Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 12
  1. #1
    Senior Member GeneH's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Mound, MN
    Tarp
    Etowah 10x10
    Insulation
    NeoAirXtherm+Down
    Suspension
    None: grounded
    Posts
    160

    Woohoo! I can finally do a Button Knot - and a cool soft shackle from round cord

    I watched the same YouTube videos again (after stepping away from them for a few months) and figured out what I was doing wrong. Now after all that earlier practice I have the bloody thing memorized. Happy as a Lark!

    Even better I am using round cord and still making that end loop like we do with Zing It and those types of hollow braid. I wanted more structure than Zing It because it's easier in cold weather for me. I suppose now I should see if it will hold my weight - 145 lbs - just for fun. After all it's only to hold a tarp. Atwood Arbor Throw Line (picked up on a whim) seemed like it would be a larger version of that shade-pull cord and I got lucky. It bright yellow, not the color in my pictures.


    Here you can see the loop in the end. The cord is pretty loose woven so it was just as easy to push a fid through as Zing It. But I don't quite know what to do with the extra 2 tag ends now. Can I just cut them short, melt carefully, and maybe put a drop of super glue into the middle to help hold?

    Cord Loop IMG_1220.jpg Tag Ends IMG_1215.jpg IMG_1222.jpg
    Last edited by GeneH; 10-24-2020 at 19:17.
    Sioux Hustler Trail 2020, Angleworm Trail, 2021, PowWow Trail clearing 2021, and any weekend overnight I can get.

  2. #2
    Senior Member GeneH's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Mound, MN
    Tarp
    Etowah 10x10
    Insulation
    NeoAirXtherm+Down
    Suspension
    None: grounded
    Posts
    160
    Any suggestions opinions about cutting the tag ends right at the knot? Maybe a drop of superglue to help keep it from backing out?

    Or should I go with 7/64 amsteel just for size and structure - easier to work with cold hands?
    Sioux Hustler Trail 2020, Angleworm Trail, 2021, PowWow Trail clearing 2021, and any weekend overnight I can get.

  3. #3
    Senior Member cmoulder's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2017
    Location
    Ossining, NY
    Hammock
    DH Darien, SLD Tree Runner
    Tarp
    HG hex
    Insulation
    Timmermade, Revolt
    Suspension
    Kevlar, Lapp Hitch
    Posts
    4,912
    Images
    356
    Quote Originally Posted by GeneH View Post
    Any suggestions opinions about cutting the tag ends right at the knot? Maybe a drop of superglue to help keep it from backing out?

    Or should I go with 7/64 amsteel just for size and structure - easier to work with cold hands?
    Not sure exactly what's in the pics, however you don't cut the tag ends but leave them a couple inches (more or less) long and bury them in the other strands. But maybe there are other ways to do it. One thing you really want to do is to cinch that final knot until it's rock hard, using some pliers or other means to really tug them hard. Otherwise that knot can capsize under a big load.

    Some time back I was tying quite a few of these and learned how to do it without any instructions. Now, I have forgotten and would require some guidance once again, although it wouldn't be nearly as confusing as the first time I took a stab at it!
    Five Basic Principles of Going Lighter (not me... the great Cam Honan of OZ)
    “If everybody is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking.” ~ Gen. George S Patton

  4. #4
    Senior Member GeneH's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Mound, MN
    Tarp
    Etowah 10x10
    Insulation
    NeoAirXtherm+Down
    Suspension
    None: grounded
    Posts
    160
    Quote Originally Posted by cmoulder View Post
    Not sure exactly what's in the pics, however you don't cut the tag ends but leave them a couple inches (more or less) long and bury them in the other strands. But maybe there are other ways to do it. One thing you really want to do is to cinch that final knot until it's rock hard, using some pliers or other means to really tug them hard. Otherwise that knot can capsize under a big load.

    Some time back I was tying quite a few of these and learned how to do it without any instructions. Now, I have forgotten and would require some guidance once again, although it wouldn't be nearly as confusing as the first time I took a stab at it!
    I think the cord material is polyester. It's a loosely woven 1.9 mm (5/64), 180 lb, round cord with a core - I don't think I could bury the ends like we do with Zing-It. I prefer the looks of a button know over a diamond knot that has the tag ends coming out the top.

    When you say, "big load," how much load could there be on a 10x10 silnylon tarp?

    IMG_1224.jpg
    Sioux Hustler Trail 2020, Angleworm Trail, 2021, PowWow Trail clearing 2021, and any weekend overnight I can get.

  5. #5
    Senior Member cmoulder's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2017
    Location
    Ossining, NY
    Hammock
    DH Darien, SLD Tree Runner
    Tarp
    HG hex
    Insulation
    Timmermade, Revolt
    Suspension
    Kevlar, Lapp Hitch
    Posts
    4,912
    Images
    356
    OK I didn't realize it's a kernmantle cord. I suppose you could tie something like 1/2 of a double fisherman's in the tag ends.

    Shouldn't be a load issue with a tarp. I made some Evo loops with 1.8mm Dynaglide which might be a bit more critical application.

