field expedient rope winch

I was doing a little research on firestarting ideas when I ran across a youtube channel, Norwegian Bushcraft, which appears to be full of great ideas.

For instance, a rope winch to self rescue a stuck car


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNkmH3R9u...mp;spfreload=10

Nice!

Apparently, this is a variation of a "Spanish windlass - http://www.inquiry.net/outdoor/skills/b-p/windlass.htm

Whatever you call it,it is nice to know. I think a few practice sessions are in order....

I thought it was invented by Mors Kochanski (Kochanski flip-flop winch) but then I googled and found this info:



http://outdoorselfreliance.com/flip-flop-winch/

Great find, yee. His YouTube channel is loaded with other good stuff too. Thanks for the heads-up!

2 notes:

- This looks like a good application for static rope and not a dynamic rope. A fair amount of effort is put into taking the stretch out of that dynamic rope.

- I need to find some cargo pants like that.

The rope he was using appeared to be polypro orange and black truck rope. Non stretch but quite weak compared to a nylon or polyester rope. I have had a rope just like that break simply towing a car with no real strain other than the initial tug to get it rolling on pavement. I also have used an old, worn to the kern, climbing rope that held up to more hard pulling of a vehicle.

I think for a stuck auto, one would want stronger rope than polypro.

He described it as old climbing rope.

My experience with dynamic rope is that there is a gentle rebound effect once the stretch is pulled out, with very gentle movement of the object in question.

What has been the experience with static rope?

Nah, note the kinks and it is a laid rope.

Maybe so, but at 2:25 he refers to it as a "discarded climbing rope".

I think you guys are each referring to different videos. In the 2 links above, the Norwegian guy is using an old dynamic climbing rope but the Bushcraft Northwest guy is using the cheap laid rope.

When I used to climb big walls and haul 200+ pound haulbags up the cliff, we used a static line for that job since with a dynamic line you put a lot of work into 'hauling out the stretch' before the load moves. It would be even worse when trying to move a car or big tree with the flip-flop windlass.

Here is an interesting use of a Spanish windlass (= flip flop winch) from the early days of Yosemite climbing history:

http://www.climbing.com/climber/everyday-hero-5-ordinary-climbers-who-saved-a-life-part3/

A pretty good example of doing a lot with a little...

Great find, thanks!