The Amazing Ropemaking Machine!

This simple machine for making your own rope was supposedly conceived by Leonardo da Vinci. All it takes is some scrap wood, a metal coat hanger, and some twine.

Make the primary base by screwing together two pieces of scrap wood. Drill small holes (large enough to slide pieces of coat hanger through) 1" apart on the upright piece. Take a small piece of scrap wood and drill similar holes 1" apart. This will be our crank. Cut three 6" pieces of coat hanger and bend a hook shape at one end. Slide the piece through a hole one the upright piece and bend it down and out so that you have an end to fit through the crank. Once all three hooks are in place, you should be able to fit the crank over the ends so that all three hooks can be turned at the same time.

Make the secondary base by screwing together two more pieces of scrap wood. Put a big hook on this upright piece, or make one coat hanger hook like you did for the first base.

Make a separator tool by taking another small piece of scrap wood and putting notches at the top and on each side. This will be used to keep the strands from twisting together until we are ready.

Clamp or hold down the base pieces. If you are using poly twine, your rope will be about as long as the distance between the bases. If you are using fiber twine, you will need to extend the bases as the rope will shorten considerably as you crank the handle. Tie the twine to the first hook, loop it around the hook on the first base, go around the hook on the secondary base, then around hook #2, back down to the hook on the secondary base, around hook #3, back around the hook on the secondary base, then back to hook #3 where you can tie it off and cut off the excess. For thicker ropes, double or triple up on each hook. For more colorful rope, using different colored poly twine on each hook.

With the twine in place, use the separator tool to separate the strands, and move it down by the secondary base. Begin cranking in a clockwise manner, making sure the strands stay separated as you crank. Keep cranking until the strands are almost ready to kink up. Tie off the end by the secondary base and remove it from the hook. Grab the tied end and slowly pull the separator tool toward the primary base. The strands between the separator tool and the tied end will twist together and form a solid rope. Keep working this way until you get all the way up to the primary base. Unhook the three strands and tie the ends together. Trim off any excess and whip or fuse the ends of the rope to keep it from unravelling.

You know you have a good Scout activity when the boys don't want to stop when you run out of time!

Square knot and sheet bend

These two useful knots are related to each other, so if you know how to tie the square knot, the sheet bend is easy to learn.



The square knot, also known as the "joining knot" is used throughout the Cub Scout and Boy Scout requirements. It is used to join two ropes of similar thickness. The sheet bend is used to join two ropes of different thicknesses. If you've ever been on a campout, you've probably run into lots of times when you need a long rope, but all you have is two smaller ones with different thicknesses.

Easy Placemats

This is an easy craft that even a young child can do. All it takes is a couple of pieces of construction paper, scissors, a pencil, and a ruler. A paper cutter will make things go faster, but you can get by with just scissors.



Use the pencil and ruler to mark where to cut slits on the base sheet, then cut the other sheet into strips. Weave the strips into the strips on the first sheet, and you have a placemat! To make a placemat for a certain holiday or event, you can pick colored sheets that match the theme of the event.

My Favorite Skit

Of all the skits my boys have performed over the years, my favorite wasn't really a skit. It was a lip-synced puppet show, set to the Blues Brothers' version of "Soul Man". This was done at one of our pack's annual Blue & Gold banquets.



Nathan and another boy from his den made puppets from four brown lunch bags. Two of them were the singers (the Blues Brothers), while two were the musicians. They even cut out saxophone and trumpet shapes from foam sheets, cut a little slit near the paper bag's "mouth" so they could insert the end, then cut arms from another paper bag and taped them to the instruments so they would stay in place. The biggest challenges during the performance were making sure they had the right puppets up and holding them high enough for the audience to see.

You can tell a skit (or puppet show) has gone well when the audience really gets into it and they are cheering at the end.

Neckerchief Slides (aka "Woggles")

Neckerchief slides, those metal things that keep your neckerchief in place (but tend to fall off of active little boys), are known as "woggles" in other countries. Most people think that you have to wear the specific neckerchief slide for your rank. That's not true. You can make any sort of slide you want. In the accompanying picture, you can see several different slides that I and my sons have made. You can take almost any item and attach it to a small ring cut from a piece of 1/2" PVC piping, which is available in 6' lengths for about $2. At that price, you can easily make this into a pack activity. There are also kits for carving a slide from wood or stamping designs into leather. I have also made some from beads, a slice of wood from a branch, laminated paper, and colored pieces of foam. I will go into specific details of making a neckerchief slide in a future post.

The Bowline Knot

The bowline knot is one of the most important knots you can learn. If you are ever in a situation where rescuers can only reach you with a rope, knowing how to tie this knot can save your life. It is known as the "rescue knot" because it will stay tightly tied no matter how much you pull on it. It will, however, easily come undone when you push on it, so it can also be used to tie something to a rope or tree, like a clothesline when you're camping. Depending on the size of your rope, two half hitches can be a struggle to undo when you're breaking camp.



This can be used as part of Bear Cub Scout Achievement 22b or First Class Boy Scout requirement 8a.