Sheepshank Variation?

[YeOldGamer]

HI all,

I thought I would de-lurk and try to tap into some of the wisdom on this board.

I picked up a copy of a book called "the ultimate encyclopedia of knots and ropework" and it has a knot that it calls a sheepshank that is different form the one I was shown years ago, and I could not find it tied this way anywhere online. It is like a regular sheepshank, but instead of each end being held by a half hitch it holds them using a marlinspike hitch.

Anyone know anything about this knot? Is it a sheepshank variation or is there an other name for it? I have been playing around with it and It seem a bit more secure than the usual sheepshank, but I would really like some more information on it...

[bazz]

How do Ye Old Gamer

Welcome to the forum.
The Sheepshank with Marlingspike Hitches is given as knot #1155 in The Ashley Book of Knots, and the description is as follows; " The Sheepshank with Marlingspike Hitches is the safest of the Sheepshank knots.
All other varieties should be seized or otherwise secured to make them safe, unless the need is very temporary."

Trust G.B. to use an interesting variation of the knot in this book, Well spotted.

I hope this is of help to you?

Take care,
Barry

[YeOldGamer]

Thanks Barry.

Ii seems that  using  marlinspike hitches makes a safer sheepshank -- I wonder why it is not more popular. It is not difficult to tie, but doing a search online no one seems to even mention it.

[Dan_Lehman]

Ii seems that  using  marlinspike hitches makes a safer sheepshank -- I wonder why it is not more popular?

Hmmm, many people wonder why a sheepshank is included in knots books at all!
But we had a discussion on that--painful one, in fact.  Someone used it, yes, but there
were obvious better choices in that case.  How do you find it useful?

As for "safest", I'd suggest that going ahead and capsizing those marlinespike
hitches (into a sort of sheet bend structure) would be as safe if not more so
--and I've wondered why this has not ever been shown (so far as I've seen).
And once you realize this structure, ideas for other pseudo loopknot structures
should come to mind--e.g., the "Bollard Loop" would be a simple one.

 

[YeOldGamer]

Hmmm, many people wonder why a sheepshank is included in knots books at all!
But we had a discussion on that--painful one, in fact.  Someone used it, yes, but there
were obvious better choices in that case.  How do you find it useful?

Truthfully I've never found the sheepshank (with its need for constant tension) very useful. A sheepshank variation that can stand up to a bit of slack in the line might be handy on occasion. 

[KC]

i've used in past; make extra short (to allow for stretch) and reeved the lines thru the eyes for security; the tightened with chain binder; then bent lines to each other for more tension.  Better strategies now; and was kinda playing with jsut what i had/ having fun.  The hole for chain binder in truck body wasn't conducive to roping to.

[teedee]

Tom Burgess, in his Knots, Ties and Splices, first published in 1884, described the marlinspike hitch version as 'the best and most secure form' of the sheepshank (or dogshank). The single hitch version was described as being more simple but less reliable 'hardly to be depended on without being tied or seized'.
Burgess describes two other versions which cannot be tied on the bight, requiring the ends to be passed through the knot, and also mentions the use of toggles to make a simple sheepshank secure.

When Comander J Irving revised and re-wrote the book in 1934 the single hitch version was promoted to first place and described as 'the most secure form'. However, Irving also mentioned seizing and the use of toggles for further security, which somewhat negated this claim. Tom Burgess' most secure version was relegated to third place and re-christened the 'Catshank'; the two versions that cannot be tied on the bight were named 'Dogshanks'.

Only the sheep seems to have survived from Irving's sheep - dog - cat menagerie, although the French prefer jambe de chien. It is a pity that Tom Burgess' original qualification on the security of the single hitch version was lost in the revision process.