Pioneering
Requirements
1. Do the following:
(a) Explain to your counselor the most likely hazards you might encounter while participating in pioneering activities and what you should do to anticipate, help prevent, mitigate, and respond to these hazards. Resource: Safe Pioneering (video)
(b) Discuss the prevention of, and first-aid treatment for, injuries and conditions that could occur while working on pioneering projects, including rope splinters, rope burns, cuts, scratches, insect bites and stings, hypothermia, dehydration, heat exhaustion, heatstroke, sunburn, and falls. Resources: Pioneering Safety Checklist (PDF) Sunburn (video) First Aid for Rope Burns (website)
2. Do the following:
(a) Demonstrate the West Country method of whipping a rope. Resources: How to Tie a Half Knot (West Country) Whipping (video) How to Tie a Sailmaker's Whipping (video)
(b) Demonstrate how to tie a rope tackle and the following knots: clove hitch formed as two half hitches, clove hitch on a bight, butterfly knot, roundturn with two half hitches, and rolling hitch. Resources: How to Tie a Rope Tackle (video) How to Tie and Apply a Clove Hitch and Half Hitches (video) How to Tie a Clove Hitch on a Bight (video) How to Tie a Butterfly Knot (video) How to Tie a Roundturn with Two Half Hitches (video) How to Tie a Rolling Hitch (video)
(c) Demonstrate and explain when to use the following lashings: square, diagonal, round, shear, tripod, and floor lashing. Resources: How to Tie the Mark II Square Lashing (video) How to Tie a Diagonal Lashing (video) How to Tie a Round Lashing (video) How to Tie a Shear Lashing (video) How to Tie a Tripod Lashing (with Plain Turns) (video) How to Tie a Floor Lashing (video)
3. Do the following:
(a) Using square and tripod lashings from requirement 2(c), build a Tripod Wash Station (or with your counselor's permission, another camp gadget of your own design). Resource: Tripod Hand Wash Station: The Ideal First Class Camp Gadget! (video)
(b) Using rolling hitches or roundturns with two half hitches, and round lashings from requirements 2(b) and 2(c), build a 15-foot Scout Stave Flagpole (or with your counselor's permission, another camp gadget of your own design). Resource: Patrol Challenge - 15 Foot Scout Stave Flagpole (video)
(c) Using shear, square, and floor lashings, clove hitches on a bight, and rope tackles from requirements 2(b) and 2(c), build a Simple Camp Table (or with your counselor's permission, another camp gadget of your own design). Resource: Simple Camp Table (video)
4. Explain the differences between synthetic ropes and natural-fiber ropes. Discuss which types of rope are suitable for pioneering work and why. Include the following in your discussion: breaking strength, safe working loads, and the care and storage of rope. Resource: How to Prepare and Preserve Lashing Ropes and Pioneering Spars (video)
5. Explain the uses for the back splice, eye splice, and short splice. View a demonstration on forming each splice. Resources: How to Create a Back Splice (video) How to Create an Eye Splice (video) How to Create a Short Splice (video)
6. Using a rope-making device or machine, make a rope at least 6 feet long consisting of three strands, each having three yarns. Whip the ends. Resource: Making a Rope from Twine (video)
7. Explain the importance of effectively anchoring a pioneering project. Describe to your counselor the 3-2-1 anchoring system and the log-and-stake anchoring system. Resource: Anchoring Pioneering Projects (video)
8. Describe the lashings that are used when building a trestle, how the poles are positioned, and how X braces contribute to the overall structural integrity of a pioneering project. Resource: Making a Trestle (video)
9. Working in a group, (or individually with the help of your counselor) build a full size pioneering structure, using one of the following designs in the Pioneering merit badge pamphlet: Double A-Frame Monkey Bridge Single A-Frame Bridge Single Trestle Bridge Single Lock Bridge 4x4 Square Climbing Tower Four Flag Gateway Tower Double Tripod Chippewa Kitchen Another type of structure approved in advance by your counselor Carefully plan the project, assembling and organizing all the materials, referring to the points under Safe Pioneering, and complying with the height restrictions in the Guide to Safe Scouting. Resources: Making a Trestle (video) Building Pioneering Projects (video) Double A-Frame Monkey Bridge (video) Single Trestle Bridge (video) Double Tripod Chippewa Kitchen (video)
Double A-Frame Monkey Bridge Single A-Frame Bridge Single Trestle Bridge Single Lock Bridge 4x4 Square Climbing Tower Four Flag Gateway Tower Double Tripod Chippewa Kitchen Another type of structure approved in advance by your counselor
Single A-Frame Bridge Single Trestle Bridge Single Lock Bridge 4x4 Square Climbing Tower Four Flag Gateway Tower Double Tripod Chippewa Kitchen Another type of structure approved in advance by your counselor
Single Trestle Bridge Single Lock Bridge 4x4 Square Climbing Tower Four Flag Gateway Tower Double Tripod Chippewa Kitchen Another type of structure approved in advance by your counselor
Single Lock Bridge 4x4 Square Climbing Tower Four Flag Gateway Tower Double Tripod Chippewa Kitchen Another type of structure approved in advance by your counselor
4x4 Square Climbing Tower Four Flag Gateway Tower Double Tripod Chippewa Kitchen Another type of structure approved in advance by your counselor
Four Flag Gateway Tower Double Tripod Chippewa Kitchen Another type of structure approved in advance by your counselor
Double Tripod Chippewa Kitchen Another type of structure approved in advance by your counselor
Another type of structure approved in advance by your counselor