Friday, March 04, 2016
Shorten or Bypass a Damaged Section of Rope with the Sheepshank
ITS Tactical: On today’s Knot of the Week, we’ll be going over another of my favorites, the Sheepshank. It’s namesake comes from its supposed resemblance to a meaty legbone, but I can’t really see that. Nevertheless, the Sheepshank is a fantastic hitch that can be used to either shorten a rope, or bypass a damaged section of rope.
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Some of you may know of my "slight" infatuation with knot tying. I must say that I am delighted to see an article on this appear on the green page. Knots are extremely useful to know, and the more you know about them and they're limitations, the better off you are. That being said, this article is an amazing example of how knots should be taught. It lists the exact limitations of the knot, shows an efficient way of tying it (the Ashley book of knots could really improve in this area. While the book is great at uses and limitations, the diagrams are not efficient or clearly understandable.) The sheepshank is useful, certainly, but I have yet to encounter an occasion to use it. It shortens rope, but, as the article describes, you can't trust it under heavy loads. I learned this particular knot in a camping/wildnerness survival context. It must have a use in that. Otherwise, I can't see myself trusting this knot in any rigging context and I will definitely never use it for climbing or supporting a human in any way.
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