Dr. Merchant has upgraded and expanded his knot, rig and climbing guide; the dually approprioately named
"Life on a Line". Much more and more colorful updated info. Climbing/Caving knots, failure tests and notes, rigging, hardware etc. About 2x the info as before.
The
first version was free; and so long ago it was in 3 parts so you didn't have to download the whole 2.7 meg at once. In the link i've combined the parts into 1 book for viewing or download. Quite a respectable contribution.
Another fair freebie on bare basics of knotting and rigging is the
US Army Rigging Field Manual; including the Speir on page 49, that forms a kind of quick release fixed eye/ "Bowline" (by function/ not design). i'll try to explain my alternative method of tying it: Make a loose BuntLine (Clove to self to form eye; Bitters towards eye); then pull Bitters to invert just that Hitch of the Clove(not the other one closer to SP). Knot will now be a fixed eye and not a shrinking eye of a BuntLine. Send Bitters / end back thru where it came from (to form a slip configuration finish). Pull the tail/ Bitter End and the lock dutifully falls apart.
