Rolling Hitch

Good job, Plastic Man. You'll be able to sell that tape on e-bay or maybe bring it to the JLA's monthly poker nights.

It's very easy to make the clove hitch a little more secure. By wrapping the working end around the post one more time, we have a Rolling Hitch. Because this double turn reduces slipping, this knot is useful for situations where the pull is along the same direction as the post.

1) Pass the line around the post, going over the standing end once you make it around.
2) Make a second identical turn, which follows the first turn.
3) Finish the knot in the same way we finished the Clove Hitch: with a half hitch
a) Pass the line around the post on the other side of the standing end.
b) Feed the working end underneath the third loop.
5) Cinch the knot.

Clove Hitch

Sometimes a magic lasso is just the best fashion accessory that one could ask for.

Today's knot is the Clove Hitch. This is a great and super easy way to tie a line. It's so unbelievably fast.


1) Pass the line around the post or bar or whatever.
2) Pass the line around the post on the other side of the standing end.
3) Feed the working end underneath the second loop.
4) Cinch the knot.

The things that you should keep in mind are: a) leave a bit line past the knot since it might slip a touch before catching b) if wiggling the standing part will loosen this knot.

Figure of Eight Coil

You know, I don't think that this picture is the worst one I found...

I did get one thing done for Building Batman this month: I found a use for the figure eight knot. If you have a rope that you don't use very often - like the ice-batrope that goes along with the Bat-antarctic-suit or the underwater rope that goes with the Bat-diving-bell or... well you get the idea. What you need to do is coil your Batrope. But something nice like the Alpine coil (we'll learn that one someday) is more for short term. For storage you want something like the Figure Eight Coil.


1) Make the entire rope a bight (fold it in half).
2) Coil the doubled rope (the animation only shows one coil but of course you do as many as you need).
3) Wrap the working end (the bight) around the coil.
4) Once around the coil, feed the bight through the loop.
5) Pull tight and you have a coiled rope with a nice small loop to hang your batrope from.

Figure Eight

Remember, according to Dr. Marston, she is only bound until she wants to break free.

Figure Eight
This knot sucks. I haven't figured out anything to do with it. I must have to work on my detective skills soon. I hear that the figure eight is the basis of many other knots but I don't really see any use for it by itself. I guess it could stop a rope from going through a hole or something.


In an case, this is how you tie a figure eight
1) Make a loop.
2) Bring the working end around the standing end.
3) Feed the working end through the loop.
4) Pull to tighten.

Reef Knot

I think "DEATH" must be the safety word they are using.

On to knots.
You and your sidekick are chasing a sexy villain across the roof tops. The cat-burglar is able to dash to the edge and gracefully jumps 20 stories to the distant ground. You boys are stuck and the vileness is taunting you with her stolen goods and gorgeous, criminal body. Sucks to be you, Batman. UNLESS you remember today's knot! The reef knot is used to tie two ends of line together. This is how it goes.

REEF KNOT
1) Pass the working end once around the other line.
2) Bring the ends up with the working end underthe other line.
3) Pass the working end over the other line.
4) Tighten by pulling both ropes on both sides simultaneously.

You now have a reef knot. If you tied this one with me, you can maybe see why it's often called a square knot. You can now use it to go down the side of a Gotham skyscraper. One note of warning: This knot is secure when the knot is pressed against something (like the side of a building). If, say, Catwoman had gotten to a distant building and Batman needed a longer rope to swing across on, he would not use this knot. He would use a different bend. We'll learn many more in the days to come.

What Are Knots Good For?

Why don't we start with a knot that everybody knows? And I know what you're thinking: "I don't know any knots! I'm not a sailor, batboy." But trust me, you know this one. It's called a thumb knot. It's the basis of a lot of other knots. For example, it's the first part of tying you shoes.


THUMB KNOT
1) Begin by making a crossing term (Begin with a loop).
2) By going under the loop, pull the working end through the loop (the working end is the end you are working with while the standing end is the end attached to something or just not being used).
3) Cinch it (tighten it).
4) Voila! A thumb knot.

You can make this more interesting by making the knot slipped. Slip knots are knots that can be untied in a hurry. The slipped thumb knot is tied exactly like the thumb knot except it uses a bight.


SLIPPED THUMB KNOT
1) Make a crossed loop.
2) Pull a bight through the loop. A bight is a "loop" formed by folding the rope back on itself.
3) Cinch it.

Obviously, the loop that's formed in the slip knot is not very solid. If you want to make are really simple loop out of the thumb knot, try:


THUMB KNOT LOOP
1) Make a bight out of the loop.
2) Make a regular thumb knot using the bend as the working end and the two parallel pieces of rope as the rope.

One last thing you can do with a thumb knot: you can make a very simple noose. A noose is any sliding loop.

THUMB KNOT NOOSE
1) Make a very loose thumb knot with a short working end.
2) Feed the line (the standing part, not the working end) through the hole left by the thumb knot.
3) Cinch the thumb knot around the line. You can tighten it so much because the thumb knot really sucks and so it won't catch unless you are using string, thread or fishing line or something.

Ya I know. Those are really weak knots but look at all the terms we've learned:

Crossing term - make a loop
Working end - the end of the rope being used to tie the knot
Standing end - the part of the rope fixed or not being used
Cinch - to tighten
Slip - easily undone
Bight - formed by folding the standing end back on itself
Noose - a sliding loop

Push Batman Push

A big set back yesterday. Having done my ten days of alternating A days (100 push-ups over spread over an hour) and B days (100 push-ups throughout the day) and then taken two days rest, I tried to do as many as I could in a single set. My big number: 55. Ouch. I've got to raise this. I have a whole set of excuses but the Batman doesn't get excuses and so neither do I. Next week I must have a significant improvement. So I'll up my number from 100 push-ups to 150 and try to do fewer sets of larger numbers. I don't think that I can jump right up to 200.

Also I have been learning knots (I've memorized my fourth one and have completed a couple more) but I don't have access to Gimp or a steady stream of internet right now so I'll hold off until after Christmas to post about them.

Batman and Ropin'

Today is day ten of the push-up regiment. That means it's the last day of Round 1. I still feel good about it although I have to admit, I'm a little bit stiff. After a two day break I'll see how many push-ups I can do consecutively. Before I started I could do about 45ish. I hope to double that on Tuesday.

I received two books that I ordered for this Building Batman project in the mail today.

Book 1: The Knot Book by Budworth and Compton. Batman knows knots. Trust me. Climbing up and down building... oh ya he knows knots. Tying up baddies for Gordon to pick up. Some fun with Catwoman. Mooring the Batboat.

Book 2: Visual Guide to Lock Picking by McCloud. That's right, not only am I learning from a friend but also on my own. It will probably take me quite some time to understand lock-picking well enough to explain anything but sooner or later we'll cover this stuff.

So here's the plan. Over the next few weeks I'll introduce you to a knot or so a day as I learn and practice them. As that happens I'll learn as much as I can about lock picking. Learning these couple of skills will be big step in becoming Batman.