Cow's Tails Center Attachment

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Re: Cow's Tails Center Attachment

Postby Extremeophile » Nov 2, 2011 6:52 pm

Jeff Bartlett wrote:
Sungura wrote:I have a butterfly in the center of mine.


Are you attempting to contribute to the conversation, to defend this particular choice, or are you just telling us about what you do in order to fill space? Seems like the latter.

If we're just filling space here, I'd like everyone to know that I enjoy long walks on underground beaches, my favorite kind of ice cream is mint chocolate chip, and I don't think Kim Kardashian is attractive at all. Wait, what's that? That's NOT what we're supposed to be doing here? Oh, sorry. Let me hop back on-topic, then:



I use a figure 8 on a bight at the midpoint of my cow's tails. I end up replacing my cow's tails about once per year due to sheath wear, and this wear always occurs around (and within) the barrel knots at the carabiner end, not the maillon end, so I feel that the existence of a fixed knot is a non-issue in this application. Your mileage may vary, of course; I wear my vertical gear throughout most multi-pitch cave trips and I'm apparently notorious for being hard on gear. Using a butterfly knot for this purpose always looks weird to me, but maybe some of you are doing bizarre things on rope that involve weighting both cowstails simultaneously in dissimilar directions (and I suppose, if so, I applaud you).

The overhand-on-a-bight saves minimal space -- it's certainly not any wider than an eight-on-a-bight -- and it has been my observation that most cavers who are looking to save resources and bulk in a knot might do well to spend some time working on tying properly-dressed knots with appropriately small bights. This is NOT to imply that anyone in this thread falls into this group, of course... but those reading this will know who they are.

Obviously, test after test has proven that a figure eight absorbs more energy than the alternate knots (though certainly not a shock-absorbing device like the Zyper), excepting perhaps the clove hitch, and is stronger than an overhand knot in the same application (which may or may not be relevant).

I also use an alpine butterfly. It does the job and is standardized enough that I don't get asked stupid questions like "What knot are you using on the center of your cow's tail?".
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Re: Cow's Tails Center Attachment

Postby NZcaver » Nov 2, 2011 7:11 pm

I prefer old school... :tonguecheek:

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Re: Cow's Tails Center Attachment

Postby Extremeophile » Nov 2, 2011 7:15 pm

NZcaver wrote:I prefer old school... :tonguecheek:

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Figure 90?
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Re: Cow's Tails Center Attachment

Postby NZcaver » Nov 2, 2011 7:19 pm

... and the ends look like this: :big grin:

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Re: Cow's Tails Center Attachment

Postby Caver John » Nov 2, 2011 8:20 pm

^ lol : )
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Re: Cow's Tails Center Attachment

Postby Kuzgun » Nov 3, 2011 12:21 pm

when rope is not enough for the pitch NZcaver opens his cow's tails knots :kewl:
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