The best grip-slide hitch I normally can't use

Practical Knots
1

This is another one I came up with on my own, so, once again, if it has a common name, I don’t know what it is. If anyone knows its name, please post it here. For those who haven’t seen this hitch before, I find it interesting because of its mechanism-like properties, and because it has the easiest release and slide of any grip-slide hitch I’ve ever tried, even on high-friction ropes. It has good resistance to capsizing, it is stable and creep-resistant even with many load-slide cycles, and it is not prone to jam.

Conceptually, it’s pretty simple, just a basic yoke and choke. The yoke (orange) consists of the active bight, the anchor bight, and the bridge between them, and the choke (pink) just hold the yoke together and keeps the standing part from getting pulled in. All the gripping is provided by the snare action of the active bight, and the active bight loosens easily when unloaded and the tail is pulled upwards. I use a simple overhand for the choke and point the tail up so it is more in-line with the direction of the release-pull, but other knots could be used for the choke. You can use the tail to pull this hitch downwards as well, but sometimes it is easier to pull upwards first to release the active bight.

Limitations are that this only holds reliably for loads pulling in one direction (down), and the grip surface is small, so heat will build quickly if it is used as a sliding brake. It works well on utility ropes, but I suspect it won’t hold on slick ropes (untested). With its many bends, it’s probably also a poor candidate for stiff ropes. I don’t know how it is for ropes of different sizes.

But the main drawback with this hitch is also the reason I depicted the standing part formed into a bight for the tying illustration. This is not a good hitch if your standing part is already under tension–which is almost always the case for me. Those bends which make this a stable hitch also make it a major hassle to adjust anything about this hitch, and to dress it into the right shape. And if you want to change the length of the tail, it’s probably faster to just start over. But if you can form the standing part into a bight first, you can make the yoke bridge about the right length so that very little dressing is needed when the SP is straightened out. So even though this hitch is mostly useless to me, for anyone who has the option of tying onto a slack SP, this just might be a good little hitch.

yoke_hitch-1.jpg

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So did I, conceptually, mostly. !!! GOOD SHOW, you’re
a step or few ahead of me (who is still trying to implement
the general concept :: convert a parallel pull into a simple,
direct perpendicular nipping grip (possibly using non-cordage
for where you have your purple parts)).

My thinking has run just up to having the hitching
line reach (parallel to object) past a yet-to-be-figured
bulk and turning over that to come at the object
perpendicularly and nip (with I think just a "round
turn (=540deg.) --a full wrapping but no more,
for one wants that easy relaxing release, and not
many coils to have to bring material into!).

Well, I thought, this inchoate structure’s S.Part
pulling like this is going to kick out the object
(if flexible, rope), so … put in a surrounding
part at the other end of the bulk so to hold
the object rope close against it.

And there I stand,
but here you’ve come and with product --good show!!!

Now, a difference to what I’ve vaguely conceived
is that my hitching S.Part runs the length of the
bulk and turns to nip; something else makes
that stabilizing, position-holding other-end wrap;
you deliver your hitching S.Part to this near end,
and your farther-away turn around the object is
stabilizing.

Actually, I think I want not a single S.Part working
into the around-the-bulk part but eye legs taking
the main nipping force into the round turn --so both
sides of this turn are loaded/released, for quicker
bite & relaxation; heck, slipping an eye into position
with hardwood bulk and then something to keep
the other end close /stable . . . .

:slight_smile:

because of its mechanism-like properties,

Yes, as you see, I’m thinking of what I suppose you’re
suggesting, by my allowing that wood/<?> might be
used along with the cordage.

and because it has the easiest release and slide of any grip-slide hitch I’ve ever tried,

Again, trying to get a material-efficient & highly effective gripping,
with thus (thus from less wrapping material to relax) good release
and sliding. Yours has a mere turn; I’m aiming for a round turn.

It has good resistance to capsizing, it is stable

with the both-sides-of-bulk object-rope containment.

and it is not prone to jam.

Again, the minimal gripping wrapping.

Limitations are that this only holds reliably for loads pulling in one direction (down)

A reasonable limitation; this is an “ascender”.

and the grip surface is small, so heat will build quickly if it is used as a sliding brake.

Good point for esp. arborists to know.

With its many bends, it’s probably also a poor candidate for stiff ropes.

But, then, stiff ropes are in general not good for making
gripping hitches (slide or not)! (–recalling that CMC sold
some 8mm that they ended up having a lot unsold on
account of it being too firm-stiff for the intended purpose
of making “prusiks” (and so Mr. McNeil? was it who then
had a batch with which to test the strangle noose.)

I don’t know how it is for ropes of different sizes.

with the smaller size doing the hitch,
it should, I’d think, do well --even better at least up to
a point, as such hitches in general do.

But the main drawback with this hitch is also the reason
I depicted the standing part formed into a bight for the tying illustration.

Make that “depicted the object rope …”.

Thanks much!
–dl*

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TY, very nice, must play with it, but cleanly great, perhaps even fresh design!
.
First thought was yes, would not want to descend from tree in DdRT (rope starts at belt, over support branch and back down to Friction Hitch on belt, so is retrievable from ground) on such minimally concentrated heat to do the same brakeforce job.
Probably very hot on control hand position while descend ( i never really hot dog either…) even with glove and both mated ropes taking heat as well, but only for 1/2 body weight(with rope moving 2x as fast thru hitch) in this formation, but still…
.
What i do see good, especially with the SPart and primary rigidities painted orange(to me ‘hot’/most loaded so most rigid color) to accentuate; as like a rigid plastic or metal buckle that would impose the same arc geometries on the ridden host.
Then softer rope bolstering up the softest point between most rigid parts to kinda give the 3 arc gauntlet rack like trace to host reeving thru.
.
3x arc180=540 always a key number to me, taking many things from simple common Turn 1x arc180 build to pro level of arc180 as a pattern for several mechanical reasons in orchestration with that build of 1x arc180

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Rats. Didn’t mean to post-and-ghost on this. I started this thread thinking I had a nice, quiet stretch coming up with some free time. But life, it seems, had other plans.

Exactly. I feel like this strategy has not been used very much.

(possibly using non-cordage for where you have your purple parts)).

I think a better-performing hitch might be possible with the right auxiliary object. But even restricting the domain to common and/or cheap objects, the space of possibilities seems huge.

...and nip (with I think just a "round turn (=540deg.) --a full wrapping but no more, for one wants that easy relaxing release.

540 would grip a lot better than the 180 I used here, but you’d probably need to grab the loop to slide it. I was trying for a hitch that could be pulled by the free end of the rope, and even a full wrap has a lot of drag when pulled like that.

Actually, I think I want not a single S.Part working into the around-the-*bulk* part but eye legs taking the main nipping force into the round turn --so both sides of this turn are loaded/released, for quicker bite & relaxation

That would be a particularly desirable trait if you are going for a 540 deg. turn. Tough to release both sides with an all-rope hitch, but adding an auxiliary object opens up a lot more possibilities.

Yours has a mere turn; I'm aiming for a round turn.

I’m finding knot design is a lot like other kinds of engineering. You can optimize for pretty much any trait you want. The trick is in limiting what it’s going to cost you in terms of hits to other traits you might also want.