Rope

[Magicman]

I love knots and regularly use knots such as the trucker's hitch, bowline, and clove hitch.  Strangely I was not familiar with the butterfly so off to Google I went.  This is one of the examples that I found:

[John Mc]

Nice video you found, Magicman.

I sometimes find the "two-twist method" tough to follow in a video. Here is a picture sequence that helped me when I was first trying to learn this knot:

   

It's important to get this one right, since mis-tying it can produce a similar looking, but inferior knot.

[Magicman]

I will be practicing tying this knot today because occasionally I need a "mid span" loop. 

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

Knot Head...

[YellowHammer]

Don't use the ropes that stretch.  I assume the arborist ropes are designed for pulling trees so definately stick to them.  Many years ago our power went out, and I walked outside to see that our neighbor had dropped a big oak tree right across the road, taking the power lines with it.  I asked him why he hadn't roped it off and he said he had, using his nylon boat rope, he hooked it to his truck winch got it banjo tight, but when the tree started falling the wrong way, the roped stretched like a rubber band and barely slowed the tree down.  

Personally, on risky drops, I use chains and a big 3 foot handled come along and get the trees tensioned or leaning my way before I ever put the saw to them.  We clear a lot of fenclines and all trees will have a heavier canopy and significant lean over the open sun space of the fence and want to fall on it.  Pretty much have to pull every one. Chains don't stretch and a heavy ratcheting hand winch will allow me to put heavy, constant, consistent stable pressure on the tree so I'm not in a rush to hurry up and cut it down. 

Cutting in the woods is a different matter. Saw them, wedge them, drop them, drag them.    

[John Mc]

I tend not to use ropes or chains at all for felling when I'm working in the woods. I can usually figure out how to wedge it over in the direction I want it to go (with two wedges and the occasional cookie as a spacer, you can counter a surprising amount of lean). If that's just not practical, I'll look for other directions to drop it. Admittedly, there are more options when cutting firewood, since if it doesn't land in a position that makes it easy to pull out, I can always cut it into smaller pieces and then drag it out.

When cutting sawlogs or when the tree is creating a hazard to a building or something, a rope or chain may be unavoidable. I generally don't do near power lines if it's going to take a rope or chain to protect them. I let the power company deal with that.

[Busysawyer]

I was taught to tie the alpine butterfly with the hand wrap method. Once you get it down you can do it with your eyes closed.

[21incher]

Thanks John Mc & Magicman got that one down. It would be nice if there was a knot tying app that laid them out like you did John Mc.

I do use wedges but find there is a fine line on hinge size for leaners and wind direction doesn't help either.  The hand winch and Samson rigging rope look to be the perfect solution to provide some extra tension for me working alone on the smaller size trees that l am dealing with. plus there is no danger to anything if they go in the wrong direction, just alot of extra work.  It is just nice to now have a decent length of rope that is not notted together and has a real working load rating as a extra safety precaution when needed.

[Magicman]

I did some practicing yesterday.  Yup, dat's a good knot. 

[btulloh]

Not an app, but a good reference:

Arborist Knots | How to Tie Tree Climbing Knots | Animated Arborist Knots

And also:  https://www.netknots.com/rope_knots/arborist-knots

[james]

rock climbers us. While it is incredibly strong, it's designed to be elastic - that elasticity cushions the jerk at the end of a long fall when climbing. However, the elasticity is also what makes the rope spring back with surprising force if it does break.

that"s not nice not all rock climbers are jerks james

[Crusarius]

animatedknots.com is also a good one.

[John Mc]

It would be nice if there was a knot tying app that laid them out like you did John Mc.

 

If you are talking about how to tie the knots, if you google just about any knot name, you'll find an abundance of picture sequences, animated tying examples, and YouTube videos. Quality varies greatly, and what makes perfect sense to one viewer may be completely confusing to another, so if one isn't clicking for you, try another.

I've also found that most of the Wikipedia entries for a specific knot have pretty good descriptions of that knot is good for.

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

Google Apps 

They have an app for tying knots. 

[gspren]

That Butterfly knot looks like what they use to tie top & bottom rigs for fishing.

[WDH]

Do they have an app for skinning goats?

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

Do they have an app for skinning goats?

No but they show a knot for hanging one. 😂😂😂😂

[Brucer]

Stretchy ropes can get you in trouble with a leaner, even the very strong ones. Arborist's ropes were designed for the job. Personally, I have a pair of 50 foot 3/8" wire rope chokers that I can link together. A cable clamp plus an 8000 pound come-along and an anchor chain complete the package.

[21incher]

Tried out that winch today and it worked great. Made a video and at at about 13:30 it shows the type of damage that all my Ash trees have from the EAB.