• 75 Posts
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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: October 3rd, 2023

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  • Thanks for the expert advice! I didn’t realize sheet bends were so suspect, I’ll have to research the knots you described.

    Hmmm, maybe I tied the butterfly wrong or am remembering it wrong. I’ll have to play with it and see, it’s honestly been a year or two since I’ve put one under load.

    And thanks for the disclaimer! Yeah I didn’t mean to make it sound so easy to help someone with knots, I’ve never actually used a bowline for this purpose, I’ve just heard it explained that way for emergency use. But I agree it’d have to be an extreme emergency to risk using the wrong equipment or technique, better to just wait for proper help if it’s safe to do so.

    All of my experience is just novice stuff with Paracord, etc etc. My rock climbing experience is all just indoor bouldering 😬

    Thanks again!


  • I’ll add to this, know how to use good rope, learn a few knots, and you’ll be surprised at how often you use them even in your daily life.

    My favorites, and thus my recommendations, are these, in order of usefulness.

    1. The Bowline. Obviously. It’s one of the most versatile knots you can make. You use it to create a loop around something, and that loop will not move. It will not tighten or loosen, it can support your body weight and more. It’s often used to haul people up when they’ve fallen into a crevice or hole, because a noose would tighten around your chest and hurt you on the way up, but a Bowline will not.

    And, if you need a noose, you can make a small looped Bowline, and pull the lead line through it to make a noose that will self tighten on whatever your putting it around.

    Best of all, the Bowline is easy to remove. You know how hard a regular square knot is to undo? Especially if you’ve pulled it really tight? A Bowline knot, by design, is always easier to undo, even if it’s seen hundreds of pounds of load. It really is the best knot, in my opinion.

    If you can only learn one knot, make it a Bowline.

    1. Truckers hitch. I use this knot all the time. Have you ever tried to use rope to tie something down? And no matter how tight you pull the rope, by the time you’re done making the knot, the rope has slipped a bit, and it’s looser than you’d like? Especially annoying when trying to put up a clothes line at camp, and it’s all droopy.

    Enter the truckers hitch. This knot let’s you cinch the rope up super tight, and lock it in place, so it stays that way. Plus the finished knot always has a tail you can pull to easily undo it. This is useful for clotheslines, hammocks, tying stuff to your truck or bike, plenty of uses, easily my second favorite knot. Tied for first, practically.

    1. Sheet bend. Have a rope that’s too short? Need to extend it a bit to get the job done? Sheet bend, double or triple sheet bend depending on the load. Easily connects two ropes together, and comes undone easy enough when you need it to, unlike if you just used two square knots.

    .

    1. Clove Hitch. Quickly and easily tie the end of a rope to a circular object like a pole or tree. Goes on easy, comes off easy.

    .

    1. Butterfly. Make a non sliding loop anywhere in the middle of a rope. Don’t load the rope too hard though, this knot can be tough to undo.

    .

    1. Spike hitch, similar to butterfly, but more likely to slide, tightens like a noose on whatever you loop through it under load, but has a wide variety of uses that become more apparent the more you play with rope and knots. Fun fact, this knot is easy to learn, because it’s the basis for the Bowline and truckers hitch.

    There’s definitely more knots to learn, and others will have opinions on which ones are the best. But these are my favorites. Just learning the first two will be extremely helpful to you.

    Edit: wow that formatting really got away from me. I’m on mobile, so I’m leaving it, sorry





  • Window units are the best bang for the buck. Don’t worry about expensive ones, $100 goes a LONG way to cooling one bedroom. And it’s cheaper than doing the whole house.

    We have a big in wall unit in our apartment that can do the whole living space, but we hardly ever run it. We just run the bedroom one, set to like 70-75f, just to take the humidity out and chill it down a bit. A nice place to go cool down if you get hot while doing things around the house. We don’t run it when we’re not home, because even the cheapest Menards special can cool the room down in minutes, and it’s cheaper to not run it when we don’t need it.

    Beware of the units with the hose… You’re paying more, and trading the convenience of not lugging a big unit into the window (small ones really aren’t that bad), for the inconvenience of having to dump the water (unless you pay more for one that can pump it out the window).

    But by far the worst thing about the hose units, if they only have one exhaust hose, and no return hose? They are less efficient, because they create negative pressure in your house that sucks hot air in through every crack.

    For more information see here.


  • Upvoting for visibility, but this seems insane and impossible to me. When I take a cold shower, I can feel the water stealing the heat from my back, because it’s warmer when it hits my legs. It’s crazy.

    It’s definitely taking heat away, for me, and I would die if I tried to take a hot shower on a hot day.

    I start with a warm shower, like normal, then slowly turn it down until it’s nice and cool, almost cold. But not ice cold. Feel way better afterwards.





  • Hammock knot? For rope? Got a link? I’ve heard ropes can hurt the tree, cut into the bark.

    These are hammock straps, with loops for length adjustment, like this:

    That helps spread the load out so the tree is happier.

    I do agree the trunk is best, usually that’s all I do. But I was trying to fit 4 hammocks in here. The branches were plenty stout, plus if you keep the angle acute enough, that is, if you’re hanging correctly, you can reduce the lateral load, like this:

    I see way too many people with bad hang angles, not only does it make it harder to lay diagonally, or even impossible in some cases, it actually increases the load on your straps. Which if they are ropes, is worse for the tree. And if it’s an old or undersized rope, they can fail. I did that once, thankfully only a few feet off the ground 😬




  • It’s a little tricky, but you climb them like a ladder. The key is opening the top hammock wide before climbing into it, so you don’t roll out. Also helps if your hang angle isn’t too obtuse, which would make it easier to roll out of.

    Basically if you keep them close enough in height relative to each other, and you use a normal proper hang angle, you can climb right up and in.

    That said, my wife won’t do it, doesn’t trust herself to not fall. So if you feel uncomfortable, definitely don’t try it.





  • Thanks for the information! I understand what the veil breaking means in theory, but I have zero idea what that would look like. I’m gonna crack it open and add a picture to the OP.

    Can you elaborate on what problems the veil breaking would cause? Mushrooms trying to grow where they shouldn’t?

    I’m probably only gonna use this bag once, get some mushrooms off it, then stop.

    It’s definitely been sealed this whole time so CO2 buildup might be a problem too.