ROPE ONLY Block and Tackle System

Rope can be used like pulleys. Here I'm using mechanical advantage to lift a pressure washer for the back of my truck.
The whole point of this video it to show how versatile rope is. Now that you've seen this basic knowledge, be sure to use your own experience and common sense to stay safe.

[@stratsurvivor]

Thank you for your service. Great video teaching. Taught my scouts the rope tackle for pioneering. Useful in many ways. Love your knot work! Thank you.

[@williamcathcart4934]

Ingenious!!! I love your story about carrying a piece of paracord in your pocket to tie knots while passing the time before jumping out of planes. Hey, thanks for your Service to our country and sharing your specialized knowledge with the rest of our knothead community.

[@First_Class_Amateur]

Thank you Sir! It's always nice to get a positive comment. If you message me an address to send it to I'll send you something from my shop, awesomeforsale.com. Brent.

[@farrenscott]

Thank you for this video. I have a small attic door and I hate climbing with boxes. This will be most helpful

[@markmillenium438]

This was my introduction video to your channel. This rope block & tackle system helped me tremendously. I still use it at times even today!

[@dailydefaults]

Badass knots. I enjoy pulleys, knots and such for some odd reason. I made a small friction crane at work, lattice boom and everything. I'll have to make a video.

[@grantmcchesney]

Great video, incredibly useful. I would've never had thought of doing this with just rope. Will definitely come in handy throughout life, will have to share with some friends as well. Thanks for making this video!

[@johncella4457]

I can't imagine in a hundred years it would occur to make rope blocks. To you, obvious. To me, brilliant. Thanks for posting. And for your service. Land of the free because of the brave.

[@wailingwarlie]

This is incredible. At first first it looked so complicated. Your explanation made it simple!

[@zecuse]

Basically boils down to 2 southern cross knots that can probably be reduced to triple crowns due to friction in the pulleys (efficiency problems).

[@billbutler2452]

Nice video- enjoyed the Monkey's fist near the end. I used simple knots throughout my life (I'm a retired Stationary Engineer). Bowline, trucker's hitch to fasten down loads, Spanish windlass to move loads just that little bit needed to line up pipe flanges or move pretty heavy mass. Block and tackle to lower / raise large boiler safety valves and 10 + HP motors. Old school can do much more than computer screen generation realize, and knowledge helps a lot more when one has to be resourceful in the field. That said,, I'm going to practice a bit with the rope pulley system. Block & tackle are of course much better, but I always keep a hank of good rope in my vehicles, rarely pulleys except for the job needed.

[@thecraftybushman5376]

Excellent video. A great way of hoisting game for field dressing when you're hunting on foot with a pack and want to keep the weight down.

[@JF0913]

Man that’s pretty awesome. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!

[@mastermindenterpriseslimit7555]

Outstanding tutorial!

[@garry1214]

Excellent video tutorial, thanks for uploading. I just made two of these to use around the farm

[@themistoklisk82]

Absolutely amazing

[@65csx83]

Excellent video. Top notch concept. Clear detailed explanation. And very useful for many everyday tasks. Every once in a while something worthwhile appears among all the YT crap.

[@zfolwick]

Nice! I had a really hard time tying this, but I really need this knot. I recently learned of the truckies hitch variation using a sheepshank knot. My wife messed the sheepshank up and instead made the half hitches of the sheepshank close together, which allowed for a second loop to be formed for pulling. As I was untying your knot, I found that it had a two hitches, similar to a sheepshank, so I thought there might be a variation. I was able to get something like what you have here by starting with a bight, and then creating another bight. Holding the two in one hand, I pass a half hitch over them. Then I turn it upside down and hold in my left hand. I then pass a half hitch over the top of the two bights on the other end. Now I pass my working end through either of the two on the end I just put the second bight on, and start tightening. Have yet to field test, but it seems to work out well.

[@milesblackwood609]

great clear video - thanks

[@codemans22]

Thank you very much, this should be common knowledge, its going to help me allot threw life thank you!

[@modernarchive7502]

Knot-tying talent is a species of genius. Probably a sign of personal integrity, too.

[@matthewsandoval8628]

Thanks for the education

[@MeyersCTR]

Nice knot work. Thanks

[@MARCELOSANCHEZdelta]

Buen Trabajo Camarada!!!