    Five Basic Principles of Going Lighter (not me... the great Cam Honan of OZ)
    “If everybody is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking.” ~ Gen. George S Patton

  6. #6
    cougarmeat's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2012
    Location
    Bend, OR
    Hammock
    WBBB, WBRR, WL LiteOwl
    Tarp
    OES, WL BullFro
    Insulation
    HG UQ, TQ, WB UQ
    Suspension
    Python Straps
    Posts
    3,759
    I learned the Diamond Knot when I tried soft shackles and end up with a single “cord” at the top - something to help grab the knot - a feature, not a bug. But I like the tidiness of the Button Knot I learned making EVO loops. ‘course I have to relearn those knots, as well as the technique for making an eye splice with just one end of Amsteel, every times they come up. I was not as much a fan of soft shackles as I thought I’d be; but I really like the EVO loop style. I’m adding it to all my webbing straps and moving the Dutch Clips to daisy chains.
    In order to see what few have seen, you must go where few have gone. And DO what few have done.

  7. #7
    Senior Member cmoulder's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2017
    Location
    Ossining, NY
    Hammock
    DH Darien, SLD Tree Runner
    Tarp
    HG hex
    Insulation
    Timmermade, Revolt
    Suspension
    Kevlar, Lapp Hitch
    Posts
    4,912
    Images
    356
    I concur about soft shackles... they're way cool but after they've been loaded, and especially when they're wet, and super-especially when they're frozen, they can be extremely difficult to release.
    Five Basic Principles of Going Lighter (not me... the great Cam Honan of OZ)
    “If everybody is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking.” ~ Gen. George S Patton

  8. #8
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2018
    Location
    old dirt
    Posts
    444
    congrats and wellcome to the select club :P

    if the rope is not spliceable, you can do a few things, one solution i like is what i showed in the second picture here: https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...=1#post2025004

    basically, i do a four way braid with the legs and the ends, and i seize the ends to the standing lines with a constrictor knot or two made of some smaller stuff, usually i use paracord core as i have some of it laying around. if you want to maintain the strength advantage of the brion toss button knot, it is important to keep the tails long enough, and to make them merge with the standing strands of the softshackle, so that they take load together. this helps with the even tightening of the knot (which is quite important), with maintaining strength on subsequent loading, and it also makes the turn radius of the noose bigger (the tighter the radius, the lower load will be necessary to break the noose, as the place where it turns is the actual weak point with the button knot, instead of the stopper knot itself, like with the diamond knot).

    hope it helps. have fun, soft shackles are cool and can easily be modified to work better for your particular application or conditions, this is the thing i find most attractive: R&D accessible to everyone . (don't listen to the dutch bling fanatics). okay, time for me to take cover now

  9. #9
    Senior Member GeneH's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Mound, MN
    Tarp
    Etowah 10x10
    Insulation
    NeoAirXtherm+Down
    Suspension
    None: grounded
    Posts
    160
    Quote Originally Posted by nanok View Post
    congrats and wellcome to the select club :P

    if the rope is not spliceable, you can do a few things, one solution i like is what i showed in the second picture here: https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...=1#post2025004
    Thanks for the info and the link. I hadn't though about the wider radius being stronger on the neck either. In fact I had considered it a detriment-the noose more likely to slip off the knot.

    I got impatient and just cut the legs short and melted them up to the button knot - but these are non-critical tarp shackles and with Lawson 2mm glowwire I doubt they will invert or come loose for this purpose. Lawson stuff just holds knots like crazy. I think you can see that on the shackle in the picture below. I like the stiffness of Lawson cord and the ranger bead to help it from disengaging when unloaded.

    IMG_1228.jpg
    Sioux Hustler Trail 2020, Angleworm Trail, 2021, PowWow Trail clearing 2021, and any weekend overnight I can get.

  10. #10
    Senior Member GeneH's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Mound, MN
    Tarp
    Etowah 10x10
    Insulation
    NeoAirXtherm+Down
    Suspension
    None: grounded
    Posts
    160
    Another WOOHOO! That yellow Attwood cord I had in the first picture? I was able to splice it just like we do with zing-it. That means I can do a button knot, bury the legs and have a great shackle. I bet I can do a locked brummel too!

    I'll post pictures if I get one done before I head north for a hike.

    One task left and that's to test the different shackles. My thoughts on that are a 100 lb pull w/o noticeable degradation or fail is adequate for a tarp. I cannot imagine the grosgrain not being ripped off the tarp at that amount of force. Maybe getting some weight in a 5 gallon bucket and very slowly lifting it with the shackle would be good enough? Do I need to let it hang for a few hours if it doesn't break?
    Sioux Hustler Trail 2020, Angleworm Trail, 2021, PowWow Trail clearing 2021, and any weekend overnight I can get.

  • + New Posts
  • Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

    Similar Threads

    1. VIDEO: The Whoopie Shackle a variation of the soft shackle
      By Redoleary in forum Suspension Systems, Ridgelines, & Bug Nets
      Replies: 19
      Last Post: 10-21-2016, 13:16
    2. Replies: 11
      Last Post: 09-18-2014, 08:12
    3. My DIY Soft Shackle.
      By Rawhide in forum Do-It-Yourself (DIY)
      Replies: 13
      Last Post: 08-26-2012, 04:49
    4. New soft shackle?
      By Oper8or in forum Suspension Systems, Ridgelines, & Bug Nets
      Replies: 27
      Last Post: 08-05-2012, 21:54
    5. Soft Shackle Mod.
      By Gustav in forum Do-It-Yourself (DIY)
      Replies: 10
      Last Post: 02-05-2012, 21:11

    Bookmarks

    Posting Permissions

    • You may not post new threads
    • You may not post replies
    • You may not post attachments
    • You may not edit your posts
    •