Nice place you have here!! I should have stuck with Boy Scouts a bit longer and learned my knots a bit better.
Anyhow. I am planning on a tire swing for the back yard tree. My swing will have the tire horizontal. I will attach three eye bolts to the tire with lock nuts and fender washers. Four ft ropes will then go up to S hooks on a swivel. the swivel will attach to a clip on a long rope. There are several knots involved and can use some advice. I am using 1/2" 300ish lbs braided poly rope for the swing.
The knots are
Rope to eye bolts
Rope to S hooks
Rope to clip.
Rope to tree (asked and answered in other threads)
Any and all advice is appreciated. Insults, rude comments, and name calling are justified.
I’m struck by the brief indication of cordage : “1/2-inch
300ish pounds braided poly rope” --can you say more
about this? E.g., “300ish pounds” is what? --it is WAY
low as (tensile) strength, but maybe okay as safe working
load. For a swing, the likely most important quality in
rope will be its durability out in the elements; “poly” as
in “polypropylene” (but not “polyester”) implies some
vulnerability to UV degradation, especially in cheaper and
I’ll guess more commonly available ropes. (Whereas, in
contrast, black PP ropes I’ve seen in commercial fishing
seem to hold up fairly well.)
Your intended structure I take to be a single line that
suspends a tire oriented as though lying flat, round on
the ground, attached with a 3-leg bridle to a swivel
connection (enabling the occupant to enjoy a full
and maybe repeating panoramic view ).
You write about “4 ft ropes go up to S hooks” from
the tire, and I will thus point out that there are
some other ways to effect a 3-leg bridle (as has been
seen in attachment to round conch pots made of
cut out sections of plastic 50-60gal. drums). The
common way is to use two ropes --one roughly
double the length of the other (for making 2/3
of the legs). With both tails of the longer and
one of the shorter ropes secured to the object
–tire, in your case–, lay the bight center & the
single end together and tie an overhand eye
knot. Otherwise, tie this knot in the centered
bight of the long, two-legs rope and join the 3rd
leg’s tail to it in any of many secure ways (run
it through as though making a fisherman’s
knot e.g. with its separate overhand knot
being pulled against that of the doubled rope.
Whatever, the above provides an eye for use
in joining to the swivel, and maybe this is better
than having 3 (yes?) S-hooked ends to handle!?
Then, in general, one might contemplate a method
of rigging wherein it is possible --and easily so–
to adjust the points of wear in some way. (E.g.,
where an eye made w/a sliding hitch, that hitch’s
position could be raised/lowered; or a bowline’s
exact eye-size & tail-length & position of knot
could be revised to put different material at
these points. Which all goes back to the question
also of the nature of your material.
Hi DanM and welcome!
A tire swing, eh? Count me in! ;D
What Dan_L and roo recommend is spot on. I wouldn’t have thought of the gnat hitch myself but very easy to tie; very secure; should minimize wear at the eye-bolt attachment point; etc. My mind came up with an anchor hitch straight away but I think the gnat hitch would be best for this purpose. Leave a long enough tail until you’ve got it all adjusted to where you want and then use black electrical tape to sieze about a 2" tail to the standing part.
The 3 lead bridle that Dan_L spoke of: I had good success making an alpine butterfly loop in the center of a legth of rope (the two legs) and then with a length half that of the first I threaded it around the inside of the butterfly loop before I had drawn the loop tight. When it was all drawn tight it was surprisingly strong and still easy to untie after having a load applied.
).