[@mferreira1102]

PARABÉNS... Muito bom / Congratulations... Very good.

[@TheMadMagician87]

Clever idea, and neat knot for creating your rigging :-) I suspect the friction from so many rope to rope interfaces means you will have crossed the tipping point where you are, in reality, actually losing mechanical advantage compared to a theoretically lower mechanical advantage system, courtesy of friction losses. You might find a theoretical 4:1 actually produces more hauling force in the real world than the 6:1 you have going on there. Depends a lot on the type/construction of the rope and how bad it's coeff of friction is though. Still, pretty neat little setup!

[@11bravo18]

Grease the 6 loops that serve as a true pulley systems sheaves.

[@pb6839]

Ik you’re comment is old but I tested this last night in a similar system. Passing the rope through more than 3 pulleys is pointless. But now after seeing this design, I wonder if carabiners could change this.

[@duanebledsoe7566]

@@pb6839that’s an awesome idea!

[@basstard4639]

Wow. This is amazing. It's like magic.

[@abidikgubudik]

Fantastic video. Thank you very so much

[@rickmarr9634]

So sick, thank you

[@pat806]

Awesome, gonna try this out. I bet there's a common material or item that could be used at the loops to spread them and greatly reduce friction.

[@richarddiss1643]

AWESOME! Hey Mister "Mad Rope engineer" ^_^ I'm gonna have to watch this one 10 times before being able to reproduce it. This one is really made for me cause I can't afford to buy pulleys. Thank You very much Sir! Greetings from France ^_^

[@MrProctitus]

Utterly Brilliant 😁👍

[@Fuhrmann53]

Awesome! 👍👍👍

[@KC08RAS]

Human ingenuity at its best

[@rudolphkotze7951]

Brilliant!

[@rivelinophillip3074]

This is great so much easier than the Blake's and simpler too I'm sure each has their value I learned this in five minutes and hoisted myself up to the garage ceiling gonna show off and teach some kids nexe🤔🤫😁

[@TaitGuy]

I like this!!! I've recently gotten learned about mechanical advantage and thought if anyone has ever made a rope block and tackle, and did not disappoint!!! Your video was good! Also it gave me an idea of what if you actually used maybe with bearings, and threading rope in the loops using your same idea I think it would still be less expensive. I'd have to check and verify... Thank you... David ~ El Dorado Hills, CA

[@pedrocastillo1912]

that extra instructional video extraodinary, I'm going to subscribe, congratulations¡¡

[@tjbrison]

Great video, but just a quick note - if you try this with some types of rope and a heavy load - say over 100kg, it won't work because the rope friction is too high to allow the ropes to slide.

[@GabrielKnightz]

Thank You!!!

[@joesashiify]

That's badass.👍

[@chrisb3189]

It was nice to see a different approach to a trucker's hitch or sheepshank (Australian name). Will keep this method in mind

[@meyo4158]

This was great

[@francist6291]

amazing!! i love it

[@mvblitzyo]

Wow that’s cool!

[@alanmullane3387]

Nice well explained video and very helpful, keep 'em coming 👍

[@manwar999]

great video

[@shantahsieh4833]

I am pretty sure you can still buy e-book with all details you need on woodprix.

[@dyvel]

That is so cool! If you have a few thimbles laying around you can use them to reduce the friction and be in better control of the lowering.

[@First_Class_Amateur]

Great idea! I am going to have to try that. Thanks!

[@weedeater64]

@@First_Class_Amateur You can make thimbles with copper pipe, any malleable pipe. Just cut like a half inch longer than the width of rope, then use a ballpeen hammer and another sledge to flare each end. You could even use pvc and a heat gun.

[@rafaelflores3937]

Y was thinking the same thing I was even trying to use muletape for stronger rope or is peracord the same strwngth

[@lensmanicfeleven1847]

...Thanks...Learned a new rope trick....It did not move my heavier ATV....I may have made the "pulleys" out of too small diameter rope as they bound up and would not slip easily thru...but kool knot none the less....

[@evilgrin123]

Great knots. I tried this for lifting my tractor mower end up. It did not work because the fiction between the rope was too high and therefore the effort required was too much even with the aid of the bar. I still used the knots as anchor points when I bought a real block and chain.

