piece, the fibers
stay in place, but when the rope is
cut, the fibers in the two ends begin
to straighten out. There are many
techniques you could use to keep this
from happening. One
is to fuse the rope, using fire. Mr.
Chandler made the point that this
only worked on certain ropes, like
nylon for example. Fusing a rope should
only be done with adult supervision.
Whipping the rope is another way to
bind them together, and can be used
on any kind of rope.
The Scouts learned a total of 5 knots.
Mickey presented the way each knot
was tied, along with what you would
use it for.
Square Knot - used in
first aid to tie bandages and to
join two pieces of rope of the same
thickness.
Two Half Stitches - used
to tie a rope to a post, a tree,
or a ring.
Slip Knot - used to tie
a rope to something, the knot slips
easily along the rope around which
it was made.
Sheet Bend - used to tie
two ropes together to make a longer
one. This knot can’t be pulled
apart.
The
knots that the scouts learned that
evening were very complicated. It
took a lot of hard work and some really
great parents to help the boys learn
each one. In return the parents learned
as well. The next meeting will be
on learning how to build a bird house.
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