I'm a member of the International Guild of Knot Tyers, a group of mostly hobbist's interested in knots and their applications. The North American Branch will be holding its 2003 convention in Newport News, VA, in three weeks. I've volunteered to give a presentation on "Modern Developments in Arborist's Knots." I think an interesting presentation would be to trace the development of arborist's techinques from climbing line and tautline hitch through the modern knots discussed frequently on this forum.
Here's the first draft of my outline. I just pasted this from PowerPoint, so it's missing the illustrations and speaker's notes.
If anyone has any suggestions on the flow of the presentation or topics I should leave out or include, I welcome your advice. I think I'll have 45 minutes to an hour and half.
My audience could be described as "knot nerds", including myself -- folks who like knowing the arcania of traditional and modern knots and how they're used, but who, for the most part, don't work with knots on a day-to-day basis. I don't have any worries that someone will say, "Hey, that looks like an easy way to make a living" and start a tree service the next day with just what they learned from my presentation.
As I said, I just started work on the outline today. I hope to find a lot of the illustrations and images for the presentation from this forum. In all cases, I'll try to write to the original posters and get their permission to use the image, mostly so that I can personalize the credit, something like "This is John Doe, of Doe and Daughter's Tree Service, demonstrating foot-locking."
When I've got the presentation more complete, I'll post it as a PDF, so folks can view it in more detail and make suggestions. I just want to get the ball rolling now. I'll also post the finished presentation, for what it's worth.
Thanks for your suggestions and advice.
-Kevin
Here's the first draft of my outline. I just pasted this from PowerPoint, so it's missing the illustrations and speaker's notes.
Code:
Modern Developments in Arborist’s Knots
How does an arborist climb a tree?
Climbing the rope vs. climbing the tree
Doubled rope technique
Dyanmic
Static
Single rope technique
Rope placement
Throwline
Big Shot
False Crotch and Rope Saver
Dynamic Rope Techniques
Body Thrusting
Foot Locking
Figure 8
Tautline Hitch
Blake’s Hitch
Prusik Knot
Double Fisherman’s Loop
Used to attach tress cords to carabiner
Distel Hitch
Machard Tresse
Valdôtain Tresse
Static Rope Techniques
Foot Locking
Mechanical Ascenders
Rigging Knots
Used to lower cut limbs and spar pieces
Figure 8
Clove Hitch
Bowline
Cow Hitch
Girth Hitch
Timber Hitch
Double Fisherman’s Bend
Water Knot (Ring Bend)
Used to type webbing into a loop
Beer Knot variation
References and Sources of Further Information
Tree Climber’s Companion by Jeff Jepson, 2nd ed.
Sherrill Arborist Supply 2003 catalog ([url]www.sherrillinc.com[/url])
On Rope by Bruce Smith and Allen Padgett
[url]www.arboristsite.com[/url]
My audience could be described as "knot nerds", including myself -- folks who like knowing the arcania of traditional and modern knots and how they're used, but who, for the most part, don't work with knots on a day-to-day basis. I don't have any worries that someone will say, "Hey, that looks like an easy way to make a living" and start a tree service the next day with just what they learned from my presentation.
As I said, I just started work on the outline today. I hope to find a lot of the illustrations and images for the presentation from this forum. In all cases, I'll try to write to the original posters and get their permission to use the image, mostly so that I can personalize the credit, something like "This is John Doe, of Doe and Daughter's Tree Service, demonstrating foot-locking."
When I've got the presentation more complete, I'll post it as a PDF, so folks can view it in more detail and make suggestions. I just want to get the ball rolling now. I'll also post the finished presentation, for what it's worth.
Thanks for your suggestions and advice.
-Kevin