[@acrosstheacross677]

Carabiners through each of the pulley loops probably would have reduced the friction enough.

[@eljayleveille3721]

Love it.

[@diyhomeremedies4299]

This is a great way to lift a person. For example it would help a senior or pregnant woman who is having difficulties, getting out of the bed. If it's too much fiction, a couple of small D clamps could be attached to the loops. If you're using a crappy a rope, you can add an extra knot to each Loop

[@pieterd.3426]

Very interesting

[@andrewlee8107]

Thankyou very helpful

[@pappysproductions]

That is MAGIC🎉 ❤ GREAT 📹 VIDEO

[@ROBBANKS666666]

Awesomeness

[@glennhernandez4366]

Keep it going

[@hally4561]

pure genious!

[@ExploringIntuition]

Great video! I wonder if that is the same know they call a "Crown Knot?"

[@ElectricUniverseEyes]

Brilliant!! New subscriber :)

[@boashna]

nice video I am all knotted up .. I was hoping to lift a 300 lb generator in my truck. .

[@SamcgCass]

great knot,how was it fix to the rope fix to your ceiling could not see how it was done.eg was the rope put through it

[@joseluismiguezbarroso3180]

First of all congratulations for the excellent idea! Very useful!!! I have 2 questions: 1. To make it a less temporary solution, how to decrease friction (loss of efficiency) and rope wear at contact/slip points? 2. Do you have any ideas on how to assemble a system that allows, in addition to elevation (vertical movement), also the displacement of weight (horizontal movement) along a straight line (linearly) or, more difficult, along an area ( radially)? Thanks for sharing your techniques, very good!!!

[@andrewbriscoe2481]

1. Try using steel rings or carabiners to reduce friction of you can't use actual pulleys. 2. Install a track/channel on the ceiling to attach the top part of the system to, that will allow for horizontal displacement.

[@beesalazar2415]

What's the weight of it and how much force did you use

[@tarbaris]

I've tried it with a 20+kg load. Whilst the mechanics behind the idea are correct, it doesn't work really well in real world. First of the rope being not a slippery material (hence the reason why many knots do exist) it exerts a lot of frictional force on the pull end. So the force to pull is close to the lifted load. Another big problem is that the high frictional force erodes the rope quickly. Safety problem. There is a good reason why the oldtimers bothered to make wooden pulleys. Anyways, there is a good wisdom in your video so i give thumbs up. :)

[@zfolwick]

Put a carabiner or S hook on each of the loops. That'll get you less friction

[@davidmcdonald6035]

that's awesome. i'd like to try this moving a large rock from my yard up a few feet with a ramp. I was wondering wwhat the knots or bends you used to harness the load and then to attach the bundle to the pulley rope? Thanks again for your video and clear explanation.

[@First_Class_Amateur]

I made a sling using a water knot. Then I ran that around my pressure washer. I would add carabiners to this set up to help reduce friction.

[@swayback7375]

Use pulleys for anything very big, the friction here makes it almost 1:1 and it’s rough in the rope. Block and tackle worked great 2500 years ago, they work great today. Still a cool trick and probably works ok with certain rope, slick synthetic, but we figured out mechanical advantage pretty well and friction is no good

[@acrosstheacross677]

@SmarterEveryDay

[@nicktorr7888]

snatch block

[@lugisland]

Pretty cool man :-)

[@NateJones-tk9fb]

How you you catpure progress? That would be the only thing missing here. This is awesome thanks for sharing it. Im definitaly gonna be using this as a marine mechanic.

[@rudylargoza9156]

how did you attach the pulleys to the "one continuous rope' hanging from your garage door opener? and to the pressure washer? thanks.

[@scnomad3626]

Rudy Largoza there are no pulleys

[@GordonDLear]

The mechanics are sweet, but your knot tying ability is awesome! Boatswain's Mate?

[@First_Class_Amateur]

Thanks! I was a paratrooper. Waiting to jump took hours so I would carry a section of paracord in my pocket to pass the time. These videos show some of the knots I learned during that time.

[@montereynotjapan]

This is amazing. So clean lol. Do you think if there was an extremely heavy load you would use three alpine butterfly hitches side by side so they would always untie after a heavy load? Or something similar? Is this just as easy to untie? Thanks!

