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Is it a loop, a knot, or a hitch?
Yes. Yes it is.
![Natural material Creative arts Red Art Body jewelry]()
Basically a prusik is a hitch (friction knot) you can use with any piece of cordage that has a diameter that's equal to or thinner than the diameter of the rope you tie it on. I prefered to climb and rescue on 9mm static ropes, so my prusik cords are a 6mm static kern mantle accessory cord rated to 4,000lbs (17.7kN) of tensile strength. You can use a prusik as a third hand when climbing, rapelling, or as the belay. It's designed to cinch down on the working part of the rope as a safety device to keep things from falling. I keep several prusiks on hand when I'm working with ropes. You can use them to make hasty harness, drag rescue device, a foot loop for an emergency ascent, and anything else where a sliding friction knot would come in handy. I've even used them to hang gear off my pack and my harness. I made some up last night because I still had 50ft of accessory cordage sitting around and I needed prusiks for my new survival bag anyways. I have two 18", two 24", and a single 48" loop.
![Wood Art Spiral Rope Wool]()
Now to make these loops I take the length of the loop I want and double it, then I add 6" for each knot because I tie double fisherman's knots with a 1" safety tail. So an 18" loop would need 48" of rope. A 24" loop requires 60". My one 48" loop takes 9 FEET! The 4ft loop is for emergency ascending only, in case I drop one of my ascenders or for a static anchor at the top of a descent.
Just show us how to tie these knots and make a loop already!
1. Lay your ends facing opposite directions and take your bottom rope and loop it over and around the upper rope so the tail is facing down.
![Wood Twig Wire Cable Jewellery]()
2. Make a second loop around, in front of the first loop.
![Rope Wire Event Close-up Art]()
3. Then feed the tail through both loops and loosely dress the knot so the tail is below the upper knot.
![Knot Wood Rope Wire Metal]()
4. Now take the top rope and repeat the process making a downward loop by crossing over the bottom rope and coming up and around.
![Wood Art Wire Pattern Strap]()
5. Bring the tail end back over and around for the second loop.
![Wood Twig Art Rope Terrestrial animal]()
6. Feed the tail back up through both loops again and with the tails on the same side they started on, cinch the knots down, dressing as you go to keep the crosses facing you.
![Wood Natural material Composite material Jewellery Wire]()
8. Now you can slide these knots to adjust the size of the overall loop for storage, but to deploy the prusik safely the knots need to be touching at full extension.
![Wood Natural material Rope (rhythmic gymnastics) Knot Jewellery]()
Realistically any overhand safety knot will do the job in a pinch, but a knot should be as easy to remove as it is to tie and putting basic knots in load bearing applications can cause the knot to tighten so much it becomes virtually impossible to remove and can even cause the rope to fail. Knots function because friction exists and throwing in an extra wrap by going with a double or even a triple knot will create more surface area. More surface area creates more friction but also spreads the friction out by requiring less force per square inch. That makes your knot much easier to untie.
Now you have a prusik loops that will cover several very common situations where you need a little added safety.
Yes. Yes it is.
Basically a prusik is a hitch (friction knot) you can use with any piece of cordage that has a diameter that's equal to or thinner than the diameter of the rope you tie it on. I prefered to climb and rescue on 9mm static ropes, so my prusik cords are a 6mm static kern mantle accessory cord rated to 4,000lbs (17.7kN) of tensile strength. You can use a prusik as a third hand when climbing, rapelling, or as the belay. It's designed to cinch down on the working part of the rope as a safety device to keep things from falling. I keep several prusiks on hand when I'm working with ropes. You can use them to make hasty harness, drag rescue device, a foot loop for an emergency ascent, and anything else where a sliding friction knot would come in handy. I've even used them to hang gear off my pack and my harness. I made some up last night because I still had 50ft of accessory cordage sitting around and I needed prusiks for my new survival bag anyways. I have two 18", two 24", and a single 48" loop.
Now to make these loops I take the length of the loop I want and double it, then I add 6" for each knot because I tie double fisherman's knots with a 1" safety tail. So an 18" loop would need 48" of rope. A 24" loop requires 60". My one 48" loop takes 9 FEET! The 4ft loop is for emergency ascending only, in case I drop one of my ascenders or for a static anchor at the top of a descent.
Just show us how to tie these knots and make a loop already!
1. Lay your ends facing opposite directions and take your bottom rope and loop it over and around the upper rope so the tail is facing down.
2. Make a second loop around, in front of the first loop.
3. Then feed the tail through both loops and loosely dress the knot so the tail is below the upper knot.
4. Now take the top rope and repeat the process making a downward loop by crossing over the bottom rope and coming up and around.
5. Bring the tail end back over and around for the second loop.
6. Feed the tail back up through both loops again and with the tails on the same side they started on, cinch the knots down, dressing as you go to keep the crosses facing you.
8. Now you can slide these knots to adjust the size of the overall loop for storage, but to deploy the prusik safely the knots need to be touching at full extension.
Realistically any overhand safety knot will do the job in a pinch, but a knot should be as easy to remove as it is to tie and putting basic knots in load bearing applications can cause the knot to tighten so much it becomes virtually impossible to remove and can even cause the rope to fail. Knots function because friction exists and throwing in an extra wrap by going with a double or even a triple knot will create more surface area. More surface area creates more friction but also spreads the friction out by requiring less force per square inch. That makes your knot much easier to untie.
