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Adapting knots & woodcraft skills for exploring wilderness regions From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pioneering is the art of using ropes and wooden spars joined by lashings and knots to create a structure. Pioneering can be used for constructing small items such as camp gadgets up to larger structures such as bridges and towers. These may be recreational, decorative, or functional.[1][2]
Pioneering is used to teach practical skills, teamwork and problem solving. It is widely used in Scouting and Girl Guiding. Many Scout and Guide groups train their members in pioneering skills and construct projects, both small and large. In camp, they may construct functional items like tables, camp dressers and gadgets, as well as decorative camp gateways. Pioneering is a common merit badge in many countries, and was required for the Eagle Scout rank in the 1920s and 1930s.
The name comes from the 18th and 19th century military engineers who went ahead of an army to "pioneer" a route, which could involve building bridges and towers with rope and timber (for example the Royal Pioneer Corps).
Pioneering skills include knot tying (tying ropes together), lashing (tying spars together with rope), whipping (binding the end of a rope with thin twine), splicing (joining or binding the end of a rope using its own fibres), and skills related to the use, care and storage of ropes, spars and related pioneering equipment.
Pioneering was initially adopted into the structure of the Boy Scouts of America's (BSA) by Lord Robert Baden-Powell, who was influenced by the Sons of Daniel Boone. Daniel Beard, the founder of the Sons of Daniel Boone, founded his organization to keep the pioneer spirit alive after the closing of the American frontier in 1890.[3] Daniel Beard later became a founding member of the Boy Scouts of America upon its inception in 1910. Baden-Powell kept the pioneer spirit teachings of the Sons of Daniel Boone as a way to instill structure and honor the tradition of the American frontier.
Both the Girl Guides Association in England and the Girl Scouts of America similarly adopted pioneering as a skill-building activity in their program upon its inception.[4] The Girl Guides Association in England was founded in 1910 after Robert Baden-Powell asked his sister, Agnes Baden-Powell, for help starting an organization similar to his Boy Scouts, for girls. In the same spirit, Juliette Gordon Lowe, a friend of the Baden-Powell's, founded the Girl Scouts of America shortly thereafter in 1912.[5] Both of these programs, modeled after the original spirit of the Boy Scouts of America, adopted its emphasis on pioneering as well.[3]
There are a number of basic knots used in pioneering:[6]
There are also a number of specialized pioneering knots that are used to add safety and functionality to pioneering projects:[7]
Pioneering uses these basic lashings as a foundation upon which to build. Using these key lashings, countless pioneering projects can be created.
These basic structures are the building blocks for a number of pioneering projects:
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