[@Dranok1]

Nice application for a less common knot! What types of cord are you using there? Given the small diameter of the black stuff I might have expected it to burn the orange polyprop even with this small demonstration, so is it particularly smooth skinned? It's too small and black to tell what it is on the video. (Sorry, I couldn't quite bring myself to grace that cord with the title "rope" -- in the navy, anything smaller that an inch is "small stuff" and it was all I could do not to call the black cord "string"!😉)

[@dennypilot9856]

I tried it out with a thinner paracord and a 10kg dumbbell just to practice and notoced it's still difficult to pull the dumbbell up and moreover the rope is only tense from my hand end and maybe up to the middle of upper pulleys. It's completely loose from the side where it's secured to the upper pulleys, which tells me that I didn't get 6:1 ratio but much less. I tried putting the rope through two loop pairs (two up and two down) and everything worked like it should have been but obviously I got lower ratio. Also my rope got damaged extremely fast, even after a couple of tries I started noticing signs of wear and tear. As ridiculous as it sounds, should I lube the rope? Otherwise, what can be done to avoid such issues?

[@johndowd6436]

water knots get loose with time. Double or triple fisherman's knot? And to comments on how there should be carabiners or pulleys, if we are going to do that, we don't need anything except 3 carabiners on one loop, right? No need for the box knot or whatever it is called, btw, what IS the main knot called? Do you know?

[@zecuse]

5 years later, it's called a southern cross knot. Basically a triple crown, but you start with 3 bites instead of 2.

[@duanebledsoe7566]

This is really cool to see. But I’m wondering, did the added friction of pulling the rope through all those loops override any gained advantages? It certainly seemed that the pressure washer was lifted easily but they’re not all that heavy to begin with.

[@MrAchile13]

Great idea! Looks like a very useful information to have. You basically obtained a 6:1 simple pulley using only rope. But if you use the same system but tie the black rope to the load knot (not the ceiling knot as in the video), wouldn't you get a mechanical advantage of 7:1?

[@weedeater64]

No. Draw a picture. The most you can get is 6:1, always anchor overhead/non moving for most advantage with any given number of pulleys.

[@MrAchile13]

@@weedeater64 the maximum mechanical advantage you can get out of a simple pulley system is the number of pulleys + 1. In this case we have 6 "pulleys", which means we can get a maximum of 7:1. The catch is that you have to pull the rope up not down. The strand that begins from your hand gets straight to the load instead of the ceiling, then goes to all the pulleys, then you anchor it at the load instead of the ceiling. In this case, you would need a ladder to climb in order to be able to lift the load at the desired height, which is awkward and I understand why people would not do that, but technically speaking, the most mechanical advantage you can get out of this system is 7:1

[@Knuckleheaded76]

@@MrAchile13 I believe that's correct yea.

[@Gunbudder]

you can also do this with a single piece of rope, but it takes a huge amount of rope

[@jerydob6499]

Can you direct to online reference materials regarding rope diameter and material and known safe maximum loads?

[@ThatJerkHerc]

Are there any ways to try and avoid wear on the ropes when using this technique?

[@First_Class_Amateur]

You could clip carabiners into each loop

[@Killinit33]

Mitchell Hercules use carabiners or even screw chain links. Actual pulleys would be best...micro pulleys are about $20 each & hold around 6,500lbs...

[@foodlover8139]

I use carabiners

[@yabigman3]

Ive made this with links from a chain in my loops. Cuts down on friction and the links just stay attached at all time.

[@barthsimpson3]

Have you compared to force needed with no pulley system? I can imagine that the friction is taking all the advantage the system would give you.

[@gregorykroestch4460]

This is such a great idea. I wonder though, would a thimble work with this system to reduce friction? More specifically, would the thimbles stay in the loops once tension is applied?

[@gregorykroestch4460]

If anyone else is wondering the same thing, I have tested and can confirm that thimbles do work in this system. With 1/4 rope I can lift 50 lbs with a lot less tension on the loops so it won't bind and lock up on it's own. Much easier to pull as well with less friction.

[@halo123321123]

just out of curiosity, with strong carabiners and stronger rope, would you say this method can be used to move a stuck vehicle? lets sayy,, using more loops?

