The Tautline Hitch

It is very common to want a taut line (rope) between two objects.  In these cases it is not enough to just connect a rope to the two endpoints.  The rope must also stay stretched and not sag.  If you’ve ever had to tie a volleyball net or a tent guy line to a stake, you know difficult it is to tie the knot at just the right place to keep the line tight.  It doesn’t help when the line sags every so often and needs to be retightened.

The tautline hitch knot is perfect for this application.  It makes a loop in the rope and the position of the knot affects length of the loop.  The more you move the knot towards the opposite end of the rope, the tighter the line gets.  The knot is like a ratchet.  It can be slid up and down the rope, but it does not slide when the rope is under tension.  It only moves when you hold the knot and push it one way or the other.  This way when a rope sags, you can hold the knot and move it from one endpoint to the other without having to untie the knot and retie it.

There are many resources out there for learning how to tie knots.  My favorites are the Klutz Book of Knots, The Complete Book of Knots, and the Animated Knots website.  Of course, no discussion on knots can be complete without mentioning the definitive reference, Ashley Book of Knots, with more than 3,900 different knots and 7,000 illustrations.

To start a nice, controlled, roaring fire, I can’t just use the flint to throw some sparks at firewood.  I have to use something really airy and flammable.  This is called tinder.  I get enough tinder to burn for about 20 to 30 seconds, and slowly start feeding larger and larger pieces of wood (fuel) to the fire.  Once the tinder is burning I start adding little twigs the size of my ‘pinky’ finger, and slowly get enough heat to burn larger pieces of firewood.  In a later post we’ll look at different ways to start a safe campfire.   Today, though, I want to address a cheap and easy source of tinder.

In the woods one can use shavings from the bark of fallen logs, or certain other kinds of plant products as tinder.  Dryer lint also makes really good tinder.  It’s light, airy, and most importantly – very dry.  If I throw some sparks on it, it can catch fire very easily. Before a planned camping trip or before a fire pit session, I save up about a handful of dryer lint to use as the first thing that catches fire.  I’ve found that a clump of dryer lint about the size of my thumb will easily burn for 15 – 30 seconds.  This is plenty of time to start feeding the fire other fuel.  To get the lint to burn longer, I could rub some vaseline (petroleum jelly) into it.

Please keep in mind that starting a fire (of any size) can be a very dangerous activity if not done properly.  It should always be done in the presence of an adult and with a source of water (or other fire extinguisher) nearby, in case it starts getting out of control. I try to never start a fire with matches in the presence of very young children, those who can’t comprehend the danger of mimicking what the grownups do.

Here I'm using a flint to throw sparks onto the dryer lint

Since I didn't have twigs here, I'm using a commercially available fire starter to help the fire grow large enough to light the firewood.

The firewood catches fire