Lark's Head Double Column [Level 1]
Notes and Resources:
A column tie is a tie you make around any column-shaped part of the body, such as a wrist, an ankle, or the torso. A "double column" tie means we're tying two such parts together, e.g. tying the wrists to each other. This basic double column tie uses only the most fundamental building blocks -- a lark's head and half hitches. It is not the most fast and efficient double column tie, but it is easy to understand, reliable, and provides the opportunity to practice essential techniques.
You can also follow these photos.
The qualities that you are looking for in any column tie are that it distributes the force evenly across several wraps of rope, that it gets no tighter when you pull on the end of the rope, and no tighter or looser if the person in it struggles. For double column ties, this also means that when you pull on the rope, it shouldn't close up the space between the back and front of the cuff -- be careful of similar-looking techniques which split the ends of the rope and tie a knot on top of the cuff; often those constrict the limbs while under tension.
Am I the only one that can't see the photos?
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Nevermind, I didn't see the hyperlink.
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Hi, I'm not sure about what is referred to at 3:22 with half hitch "on this side". Does it refer to the direction of the 4? Is a half hitch in the opposite direction (4 toward body instead of 4 toward finger) wrong, and why? Thanks !
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The half hitch is going through the space along the inside of one wrist, or the other, and what I mean by "this side" in that case is the side of the wrist farther from the camera. Which way the figure 4 points doesn't really matter.
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When tying this double column, for some reason one of the cuffs becomes looser than the other (the cuff through which I make the figure 4 in the end). As a result, when tightening the cuffs to the desired size, the cuffs are not tightened evenly, making one cuff too tight, and the other one not tight enough. Any way to avoid it?
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The rope should be free to slide through from one side to the other on the back side of the cuff; so if someone wiggles in it a bit after it's tied off, it should even out. Or you can slide the cinch one way or the other, to the same effect.
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I noticed that a single wrap around both wrists is added here between the first reverse-tension wrap and the third wrap that is used to cinch the rope. I wonder about two things regarding that, especially since you seem to have made quite delibarate choices in the design of the knots presented here, @Topologist :) 1) Why are three wraps used here in contrast to the 'standard' two-wrap build (and specifically, the Larks-head Single Column Tie shown on this website)? Just an arbitrary choice, or are there important reasons to do so? 2) Why is the second wrap not also done in reverse-tension style? Are there relevant disadvantages to that design? (It would make the procedure conceptionally simpler I think and thus a tiny bit easer to teach)
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