[@patrickb-man1309]

Yes, it can possibly work. Just attach one end to something like a tree, like he did by attaching it to the ceiling here, and then use a second vehicle or multiple people to pull the free end of the rope.

[@zecuse]

Adding to what Patrick said, you'll need a LOT of rope as well.

[@user-dd6mc4ro6k]

古代知識前人好嘢

[@rogerbachand3156]

I just tried this. I'm guessing that any puly advantage is lost due to the friction of rope on rope. If it holds it own weight when lifted you must pull that much in friction on the way up.

[@First_Class_Amateur]

Adding carabiners helps out. Even better yet, pulleys. But this at least gives you a ways to keep it suspended.

[@rtjonesva1]

does this knot have a name? Thanks.

[@American-Plague]

I'm fairly certain that this is not considered "a" knot but it is rather a series of knots in a specific order and therefore has no other name besides "rope only block and tackle".

[@chriswebster24]

Does the knot have a name, or does it not have a name? That is the question.

[@mikeystojsic]

Couldn’t Aron Lee Ralston from 127 hours story have used this to lift the 800lbs rock? That’s roughly 363kgs and he weighed at least 60kgs at 6:1 wouldn’t he have been able to lift the rock?

[@Killinit33]

Im a tree climber so yes, these are pretty slick knots for a homeowner. But even using alpine butterfly knots as loops even just some screw chain links would have made it work properly. & uhhh, for that little thing? Just pick it up bud! Or maybe you & your kid!lol

[@American-Plague]

Not all of us have kids and while you may be a big, strong man 💪, some of us may have chronic back problems or do not want to develop chronic back problems for life by lifting this by ourselves day in and day out by just mishandling it and yanking it around. Now I know in your opinion, NOT causing yourself chronic problems for the future or being too much of a weakling pansy due to an injured back maybe takes away our right to do "manly work" since we aren't man enough to just manhandle everything instead of using our brains to work smarter and not harder, however, that's exactly just that: Your OPINION.

[@THEJABTHEJAB]

Can anyone name the main knot, the one that looks like a Sailor's knot (but isn't)?

[@THEJABTHEJAB]

Found it, It's a Chinese good luck knot but without the final step

[@zecuse]

@@THEJABTHEJAB Haven't seen that one before, but he made a southern cross knot. Basically the same as a triple crown, but start with 3 bites instead of 2.

[@creeplife2802]

I'm angry that I've never studied this stuff

[@American-Plague]

No time like the present.

[@dailydefaults]

but I would have just struggled to manhandle that pressure washer into the back of my truck with no mechanical advantage because I'm an idiot.

[@weedeater64]

You'd be better off with just one snatch block with all the friction you have there.

[@LimonEllie]

I'd like to see you do this with something that's actually heavy

[@senatorjosephmccarthy2720]

He said it makes a lot of friction, inferring it isn't a Manitowoc. Didn't he?

[@WalkingCasino]

Probably could have gotten rid of the truck by using some harvester knots.

[@apiletal]

Really secure advantage system use pulleys and carabiners. I understand the cost; bus your tecnique is really dangerous. And you know it. I sure.

[@MrBobaFett]

yeah, carabiners or pulleys, never run rope on rope like that. Certainly not for any kind of real load.

[@Makingnewnamesisdumb]

If you can afford to choose the ideal tools and equipment you could obviously just get a real block and tackle. This is clearly for a situation where you don't have a lot of other options.

[@savagealphawolf5929]

would it work better to double up on the rope for heavy loads

[@Dranok1]

@@savagealphawolf5929 I suspect if you had that much load the working rope would simply burn through the "pulley" loops. You would *have* to follow the advice to add metal to the loops, rather than just consider it!

[@frankt9156]

Buy a pulley system!!! It is cheap.

[@11bravo18]

Nice system, but realistically, my sister could just pick that thing up and slide it into a truck bed.

[@johnlamarca9439]

Hmm. Not blocked here… Another knot channel has his comments blocked. Never did that before.

[@joefisher7792]

That was too cool man I like your name you gave yourself I was so impressed I'm unsubscribing and giving you a thumbs up bro

[@First_Class_Amateur]

Thanks Joe

[@greasymuchacho]

You need an 11:1 to lift a pressure washer? You pansy.

[@zecuse]

Um... this was 6:1.